mobow

Being pretty new to serious bowhunting, I wonder how people that are successful every year do it. The one thing I learned this year is that I have NO idea what the deer are going to do. They didn't ever follow any of the same travel routes, couldn't pattern them at all, with the exception of one doe that my son shot during the youth hunt.....Days I thought would have been good I didn't see anything, then, all of a sudden, one day in the mid 70's at high noon, there's the buck I am after. I spent a great deal of time on stand this year, and it was a pretty good year, but deer huntin's tough....How do you do it??

ShadowAce

Yep, it's tough; with a bow. Gun is much easier. I just got back from a second weekend of a doe reduction bowhunt in Western Kentucky. It's a 1700 acre managed farm and there are deer all over the place. There were about 10 of us total over 2 weekends and only one shot opportunity presented itself. That's bowhuntin'.. As far as patterning deer, there's only so much you can do and the rest is up to the deer to do their part. I always love the tips from the pros that say to set up where 2 trails come together. Man there are so many trails where I hunt you just have to hope they come down the one your are on. Hang in there, if you spend enough time in the woods, your paths will eventually cross. And then all you have to do is stay upwind, keep movement to a minimum, be quiet, take aim, make a good shot and track it down! Easy enough huh?

thenuge15

Just gotta put in the time. Can't shoot a deer if your inside watching tv!

johnch

After 26 years deer hunting and 15 bow hunting it gets a LITTLE easyer.
Over the years I have found patterns in how deer move thru my chuncks of hunting ground ,that I had to be there to find out.
Hate to think of the hours/kills or even hours /deer in range.
You need to learn to see suttle deer paths.
You need to scout and move thru a area and not leave your scent (I am still learning )as best you can.
1 thing to remember if not pressured deer are lazy,try to find places to take advantage of that trait.
2 deer are creacers of habbit ,if they came down the trail today at 10 am ,good chance they will tomorow .
3 read everything you can , but no one should know your area like you
4 deer ignore all the rules you will read about if they are in the mood .

Watch the wind ,make it your freind
Watch the weather ,if there is a storm coming hunt just before and again just after.
Watch the moon , full moon deer move before sunrise ,hunting may be better late morn -early afternoon.
New moon deer move more after sunrise and just before sunset

Don't over hunt a stand location .
Try to keep your sounds to a min. ,or if you can't be quiet going to your stand ,shuffle your feet and move slow (sound like a squirel or turkey)
Find out where they are feeding and bedding and hunt at ether end or the middle.
I hunt a evening stand even if I can only get there 1 hr before sunset.
Do as much scent controll as posible

Good luck next season

2droptine

Yep Whitetails are tough there is no doubt. All the above mentioned are factors, I believe the most important is knowing your deer herds core areas. know this and does can be taken almost at will. All the sign in the world wont get your a Buck, You have to observe it. This means Hanging a stand and adjusting to changing feeding patterns, travel routes and agricultrural cycles. Know your Bucks core area and be with does close to it in early november and you will get your opportunity. Actually closing the deal is a whole nother story.

dsheally

What Droptine said, adjusting to feeding patterns. Find the food source the deer are
using at that time of year.

IL Trophy Hunter

I'm a firm believer that knowledge is POWER!!! I feel like I owe a lot of my success to all of the reading I've done over the years on whitetails. Take this knowledge you gain and add it in w/ your own personal experiences and observations, and after a while you sort of find your own style that suits you best. Oh yeah LUCK is also a big part of being successful, even for guys who are consistently successful. I'm also a firm believer however that you can certainly help put the luck in your favor by doing your homework. My 2 cents..

Stone316_74

That's why they call it hunting and not killing. It's been said before just put your time in and it will happen. Scent control and wind is THE biggest factor. If you don't pay attention to it, it will come back to haunt you (whether you know it or not). Keep things odorless as possible (never wash your hunting clothes with your regular loads). Just my biggest opinion I guess. Good luck with this up and coming season.

bowjunkie2

For me, I went through a long learning process since I had no one to teach me and that makes every years harvest very special to me now. I was just like you when I started out, wondering how is it that certain guys are always fiiling their tag almost as if there was soming magical about it. At times it was quite frustrating but I kept going out into the woods and through alot of trial and error the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together.

I wish we had puters back then because sites like these are a valuable source of information that can shave years off that learning curve.I guess my success now comes not only from experience but from learning how to interpret the deer patterns and sign I find in the woods.I'm lucky enough to be able to spend alot of time in the woods during bow season and every year it's different and even during the season the deer patterns change ie ... food , pressure , rut etc.

Like the other posts , spend time out in the woods and try to observe whats going on. Look for fresh droppings and the trails that the deer use during daylight hours. Above all ,enjoy yourself.

ShadowAce

Just wanted to add that not every area can you "kill does at will" this varies from farm to farm. On us it's a PITA because we don't have the cover but right across the road they stage every night before coming over to feed on our farm. The difference is only a 200 yards tops but the hunting is completely different.