I am in my second season of bow hunting after many years of gun hunting, and am still mystified by this bowhunting thing. My question is how soon does one go to full draw when seeing a deer nearing his shooting lane. I have been caught twice, and yesterday while watching a doe and her fawn feed in a hay pasture from behind comes a six point not walking but trotting right beneath my stand never stopping all the way to my neighbors fence. It seems that is typical with my encounters they allways seem to be just that much ahead of me, or I end up waiting too patiently, and then they are too close (i.e. I get caught half cocked). Usually they are walking, or trotting just out of range, or right past me. How do you stop these things?

Edited by - Y2KR1 on 09/30/2002 15:03:38

Just moving this bakc up top for assistance<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

If the deer are moving at a trot I would go ahead and draw while they are trotting towards you. Then use your mouth to make a bleet or grunt and it will usually make a buck slam on his brakes and look around. If they are walking, I always draw while they are behind a tree or focused on something else.

I hope this helps alittle bit as well. You can also whistle and a deer will stop.

High Country Archery - &quot;Driven to greater heights...&quot;

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I'm just about right in there with whackmaster. I only draw right before I know I can shoot. Usually thats about a 5 - 10 second hold. I practice the same way. I know guys who when practicing hold on the target for a LONG time. From my experiences, a shot oppurtunity at a deer unfolds very quickly, you must be ready to draw, aim, and release in a manner of seconds.

Hunt the thickets

Y2K - welcome to the wondeful world of bow hunting! There's no exact science to it... a lot of it is experience and lot is luck. If a deer is trotting towards you, you're going to have to have seen or heard him in time to get to a full draw THEN grunt or whistle. If you grunt or whistle before you draw they'll be looking right up at you and you won't stand a chance. A lot of this depends on how long you can hold your bow at full draw and still shoot accurately. If you know you can hold for quite a while you can draw back when you're confident they are heading you're way and just wait. If you're going to wait until they get close you have to make sure their head is either behind a tree or turned away from you. A lot of this can be helped by stand position also. Try to position your stand so that the trail naturally leads the deer behind a tree or brush that would hide your movements and give you a chance to draw. Then you can shoot when they hit the opening. I hope this helps...just keep learning from every situation you have with a deer and you'll be fine.

I'm with whackmaster and Belle Island on this one! I too draw just before making the shot, but being as careful as possible so the animal does not see movement ie. head down, looking away ect. I agree that if the animal is on a fast walk or trot go ahead with the draw, then grunt, whistle to stop the animal and make the shot.

Aim Hard!

i have noticed that the higher your stand is the more movement you can get away with. I have drawen on deer that were looking in my direction, but I was high enough that i wasnt busted.

It seems to me the deer always come from a direction I wasn't expecting. As for drawing, I draw as soon as I get the opportunity. I try to plan ahead to see where I will get a chance at a good shot. Sometimes this means I will be at full draw a few seconds and other times eternity. I do agree with Anthony about stand height. The higher I go the more movement I get away with.

When I draw back, my fingers cut the string loose within 1 or 2 seconds of hitting my anchor. Shooting a 65# trad bow, there is no &quot;holding&quot; at full draw. :^) I try to wait until the deer puts its head down, turns, or is obscurred by tree leaves, or brush. PRIOR to shooting I try to get my body into a good shooting position, have my bow arm up and extended, bow slightly canted, and fingers taut on the string...ready to go so the deer will see very little movement when I draw back.