Archery Season Countdown

East Texans love their hunting and while many hunters are already in the field chasing dove or teal, a few are still patiently waiting. Patience is probably an appropriate term for this group of hunters. These are the whitetail bow hunters. The bow hunter must attain a level of patience rifle hunters aren’t required to. For starters, the deer has to be within bow range. “In range” is different for each individual hunter. Some compound archers feel comfortable with 45-50 yard shots while many stay below the 40 yard mark. Still others use traditional or recurve equipment and there is another group that chooses the primitive long bow. These older methods work but “closer” is better for the recurve and long bow.

September is halfway gone but the serious bow hunter has already been flinging practice arrows in the back yard since August. This was drilled into my head from the beginning by a friend that got me interested in archery years ago. His advice, “if you don’t practice, you cant play” Nearly anyone that has played any organized sprot has most likely heard this same rule. His adaptation of the phrase really hits home after a miss. Practicing shot after shot, at different angles, elevations will make any shot opportunity you encounter with a wild animal may not be exactly the same but close enough. Shooting every afternoon in the 30 yard backyard target will get you very good at shooting on flat ground at near eye level with the target. The first shot taken from a 15 foot lean-to stand is going to be different and may result in heartache. Good ethical bow shots at a deer are not common. Some areas are better suited for bow hunting but you can count on a deer coming from a totally different direction and they seem to just “appear” under your stand. Practicing for every situation or scenario will only help the end result.

This brings us back to the patience needed for whitetail archery hunting. Seeing a giant buck saunter in towards your stand will cause your body to dump adrenaline and anxiety levels skyrocket. Everything is going great as the buck closes the range to 25 yards. His body is behind a large white oak as he picks up acorns, there are times when his crunching sounds like he’s eating Cheetos. If he takes two more steps, you will have the perfect broadside shot. He takes “ONE” more step, stops, checks the wind, looks suspicious, then slowly turns around and walks away loudly with the white oak between you and him until he is completely out of sight. At anytime a rifle or even a shotgun would have been the perfect tool. But the bow hunter has that extra patience and one day when all the planets align, the archer will connect with a trophy……..probably.

Get out there a practice so you can play.