Tag Archives: bowhunting

Zen Hunting

Holding Out For the BIG One

Leave a comment

Holding Out for the BIG Buck

The archery season is in full swing and NO, I haven’t even gone hunting yet. I don’t hunt the opener for the following reasons:

  1. The deer are under a lot of pressure after opening weekend and go into deep hiding. A week or two into the season and they usually calm down and fall back into their normal summer routine.
  2. The bucks are still in velvet, and I just like hard horns better. Velvet is deceiving. Velvet adds about 30% more false mass to a buck’s rack, making quick judging a little more difficult. When that velvet comes off, well that’s the true measure of the deer’s rack. Plus, velvet has to be carefully preserved in and out of the field, which can be a pain. But in the end, it comes down to personal preference. Some people just love fuzzy bucks.

So, I have three more days to get some work done, and then I’m gone! I’ll pick up where I left off last year, in the Superbuck area. I only spent a couple days there last year, but from what I’ve seen it looks very promising. There’s plenty of feed, water, and best of all, very little pressure.

Wish me luck!

Zen Hunting

Stealth in Hunting

Leave a comment

video_Still_008

Stealth in Hunting

As bowhunters soon learn, the deer’s few disadvantages are greatly outweighed by its many advantages, particularly in terms of its super-sensory abilities. Now, assuming you’ve finally located a deer undetected, how does the novice hunter close the distance—that very small gap required to get within bow range? Of all the skills a bowhunter must learn, stealth is probably the most important and difficult to master.

During my early bowhunting career I climbed clumsily through the woods, snapping twigs and crunching pinecones as I went. Meanwhile, all the forest creatures sat staring my way in horror. Eventually, you get tired of busting all the deer out before you see them and learn to slow way down, becoming painfully aware of each step which is carefully placed around endless twigs, pinecones, brush, and crunchy pebbles. You become obsessed with wind direction which is your best friend or worst enemy. You must diligently adjust your approach against the breeze which carries your human scent back and away from you. Not only can you use wind direction for scent control, but the rustling leaves and howling wind can work wonders to camouflage the inevitable noises you do make. But hunting in high winds has its drawbacks too. Like most prey species, deer are extra wary on a windy day because it’s difficult for them to hear predators approaching. If you observe a buck feeding on a windy day, you’ll see his head up and looking around a lot more than usual. They also tend to stay bedded longer.

Besides using the wind to mask my noise, I try to keep my movements to a minimum. You’re obviously going to have to move to find deer; ambush plans don’t always work. When you find yourself hunting midday, for example, and it’s dreadfully hot and the deer aren’t moving, then you must move. Otherwise, you are here and the deer are there and you never meet in-between. But you can still optimize your approach. For example, I rarely take more than eight or ten steps before stopping to listen and glass over the ever-changing landscape. Many years ago I developed a game to help me with stealth. Whenever I snapped a twig I would force myself to stop and sit down in that very spot for fifteen minutes and just listen. I found that unless I continued making noise, the deer would eventually go back to what they were doing. But if I continued moving, the deer would confirm the danger and leave. A single noise in a forest full of other wildlife is eventually discarded by the deer. Countless times I’ve watched deer turn and stare in the direction of a noise with eternal patience, but if the sound wasn’t repeated, they’d eventually go back to their normal routine.

Every track, rub, bed, and sign you encounter, along with other factors such as wind, terrain, and forage, will dictate your direction of travel. The hardest part is moving undetected. It was during one of these early lessons that I had my first encounter with a bull elk. It was my third archery deer hunt and I had just spent much of the day ghosting along slowly and quietly, like a puff of smoke through the dense timber. Suddenly, a patch of tan fur caught my eye only ten yards ahead of me. I crouched down and observed a giant six-point elk standing in a thicket of pines, completely oblivious to my presence. I didn’t have an elk tag so I just sat and watched him while he stood and watched the woods. At that moment, I knew my lesson in stealth was complete.

Zen Hunting

Hunter Evasion

Leave a comment

deer_1

Hunter Evasion Tactics

We could argue all day about what the mule deer’s greatest strength is, whether it’s their superfluous hearing, specialized eyesight, or powerful sense of smell. The fact that they must live in the outdoors year-round under extreme conditions requires them to have many strengths. But in my observation, the mule deer’s greatest strength is evasion.

In most instances, as you go sneaking quietly through the woods, the deer have already sensed your presence and are quietly sneaking away from you. Novice hunters aren’t usually aware of this, and if they don’t see any deer all day, they just assume there aren’t any around. Well, that’s exactly what the deer wants you to think! If every time a deer sensed a hunter, he went flying out of its bed and bounded noisily away, then experienced hunters would know there were deer in the area and continue putting more pressure on them. Instead, smart bucks have learned the art of quiet evasion.

As a rule, you’ll hear a lot more deer bound away than you’ll ever see, and you won’t see or hear even more deer that sneak silently away from you. But if you learn to slow way down and play the wind just right, you’ll eventually get within bow distance of an unsuspecting buck. This still doesn’t guarantee a shot because in most cases the buck will still sense some sort of danger before you can raise your weapon. He’ll suddenly explode from his bed and fly out of sight, carefully keeping as many trees as he can between him and you as he goes. That’s just part of hunting. There’s no way to fool all the deer all the time.

Big bucks have also developed a tactic for avoiding stealthy hunters by “lying low.” Since the deer doesn’t detect the stealthy hunter from a great distance, the sudden appearance of a hunter at close range will force the deer to make a decision: either he can flee out of his bed and alert you to his presence, or he can lie low and let you walk by, hoping you don’t see him. On numerous occasions, I’ve had bucks explode from a bed within just a few yards of me. Obviously the deer knew I was there beforehand, but chose not to flee until danger was imminent.

Since most bucks you encounter evade you one way or another (sometimes even after being shot), then evasion is obviously the mule deer’s greatest strength. The best advice I can give you is this: Never underestimate a mature buck. In most cases, the best you can do is to get in the vicinity and hope things play out in your favor. Be patient and let things unfold slowly, at nature’s pace. Even if it takes all day to stalk a buck you’ve spotted, your best chance of success is just getting close. Once the buck has sensed you, the jig is up and you’ll have to go find another one.

Zen Hunting

Deer Hunting: Art or Science?

Leave a comment


video_Still_007

Deer Hunting: Art or Science?

Is deer hunting more art or science? What a great question!

A year ago I had an interesting conversation with a non-hunter about art and science and how it relates to hunting. Now, this non-hunter has a friend who loves hunting more than anything, but his results over the years have been very poor. The hunter is not only a scientist by profession, but a scientist in just about every other facet of life. Almost everything he does is calculated and planned out, with little left to chance. In other words, he’s an extreme left-brain oriented person.

In contrast, I’m a real right-brain oriented person. I’m an artist not only by profession, but in most other ways as well. So, my only common ground with the scientist is our love for hunting. This got me thinking.

If you aren’t familiar with the difference between left and right brains, maybe this comparison will help:

Characteristics of left-brainers:

  1. They tend to be numbers oriented.
  2. They are very rules oriented
  3. They are facts oriented
  4. They tend to be less open to abstract ideas such as religion, mysticism, romance, etc.
  5. They are more confident, but also more close-minded
  6. They tend to be politically conservative
  7. They tend to be more financially successful

In contrast, here are some characteristics of right-brainers:

  1. They are art oriented
  2. They are more intuitive and open-minded
  3. They have a general distrust for science, facts, and numbers
  4. They are more hopeful and romantic
  5. They have more politically liberal views
  6. They are more visually oriented

Ideally, a person is perfectly balanced between the two, meaning the two halves of their brain work together rather than one dominating the other. Most people are balanced somewhere between the two extremes, but some people aren’t. Being extreme one way or the other is actually dangerous because it means we are close-minded and prone to mistakes, or even mental disorders.

How does being left- or right-brained affect hunting success?

When a person bags a giant buck, the scientist will immediately begin assessing the facts surrounding the event. Where, when, and how did this hunter come to arrow such a great trophy? If the scientist can just answer these simple questions, then a formula can be assigned and implemented in the future, right?

But in real-life, hunting doesn’t always work that way. For instance, what if the hunter just wandered into a section of unknown woods on a hunch and stumbled into a big buck. Miraculously, the buck didn’t notice the hunter who immediately sent an arrow sailing perfectly through its heart. End of story for the average hunter, but a great mystery for the scientist. None of the scientist’s questions are answered, and so there can be only one possible explanation: sheer, lethal luck. And the scientist knows that absolutely nothing can be learned from luck, so all the data must be dismissed. Could it be that the scientist is asking the wrong questions?

In contrast, the artist views hunting as art. Yeah, there might be a little science thrown in, such as knowledge of deer behavior and the physics of his bow, but the true artist-hunter glides fearlessly along a path of infinite variables and gut feelings. He might begin the day with a basic plan or direction in mind, but he almost immediately veers away from preconceptions and ends up in mysterious places he hadn’t considered before. The scientist may do this occasionally, but the unknown is usually avoided. Scientists tend to stick with the plan at all costs.

As an artist, I’m probably a little biased. I see the purely scientific approach to hunting as a triple threat to success. The first problem is over-planning. The scientist has probably stared at a map for so long that he just knows where the deer will be based on a number of physical factors. Now nothing can lead him away from his plan. The second problem is over-packing. He is aware that the woods are full of infinite challenges, variables, and dangers, so he overfills his pack. This in turn slows him down and makes him noisier. The third problem is ignoring intuition. The scientist is still prone to intuition and a heightened sense of awareness just like every other hunter, however he is less likely to respond to mysterious forces like hunches, intuition, premonitions, gut feelings, etc. This narrows his vision by ignoring the gentle prodding’s of Nature.

Game over. The results are in and the winner is…

The Artist.

But scientists don’t despair. Anyone can change. The first step to becoming more artistic in hunting is to admit you’re a left-brainer. This can be a challenge since left-brained people don’t always see the value of using the right brain, particularly when it comes to hunting. At this point you need to take an honest assessment of your hunting success. Has all your planning paid off? Could there be more to hunting than sheer science and numbers?

For you left-brainers out there I urge you to read back over my previous blog-posts entitled Zen in Hunting: Part 1, 2, 3. The left-brainer might scoff at such mystical forces as Zen, but I feel like it’s the top contributor to my hunting success. I believe there are forces beyond our comprehension that want us to succeed and are willing to help us, if only we keep an open mind. Gather the data, formulate a hypothesis, and then let go and let Nature be your guide. Go with the flow.

That’s what Zen bowhunting is all about.

Zen Hunting

Secret Bowhunting Tip #6: Put in the Time

Leave a comment

deer_4

Secret Bowhunting Tip: Putting in the Time

Bowhunting in August sometimes feels like doing time. Spending sixteen hours straight in the woods can be incredibly boring, hot, and seemingly futile. Because deer are most active in the morning and evening, most hunters return to camp for lunch and a nap during the day, and then head back to the field in the afternoon. But hunters beware: your odds of bagging a big buck at midday might be low, but your odds of bagging a buck at camp are near zero. However, if you learn a little bit about mule deer daytime habits, you can increase your odds of success.

In low hunter pressure areas, bucks bed down for the day around 9:00 a.m.  Between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. deer get up for a short time to stretch, grab a quick bite, and maybe change beds to avoid the changing sun angle. Then, between 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. they unbed again to use the restroom. Depending on factors such as temperature, cloud cover, and pressure, bucks will either continue to feed or bed down until evening.

The reason we can count on these times is simple: Mule deer are browser-feeders and their digestive systems run like clockwork. Since a buck is most vulnerable when he rises from bed, we can watch for them to move during the slower midday hours.

When the hunters roll into high-pressured public areas, deer change their behavior quickly. The worst place I know of is Monte Cristo in Northern Utah. I’ve hunted this area for several years and never saw a big buck up and feeding during the day. Eating may be the primary drive for deer, but sheer survival is more important than eating.

When their lives are on the line, deer will bed before daylight and remain bedded all day until the sun goes down. They simply adopt a temporary nocturnal lifestyle in order to survive. When hunting nocturnal bucks, don’t get discouraged. They still exist somewhere; you just have to find them.

When the hunting pressure is on, bucks leave open country where they might live all summer and move to steep secondary ridges where there’s more protective cover. When looking for pressured bucks, begin your search in the steepest and thickest terrain possible. Sometimes they move to heavily wooded north-face, dark timber where elk like to live.

Learning a little about a deer’s diet will help you pin-point good secondary areas. Depending on the time of year, the primary food sources for deer in the West are bitterbrush, cliff rose, aspen leaves, and sage brush. It’s imperative that you learn you identify key food sources in your area. The best method to determine a deer’s primary food source is to cut the stomach open. Of course, you’ll have to harvest one first.

Once you’ve located these secondary ridges and hideouts–based on actual deer sightings, tracks and droppings, or other sign–the next step is to get there before first light. Deer that aren’t feeding midday still have to eat at night, and they won’t be traveling far to bed down for the day.

When hunting secondary ridges, start by still-hunting the steepest and thickest terrain you can find. Move very slowly and glass every ten steps or so. There’s nothing more difficult than hunting bedded bucks, but remember you have all day to do so!

It’s also a good idea to locate nearby water sources. Deer don’t require daily water because they get most of their moisture from the plants they eat. But they still need to water every few days, and even more frequently in hot, arid regions. Any small seep or spring will do. One way to locate water is too look for willows. Willows are easy to spot because of their tall, reddish stems. As an aside, deer also love to eat willow branches.

In my time, I’ve seen some real monster bucks up and feeding during midday, however, this is rare. Whenever possible, spend the entire day in the woods and it will eventually pay off. Hunt smarter, not harder. The fastest way to increase bowhunting success to put in more time afield.

For other “secret tips” to bowhunting success, refer back to these previous articles:

Secret Tip #1: Weight is Everything

Secret Tip #2: Success is a Decision

Secret Tip #3: Be Patient

Secret Tip #4: Hunt Alone

Secret Tip #5: Enlarge Your Consciousness

Secret Tip #6: Put in the Time

Zen Hunting

Secret Bowhunting Tip #4: Hunt Alone

Leave a comment

n8_Jake2

Secret Bowhunting Tip #4: Hunt Alone

As a young hunter I frequently hunted with a buddy, whether it was out of fear of being alone or just to have some company. But in most cases we both failed to get a deer. Consequently I quickly learned to hunt alone.

The main reason why you shouldn’t hunt with a partner is because it doubles your scent, noise, and visibility to the deer. And since a partner will probably be chatting about something, it actually triples the noise you’d normally make.

An equally important reason to hunt alone is because another person is prone to challenge crucial decisions you might make when relying on your hunting instincts. Oftentimes, and for no logical reason, I’m suddenly compelled to go left instead of right. But my hunting partner is simultaneously compelled to go right! Or maybe I feel strongly about traveling uphill, but he thinks we should go down. So instead of making a simple, subconscious, instinctual decision to  do anything, you stand in the woods arguing your case. Finally you reach a compromise, and instead of going left or right, you go straight ahead into failure.

The problem with compromising—or splitting the decisions equally—you shoot each other in the foot. Your God-given instincts are rendered useless. You cease to be a predator and become a lemming. That’s the main real reason I hunt alone. Other than elk hunting where you might need a caller, or if you happen to be mentoring a youth or novice hunter, I can’t think of a single situation where it would be beneficial to hunt with another person.

That being said, each year I participate in other people’s hunts, whether it’s my son, my wife, a friend, or a family member. It’s important to pass along bits of the wisdom or woodcraft to the next generation. But these are special cases, and I’m usually not the one hunting anyway.

Sometimes, out of pity or just for fun, I’ll let someone tag along with me on a bowhunt. Some people just haven’t learned to hunt alone, or maybe I’m bringing someone to a new area and want to show them around. What I’ve noticed with most “buddy-hunters” is that they’re usually stubborn know-it-alls. The reason they don’t hunt alone is because they haven’t learned that they should. These people sometimes heed my advice, but for the most part they go right back to doing their own thing, but rarely having success. When I hunt with these people, I have little expectation for success. Sometimes I don’t even take my bow out of the sling.

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in life is that you can’t help people who aren’t willing to help themselves. You can lead them to the best areas, but they’re gonna make the same mistakes they always made: underestimating deer, making too much noise, moving with the wind instead of against it, over-packing, resting when they should be moving or moving when they should be sitting.

When hunting alone, safety is a much greater concern. Some areas—such as the High Uinta Mountains—are just too big and rugged to venture into alone. One false step and no one will ever find your body. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I should hunt with another person. I’m really camping with them. In the morning when the hunt begins, I’m going out  on my own. In dangerous areas it’s good to have someone else in the general area—just not right next to you.

In two decades of bowhunting, I haven’t arrowed a single animal with someone standing next to me. Bowhunting is not a team sport. If you have a regular hunting partner, that’s great. Just make sure you set out in opposite directions when your hunt begins.

Click here for the next tip:  Secret Bowhunting Tip #5: Enlarge Your Consciousness

Hunting Stories

Elk Hunting’s EASY!

Leave a comment

(Story published in Eastman’s Bowhunting Journal, September/October 2013, Issue 79)

BeavElk

Elk Hunting’s Easy – My 2012 Utah Bull Elk Story

Elk hunting’s easy! Well, that’s what I tell my fellow bowhunters anyway. And they usually get a little irritated. But I’m only half-kidding. Compared to spot-and-stalking trophy mule deer, yes, elk hunting is easy.  You can’t call mule deer; believe me, I’ve tried. But with enough practice (about ten years worth) you can call trophy elk. I ate ten tags in a row before I finally arrowed my first bull elk…but it was still kinda easy.

In 2012, after ten years of applying for the Beaver, Utah limited entry tag, I finally drew. It was probably the worst year I could have drawn since I’d just purchased a major fixer-upper house that spring. I had absolutely no time to scout the area and spent the entire summer swinging a hammer instead. But I wasn’t about to give up the tag I’d been waiting ten years for. Fortunately, my brother, Brent, had drawn a premium tag for the same unit in 2011. He’s crazy about elk–an absolute fiend–spending 30 days non-stop hunting over the entire unit. I spent a week calling for him that year, and the knowledge I gained from his hunt would prove invaluable for my own.

Surprisingly, my other brother, Russell, drew the same tag after only two years. So the plan was to hunt with him for one week in late August, and if we couldn’t get the job done, we’d return in September and hunt the last week too.

Early Attempts

Elk hunting’s easy! At least that’s what I kept telling myself the first couple days as we hiked all over the high-altitude part of the unit without a single response from the elusive bulls. On the third day, Russ and I split up; I went high and he went low. A light rain started that night as I hiked alone into some high-alpine peaks. As soon as I got there, the downpour started. I couldn’t pitch my tent fast enough as lightning crashed all around me. To say it was a little unnerving would be an understatement. But hey, elk hunting’s easy, right?

The next morning I crawled out of my damp sleeping bag and began hiking and calling. But it was all for naught. There wasn’t a fresh sign in the whole area. As I was packing up my tent to leave, however, I heard what sounded like a half-hearted bugle way back down the mountain near a small saddle. I decided to investigate the area on my way out.

Sure enough I found some big, fresh tracks and droppings headed over the saddle and down the mountain. Since I was headed that way anyway, I decided to follow. I made several cow calls along the way, but got no response. Eventually I lost the tracks in some rocky terrain and gave up my futile chase. A couple minutes later, there was an explosion of elk below me as the whole herd blew out of the area. This confirmed my suspicion: the elk were in the area, but not vocal yet.

Close Calls

I met up with Russ a short time later and he we decided to try yet another area. That afternoon I borrowed the lone ATV to go retrieve my knife that I’d left on a tree stump back down the road. I made it about a mile down the roughest, rockiest trail ever when the ATV tire suddenly jolted off a small boulder, causing the machine to veer hard right and climb the steep bank. In about one second the ATV flipped over. Realizing I was about to be crushed underneath, I did a mid-air swan dive onto the rocky opposite bank while the ATV landed upside down behind me. I was bruised from head to toe, but relieved that I wasn’t dead. One of my ribs took the worst of it and for the rest of the week I couldn’t cough, sneeze, or even sit up in bed without excruciating pain. But, I wasn’t leaving the mountain; not without an easy elk anyway.

After a very discouraging fourth day, I left the mountain. The elk rut was happening yet and I wasn’t going to waste one more day calling to the trees. On my way down the mountain I blew a truck tire on the rocky road. No big deal; I had a spare tire. Then, half an hour later while driving down the highway, my truck began to shake violently as one of my rear tires shredded into a thousand pieces. Now I was stuck. I spent the rest of the day hiking to cell phone range and then getting towed back to town where I had the pleasure of shelling out nearly $1000 for a new set of tires. I thought elk hunting was supposed to be easy!

Second Attempt

I returned two weeks later with my lovely wife (and elk caller), Esther. Since my first trip, I’d gotten a report from my brother that the lower elevation bulls were in full-rut mode. We drove to Beaver on Sunday evening, and on Monday morning we hiked a mile up the mountain and instantly had bulls bugling all around us. See, elk hunting is easy…sometimes. I probably could have arrowed an elk that morning but my poor caller (Esther) got lost behind me while I followed the herd up the mountain. Later that evening I found her back at camp and we were both a little frustrated. After educating her on the finer points of elk calling, we once again headed up the canyon. Only a quarter mile from camp, we blew a couple cow calls and two bulls came screaming in simultaneously. They met across a small ravine, but didn’t seem to care much for each other. They locked antlers and smashed and crashed in the forest for a while, raising quite a ruckus! The biggest and meanest of the two bulls finally emerged and crossed the ravine towards us. Though I didn’t get a long look at the bull, I could tell he was a solid six-point and a shooter in my book.

Keeping his distance, he circled around us while bugling and chuckling at the top of his lungs. I quickly positioned myself in a small clearing between the bull and Esther. It was about 7:45 pm as I knelt beneath a giant pine tree in the thick woods. The bull hung up at 80 yards and refused to come closer. I violently flapped my arms at Esther, motioning for her to drop further back…WAY BACK. The bulls in the area were very responsive, but they were smart and hung up well beyond bow range. Esther continued her cow and estrus calls as she dropped way out of sight.

A few minutes later, the big bull couldn’t take it anymore. He suddenly appeared from behind a thicket of pines and came stomping right towards me, his huge rack rocking back and forth as he weaved through the dense trees. He was coming in fast and quickly passed a 40-yard tree that I’d ranged. He was facing me so I didn’t have a shot. At thirty yards I still didn’t have a shot. At 20 yards he suddenly veered broadside. As his head disappeared behind a tree, I swung my bow and settled the pin. A second later, his shoulder appeared and my arrow was off. A PERFECT HIT! The bull smashed away but only made it 50 yards before going down. When Esther caught up to me, I was shaking with excitement and immediately began raving on about the details of the last few intense minutes. After giving the bull a little time, we slowly crept in on him. Although the bull ended up scoring in the lower 300s, it didn’t matter to me. He was my biggest bull yet and I did it with a bow. Mission accomplished.

Beav2

This part of my limited entry elk hunt ended quickly, and sure enough, it was pretty easy! But, there’s no way I could have done it without my wife and her sweeeeet elk calling. She made it easy! I suppose the hardest part of the hunt was packing that huge bull off the mountain on our backs. That wasn’t easy, but I did it with a big smile on my face.

What a great hunt; what a great wife!

Beav3

Zen Hunting

Secret Bowhunting Tip #3: Be Patient

Leave a comment

video_Still_008

Secret Bowhunting Tip #3: Be Patient

Never underestimate a buck! If you hunt long enough, this will ring loudly in your head. Bowhunting is a game of patience. Rushing in on any animal usually results in failure. Here are some examples.

Patience Example 1

A few years ago I went elk hunting with a person whose name isn’t Joe, but let’s call him Joe. After a long, fruitless, half-day hunt, we finally spotted a herd of cow elk bedded on a steep hillside. Since I was holding out for a bull, I let Joe lead the charge on the unsuspecting elk. What transpired was a little ridiculous.

I crouched behind Joe as he steadily climbed through the thick scrub oak towards the elk. There were probably 20-30 animals total, but we could only see bits and pieces of them. As we got closer, a bedded cow came into full view at about 90 yards and was looking right at us. I pleaded with my Joe to slow down and wait for one to feed into view, but he persisted forward, trusting in his camo to fool the elk’s eyes. At about 40 yards the bedded cow leapt from its bed and blasted away, taking the whole herd with it. Surprise, surprise.

Had Joe been just a little patient, I’m certain he would have gotten a shot. The wind was perfect and the cows couldn’t see us crouched in the brush. Some of them were even feeding around us. They felt safe and weren’t going anywhere. Even if it took two or three hours, inevitably one of the cows would have wandered close enough for an easy shot. Instead, we went home empty-handed.

Patience Example 2

In 2012 I was hunting the extended hunt for deer. On the second day I spotted a massive, tall-racked, mature 4×4 buck. He was a true giant. Unfortunately, I spotted him late in the morning as he was bedding down with a group of does. The ground was blanketed with crunchy snow and I knew it would be nearly impossible to stalk close. But I had to try. For the next seven hours I worked carefully into the area. As I got closer I literally had to break the frozen ground with my hand before placing my foot down. It was the most arduous stalk of my life. Finally, I knew I was close, but the thick oak brush made it impossible to see anything. So I just sat and waited.

Right around 4 pm I heard the crunching of hooves in the snow. By some miracle, the group of deer were up and feeding in my direction. Long story short, the buck appeared briefly in the only window I had. I misjudged the distance and sent an arrow sailing harmlessly over the giant buck’s back. Game over.

Although I failed with my shot, I succeeded in my stalk—a stalk that burned up then entire day. The failure still stings today, but not as bad as if I’d simply rushed in and blew out the deer.

Conclusion

In bowhunting, the hunt only just begins when a deer is spotted. Having patience and getting close is the real challenge. But if you are patient, there is almost no buck you can’t get close to. Since hunters are really predators, we can learn from studying other predators. Have you ever watched a lion stalk a gazelle on TV? Have you noticed how carefully, calculated, and slowly it’s done? Wild predators have innate and instinctual patience. Otherwise they will starve.

Next time you’re on a stalk, remember the lion in the grass. He might not be successful every time, but he never gives up and he moves with eternal patience. Be a predator; be patient and let nature unfold at its own pace.

Click here the next tip: Secret Bowhunting Tip #4: Hunt Alone

Zen Hunting

Secret Bowhunting Tip #2: Success is a Decision

Leave a comment

esther

Secret Bowhunting Tip #2: Success is a Decision

It took me half a lifetime to really understand that success in bowhunting is a decision. Failure comes not from luck, but from failure to commit to the goal. The decision to succeed is not made a week or two before the hunt, but the very second the last season ends.

Setting Goals

In sharing this insight with other bowhunters, I’m usually met with some hesitation. They want to agree with the premise, but don’t really understand it. So let me explain:

When I make the decision to succeed—to arrow a great buck—I set a goal for the entire year. And it’s not just any goal, but the most difficult goal to reach. It’s so difficult because there are just too many variables in bowhunting and no guarantees. What if I simply can’t find a good buck this season?

By setting such a lofty goal, one’s mind begins making immediate preparations to accomplish it. Throughout the year, this goal is broken down into planning, studying, shooting, equipment preparations, mind-set, and a myriad of other sub-goals.

Keeping this primary goal in the forefront of my mind, I find myself making daily decisions to achieve it. One example is to block out my intended hunting dates on the calendar. No matter what opportunity or responsibility arises, I absolutely refuse to alter my schedule. This year alone I’ve turned down two potentially profitable jobs that would’ve interfered with my hunt dates.

Admittedly this can be very difficult for some people. Most jobs will allow one week off work, or two if you’re lucky. The sad fact is, if you let your all-important job interfere with your hunting schedule, then you can’t set the goal in the first place. The decision isn’t yours to make.

Setting such big goals sets a precedence upon which failure is not an option. If you are truly committed to a goal, subconsciously you will make mental and spiritual goals which you aren’t even aware of; goals which will seemingly magically bring you and your quarry together into a single space and time. I believe there are unseen forces in the universe that want you to succeed; that are willing to help you if you let them. You just have to want it bad enough. This is the only way to beat bad luck.

Conclusion

As mentally and physically prepared as I might be, bowhunting often feels overwhelming at times. I believe that bowhunting trophy bucks–both successfully and consistently–is the hardest thing a person can do. I also know that there are greater forces at work than I can ever understand which increase my odds. Some call it the power of positive thinking. Some call it Zen hunting.

There is nothing more magical than the breaking dawn of a season opener. And there is nothing more deflating than last light of an unsuccessful season closer. I have no intention of ever experiencing a failed season again. I’ve made the decision!

Click here for my Secret Bowhunting Tip #3: Be Patient

Zen Hunting

Secret Bowhunting Tip #1: Weight is Everything

Leave a comment

video_Still_003

Bowhunting Tip: Weight is Everything

Be prepared. – Boy Scout Motto

Be prepared, not OVER-prepared. – My Motto

In this article I’m going to address weight issues. No, I’m not talking  about your waiste line. I’m talking about unnecessary items we carry into the field that may be hampering our success.

Utah offers a great opportunity for bowhunters who still have unused archery tags at the end of the general elk and deer seasons. It’s called the Wasatch Extended Archery Hunt. The “extended hunt” runs from the middle of September through the end of December, and encompasses the entire Wasatch Front and the deer rut. I usually see more giant bucks during the extended hunt than the whole general season. The biggest downside to the extended hunt—particularly in November and December—is the steepness of terrain coupled with deep snow and cold weather.

In November of 2012, I hunted the extended hunt for a few days alone. There’s always a little apprehension about venturing into those freezing mountains alone; I really never know where I’ll end up exactly either. To feel more secure on that trip, I brought tons of extra gear, including extra clothing, food, water, hand warmers, boots, and even some reading materials. In other words I over-packed, and that was a big mistake. Instead of taking three hours to drag my sled to camp, it took five hours and I didn’t get to bed until 1:00 am.

For the duration of the trip, my legs cramped, I blew through my water, ate more food than usual, and was forced to rest more frequently. Although it was warmer than previous years, I was more tired and miserable. Miraculously I arrowed a decent buck two days in, but with so much camp weight on top of my deer, I had to leave half my gear on the mountain and return the next day to retrieve it. Not fun!

Extended Hunt Redo

In 2013 I returned to the same spot, only this time I brought my brain. Before the trip I went over the list of junk I hauled up the mountain last year and then crossed out almost half of it. Most of that extra stuff served only to make me feel safer and had no real use for hunting. Some of the items included extra food, water (I could just filter water as I went and /or eat snow), extra boots, a pillow, books, propane, extra knives, hand warmers, utensils, batteries, archery tools, a handgun, extra flashlights, lighters, etc.

I also noticed that my big, leather hunting belt weighed twice as much as my skinny “church belt,” so I wore that one instead.  I even cut the tags off my clothes and the handle off my toothbrush. All in all, I probably removed 30% of my original pack weight, and man did it pay off. I got up the mountain in record time, ate less food, and covered more ground. You might be surprised at how difficult it is to be quiet while wearing a heavy day pack. In the end, I didn’t miss any of the junk I left home. Well, I did miss my handgun when I learned there was an active cougar den with kittens only 300 yards of my tent!

It’s hard to believe that such small items matter so much. It’s the result of the compounding effect. You never know which erroneous item will be the straw that breaks your back.

Weight and Snow Hunting

Weight is especially  a negative factor when hunting in snow. More than anything else, a pair of heavy boots will fatigue you out in the snow. For years I had two boot options: First, a heavy, high-top, insulated cold-weather boot, and second, a lightweight, breathable, un-insulated stalker-style boot. In 20I3 I stopped using heavy boots altogether. What I found was the heavy boots always got too hot due to the extreme terrain. They were also noisy and very heavy compared to my stalker boots.

Now, the stalker boots weigh half as much (similar to tennis shoes),  but there are two minor drawbacks. First, my feet always got cold when I wasn’t moving, and second, they had minimal traction, or tread. To counter the cold, I simply wore two layers of wool socks. As for traction, I simply strapped on a pair of lightweight ice cleats which worked wonders in the snow.

Conclusion

The next time you return from a grueling backcountry bowhunt, I suggest you empty everything in your backpack onto the living room floor and make a list of whatever you didn’t use. Is there still a tag on your tent? Why did you pack it into the woods? Were you going to eat it? Is there half a tube of toothpaste left in your toiletries pocket?  Extra paste is a waste of space.

Weight is everything. That was the lesson I learned in 2013. And surprise, surprise, fear is your worst enemy. Fear is why we over-pack. The more afraid of the mountain we are, the more extra stuff we cram in our packs. And then there’s the great gear paradox:  the more we fear failure, the more hunting gear we tend to carry around in our daypacks.

Bowhunters need to realize that they are the predator, not the gear on your back. You are too be feared, not the mountain. All that extra weight is an anchor keeping you from your goal. Pack light. Don’t be your own worst enemy. Be prepared, not over-prepared.

Click here for my Secret Bowhunting Tip #2:  Success is a Decision