With the bowhunting season for Southern Zone deer underway now (it opened Oct. 18), the biggest challenge facing the majority of bowhunters is less about getting the ideal in-range fatal shot at a whitetail and more about being able to withstand the many hours normally required before it happens, if at all.
Unlike other forms of hunting – be it for small or big game – bowhunting for deer is a waiting game. The hunter usually chooses to hunt from a tree stand overlooking a well-used deer run or a prime feeding area such as the fringe of a corn or alfalfa field, apple orchard, or white oak grove containing plenty of mast (acorns). Obviously the optimum hours to be on stand is early and late in the day when deer tend to be moving to and from bedding and feeding areas. But seeing a deer and seeing one that's within effective bow range and unaware of the hunter's presence are two vastly different experiences. The latter may only occur only once out of several deer sightings, even in an ideal stand location, so the rest of the hours become a waiting game.
It's not unusual for even an experienced bowhunter to have to sit his or her stand for many hours each week ... even though deer are seen, but none present a good archery opportunity. And with each passing hour and day, all those hours begin to take their toll. Thoughts of moving to a different location become more demanding, the tendency to begin fidgeting rather than sitting stone-still becomes more commonplace, and the hunter becomes more distracted by anything that moves or makes noise nearby. The sound of a squirrel bounding through the dry leaves suddenly causes an adrenalin surge and then a letdown when it's identified. Conversely, the sounds of an approaching deer may be dispelled as "just another false alarm" until it appears just when the hunter least expects it and is often caught totally off-guard.
One of the other challenges facing bowhunters is related to what occurs to muscles and tendons after sitting inactively for long periods, especially in cooler temperatures. All those hours and days of practicing and honing archery skills can be nearly voided since cold muscles tend to react differently than warm muscles. Muscles stiffened by the inactivity and cold of sitting in the stand tend to balk more at pulling the bow all the way to full draw. That heavier draw weight that was so easy to pull during practice sessions suddenly feels far heavier. As my friend and fellow bowhunter Travis Turner – T-bone on the Realtree Outdoors TV show and videos – is fond of saying, "A slow hit is better than a fast miss." He recommends bowhunters set their bow's draw weight low enough so they can easily draw and shoot it accurately, even when their muscles are stiff and cold.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention tree stand safety, following the accident involving one recently. Tree stands are a wonderful aid, especially for bowhunting since their use has several benefits. But like anything that involves climbing many feet above the ground, there are inherent dangers of falling. This is true not only when putting the stand up, but also when entering, exciting or occupying them. And the higher the stand placement, the higher the risk of serious injury or even death should a fall occur.
To begin with, there are very few reasons to place a stand higher than 15 feet. For starters, a higher elevation creates a very poor shooting angle for the bowhunter – who may actually have to shoot almost straight down at a nearby deer. This angle reduces the fatal kill zone of the deer's lungs and heart area by 50 percent. Also, a higher stand location actually reduces the effective archery range due to bringing more lower limbs into play between the hunter and nearby deer, thereby obstructing an open shooting window for the arrow to fly through without being deflected.
The benefits of hunting from a tree stand have more to do with hunter concealment than human scent being displaced or carried above an incoming deer's super sensitive nose. While deer that come relatively near the hunter's stand may not catch a whiff of his scent, they may catch it before they get that close if they're approaching from downwind, and then sneak away. Remember that scent increasingly disperses and spreads in an expanding funnel configuration the farther it travels from its source (the hunter). So unless the stand placement is downwind from where deer will approach from, the benefits of scent dispersal are negated. However, because the hunter is above a deer's normal viewing window he's less apt to be seen unless he moves when the deer is close
Then there's the argument that deer do, indeed, look up when moving through the woods and often spot the tree stand hunter because of it. My answer to this is it's probably because the stand and the hunter in it are fully silhouetted against the sky, without any dense foliage behind to break up the outline. The deer sees this big blob in a place that no blob has been before and instinctively knows something's amiss. An analogy would be anyone walking out their back door when an errant balloon had become snarled on a nearby leafless tree limb ... they'd spot it immediately. With this year's bowhunting season shortened due to the earliest possible opening date for the regular gun season, the best tools a bowhunter can bring with him or her to their tree stands are patience, preparation, common sense and safety. As with many worthwhile endeavors. that old saying that applies so aptly goes equal for bowhunting: "It takes as long as it takes."