RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Another scent free way is to keep your clothing in a plastic garbage bag,put some "bush"in from your area and keep your cloths sealed in it till ready to hunt.
It may sound cheap but the easiest way to make a bow holder if you want it on your stand is to use a U-bolt,put some old airline rubber hose on it and bolt it to your platform,works great for me.
The most important one to me is always make sure you have your camera handy,ever notice when you do get your deer the camera is still at home.Bring a cheap disposable along or lock your good 35mm or digital up in the truck:)

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

silentassasin, I don't normally hang my bow, it is almost always in my hand, it takes your free hand to push your sleeve up, so I guess if you hang your bow it wouldn't be a problem. Just different styles I guess.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

I can't seem to picture this - can you explain?

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

I like to carry a pocket watch, windup..........cant depend on batteries.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

This simpler, the better. Retrofit your stand with as many things as you can. Instead of screw in the tree style holders and such, get a stand mounted bowholder. Also mount a quiver holder on there as well. With the getup I have now, I put my shoulder harness fanny pack on, sling my treestand on over that and walk to my tree. Once at the tree, all I do is mount the stand to the tree, hook my bow to my pull up rope and up I go. I may spend 5 min. on the ground once at my tree. Once at your height, secure the stand, hang my fannypack, sitdown and pull up the bow. Done.

No fiddling in the dark for hangers, hooks and stuff. Its already on the stand waiting.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

I don't own a rangefinder, so to help me determine yardage I will step off distances of 15, 25, and 35 yards out from my stand in different directions and mark them by either breaking a small limb or placing a noticable rock at the locations. I do this the day I first hang my stand so on future visits I don't walk around depositing scent. The next time that buck comes in you'll know exactly how far out he is when you let one go. I'm sure most of you guys/gals know this one already but for the beginner it sure can come in handy and save alot of heartache.;)

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

This might sound kinda corny but , I shave the night before going huntin so as i have a 5o'clock shadow..Reason being is if you use a face mask you can use the nubs to move the face mask down from being bunched by the corner of your eyes and not have to use your hands...hence less movement..

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Sorry for the poor quality but its 1:00 in the morning and im tired-lol.
Take a big u-bolt from the hardware store,put some old rubber hose around it for silence and protection for the bow.Bolt it or screw it to your platform and there u have it.
Makes for a great bow holder,always in reach and very silent,and costs all but maybe .20 cents:)

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Download the Easton tuning guide, print it off, and carry it with you wherever you go. Study it. Memorize it. ANd 99.9% of your tuning and flight problems will be answered. :D

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

If your going to hunt along a creek or water is near buy use racoon cover scent. very strong scent works "very" "very" well as a cover scent!

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

keep the bow in front of your face when deer are near buy. If one looks up at you. the bow helps break up your outline. Also try not to make eye contact!

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

A good tip that I learned from Zano over at deerhunting.net -

Haven't had the opportunity to try this but I always carry a few small rocks with me now - just in case.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Don't buy a store bought arrow puller/remover, go to your local tire shop and ask them for an old piece (approx. 5x5) of tire innertube.
It works great for pulling stubborn arrows from a target.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

got a couple: some of you veterans probably know these. but if ONE person benefit from these, i will be happier.

hunt with the sun to your back so that you ain't looking into the sun and the deer have to to see you.

tie branches up behind you so that your shoulders are not stickin out each side of the tree.

walk up trail of some of your stands and block some trails that branchoff to funnel deer to your stand.

practice shooting further than you shoot normally. for two reasons, it makes the short shots seem easier and secondly, if you shoot 30 yards while hunting, buts shoot 35 yards in your backyard, and that buck of a lifetime walks by at 34 yards, you will be more confident.

take a kid hunting. we are the future of this sport.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

OK here are a couple tips for ya. when bowhunting keep a light coating of vasaline on your broadheads blades it will keep them from oxidizing in foul wheather and keep them sharp. also when instaling field tips or broadheads to your arrows smear alittle bow string wax on the threads to keep them from locking up. if you know you are going to be hunting in drizzly wheather make sure and wax your string and harneses thoroughly it will keep them from absorbing water. your strings won't sretch nearly as fast. never hunt your stands more than two times in a row. deer pattern us much easier than we do them. oh yah i'll bet buckhunter has some nice fish pics to ...ha ha ... just pokin . skina

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

GREAT HUNTING TIPS !!!
HERE'S A COUPLE FOR YOU...
PUT A LITTLE BAKING POWDER IN YOUR PISS BOTTLE, HELPS KEEP THE SCENT DOWN WHEN YOU OPEN IT.
WEAR A HAT THAT HAS A RIM AL THE WAY AROUND LIKE A BOONIE HAT INSTEAD OF A BASEBALL HAT. THE RIM WILL MAGNIFY THE SOUNDS BELOW YOUR STAND.
( BELIEVE ME IT WORKS )
BUY A ROLL OF CLOTH HOCKEY TAPE, YOU CAN SILENCE ANY PART OF YOUR STAND WHERE METAL TOUCHES METAL, AND IT'S VERY CHEAP.

GOOD LUCK
EB

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Stop your arrow from making noise as it is drawn across your rest by caring bow string wax with you. Just apply a little to your rest and your ultra silent for one shot.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Here is one that is pretty accurate in the area I hunt.
When looking at a buck rub on sloping terrain the side of the tree mostly rubbed not only indicates direction of travel but also time of day.
We have found that rubs on the uphill side of a tree indicate evening travel and those on the downhill side indicate morning travel.
Its not 100% but is pretty accurate most of the time.

Mr.D

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Good tips, worthy of a bump

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

excellent tips guys!!...here's one thatmay have been said though...
tie a smallpiece of string to your bow so you can tell if the wind changes while you are in your stand.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Buy a headlamp - muchbetter than a flashlight, and it frees up a second hand.

Use a strapper/gear retriever instead of a rope - no tangling, ever.

Wear latex gloves and rubber boots while fooling around your hunting area - i.e. setting up mock scrapes, cutting out saplings, scouting.

Fill an old tube sock with Arm & Hammer and tie it off. It makes a scent killing "rosin bag" that can be kept in the closet with your hunting gear, and even toted along in your daypack.

Sprinkle tiny shreds of tree bark from your treestandto monitor wind.

Waste time during off-peak hours with an earbud and radio.

If you drop something, you can use your rope andthe large pin in your backtag license holder as a hook to pick it up. Otherwise, you can make a hook out of any piece of heavy wire.

If you hunt out of the same tree often, leave a bow hook or two hungup in it. They're only .90 cents, and it saves you from trying to find the same hole in the dark. Save the "hole finding" for when you're not hunting.

Make a good freebie bow target out of an old duffel bag or cardboard box - fill it with old clothes, towels, blankets, etc. Balled up shrink wrap works wonderfully as well - and is much lighter. Both work well only with field points - the first one can handle certain types of practice blades (muzzy OK).

Use your safety belt as a deer drag - there's no sense carrying two.

Buy a good limb saw - it doubles as a pelvic bone saw.

If you go through a lot of scent, dilute it with distilled water. Use rubber gloves.

Use shoestrings as freescent wicks - just feeditdown into the bottle, and pull it back out, then loosely tie it onto a branch.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Eat an apple before you go hunting then rub whats left over your clothes to help
mask your scent.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Most of you know this, but it has save me from kicking something a few times. While shooting at the range, and you can group good except for a couple shots each round. If it happens consistently, number your arrows to see if it happens to be the same arrows that are not grouping. Could be a cracked nock or something similar.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

My best advice;
Point the pointy part of the arrow at the deer.:D

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

If you make a bad s hot and you know about it DO NOT POST IT ON HERE:):DLOL

Make sure you at least take a couple shots out of your stand before you go hunting..

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

i've seen several comments on easy hangers... I would suggest everyone to invest in a BOW Vest from deershack.com. It is really awesome. the bow is always exactly where it needs to be, no reaching for you bow plus it frees up both hands

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

i have a watch hung up on the front rail of my tree stand. all i have to do it take a quick peek down.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

In really cold weather put on a pair of pantyhose. I know it sounds crazy but if you put them on under long underware you will be surprisingly much warmer.

also if you are on stand and your arrow makes noise when drawing back the bow... take your index finger and rub the tip between your cheek and nose (there is natural oils there) and then put that oil on your rest to stop any noise.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

Speaking of panty hose---My buddy told me the other day he puts cedar boughs,pine needles,leaves or whatever vegetation he is hunting in the panty hose ,ties it up at the end and puts his hunting cloths in the drier with them.This is something I would definately have to try:)

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

In cold weather, less is more when it comes to keeping your feet warm. Multiple layers of socks especially if they're tight will limit blood flow to your feet. Blood is what keeps your feet warm. A single pair of socks will out-perform multiple blood flow constricting layers.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

I mount a quiver holder on all my stands. Very secure and easy to remove 2nd arrow with one hand!

Also check out Cats Eyes. Excellent light, clips under the brim of your hat and where you look there is light. Especially going up and down trees in the dark!

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

One of my stands has a chain to secure to the tree and I take a rubber sleeve (bike innertube) and put it around it to stop the metal to metal noise. Also, I use a screw in step when I hang it. I loop the chain around the tree and over the step so I don't have to worry about the stand creeping down.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

On extremely cold days wear latex gloves under your gloves.
This keeps the heat in and the cold out.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

I tried that once and thought I was going to get frost bite! It kind of made sense to me but didn't work for me. Seemed like it had the opposite effect. My hands were definitely colder with the latex gloves. I'm not sure if they sweated and the moisture absorbed the heat or what but I finally took them off.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

A great way to straighten messed up vanes after lots of practice shooting is to push down the mechanism on a toaster that makes it heat up, then make your fletchings flirt with the heat, moving them in for a second, then letting them cool off. They will straighten to brand new.

Some may have this feature on their aluminum arrows and not even know it, but if you remove the broadhead and look down the shaft, some aluminum arrows have a flourescent spiraling all the way down the inside of the shaft. If the arrow is bent at any place, the spiraling will not be even.

The nub on the side of your knock is a good way to feel which way your cock feather is supposed to face when it is dark. If you know the nub on your knock matches with your cock feather, you can angle attach it properly to you bow even when you cannot see on a dark morning. You just feel it with your fingers.

good luck

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

I have the following to an old Jennings and 4 newer Hoyt bows and it works well for my sons and I. This just for my hunting bows as it looks a little funny sticking back past the string before it is drawn.

I remove the factory carbon cable slide bar and replace it with aluminum rod of the same diameter only about 3” longer. Before I put it on the bow I bend a 180° hook on the end towards the string and paint it a dark color. I then place the cable slide over the bow end of the rod and insert it into the bow with the open hook turned away from the arrow. This hook is then used to hold your bow on your safety belt while on stand or hook on your lifting rope or hang on your stand while changing cloths or whenever needed. It can hang at arms length while standing or lay on your lap while sitting with no fear of your bow falling and just a 3” lift and your bow is loose and ready to shoot. I never liked the bow hanging on the tree behind me as I set facing away from the tree most of the time.
I even carried my bow with this hook while shooting 3D courses.

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

they sell a sling attachment like you describe.It fastens a small hook on the end of the rod and you wear a rope sling around you shoulder so you can hang the wight of the bow.It unhooks easily you just lift up a little.Works good for carrying the bow into the woods .I think it was like 8bucks really cheap

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

1. I found a small fluffy feather that I tied to my bow with dental floss. I think this gives me a better feel for wind direction than a string by itself. The feather is wider so it moves in the slightest breeze and it is easier to see.
2. There are a lot of ceder trees where I hunt. I have some thin ceder boards that I salvaged from a cedar closet. I place a few of these boards in my clothes bag after I wash my clothes.
3. I'm making an equipment hanger out of an old tie-down strap. I'm going to cut off the S hooks off of old straps and tread them onto one that I will strap to the tree.
4. For you all day tree standers....make sure you pack your lunch and snacks into quiet containers. No tin foil or loud chip bags.
5. I'm thinking...give me a minute....

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

My advice for harvesting a deer is to get off the internet and get out into the woods, you cant get one while staring at the computer screen!:D

RE: Lets share----Bowhunting tips and tricks
 

I used to carry a backpack/fanny pack into my stand with me all the time, but that is extra weight and can be akward at times when stalking or climbing. Then I bought a turkey vest a couple of years back that has multiple pockets for any accessory i need to take with me, just get a size bigger and you can wear it year-round over any cold weather clothing.