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Since 10/10/2001
Preparing for Archery Season
Clothing - Wash your clothing in plain water or baking soda. Air dry them and then place them in a plastic bag. A garbage bag works well for this. Use a twist tie to make sure the bag is air tight. You might want to put in some sort of scent for your clothing. Use a neutral scent or one that is peculiar to the area you will be hunting. I think that the best scent is NO scent at all. I recommend using rubber boots or at least rubber bottom boots to contain your scent and reduce the chance of leaving human odor on your trail. Try to air out your clothing after a day of hunting.
Scents - As I have stated previously I believe that the best scent is NO scent at all. Therefore, I recommend using scent control products rather than attractants. If you do your home work scents will not be a necessary part of your hunting, at least not at first. The only time I will use scents is during the rut. Which is when I hunt scrapes. I hunt both existing and mock scrapes. The rut in my area starts in late October. The third week of October I will find a likely spot for a scrape and dig away the leaves beneath a low hanging branch (with a stick) and place scent in it. I will also set up a scent dispensing bag that will deposit scent while I am away. Preferably one that drips during the day. Which should train bucks to visit the scrape during daylight hours when scent is strongest. Also keep in mind that after a rain the first thing a buck wants to do is to freshen his scrapes. Remember, not all scrapes are active and most scrapes are NOT visited frequently. Another handy tip is to create a licking beranch. these can be in conjunction with a scrape but not necessarily. Find a spot in an opening where deer travel with a low hangind branch or one you can snap so that it hangs about 4 feet off the ground.. Apply one of the "pre-orbital" scents on the market to the branch and you are done. A licking branch is visited by all types of deer at all times of the year. It is a way they keep track of each other. I have used this tip for the past several years with good results.
Stands - I am a strong advocate of using tree stands. Especially in archery season when the quarry must approach at such close quarters. A tree stand gives the archer a well needed advantage over the deer's keen sense of smell as well as giving the hunter a little leeway in movement. The tree stand raises the hunter above the line of sight of the deer so that enables the hunter to get away with a little more movement without arousing the suspicion of the deer. I also prefer using climbing stands. This is probably because my state does not allow the use of screw in tree steps. Good stand placement is essential in hunting. Do not place your stand in a position where you will be skylined from the ground. Try to place your stand on the inside of a turn in a trail. This keeps you out of the line of sight of the deer when it is approaching your location. Always consider wind direction and locate yourself down wind from the suspected deer approach lane. Even though you are elevated some of your human odor will descend to deer level. Use the same process in deciding on ground blinds only regarding the wind to a greater degree.
Calls - I am an advocate of using deer calls. I believe in them so much that I make and sell my own brand of deer call. I have won many prestigious contests and have called in more than a few bucks and many deer using my call. My brother, after being instructed by me, went out and shot a 140 class buck (140 Pope and Young score). Firstly, I should mention that deer do not react to calls in the same manner as turkeys. They are not as vocal, except during the rut, and mature deer sometimes just seem uninterested. Although deer will almost always acknowledge calls, they do not always come to calls. A good call to try on deer and the most reliable call is the FAWN BLEAT. A maternal doe can not resist checking out a fawn in distress. I have attracted bucks using this call also. In fact two of the largest bucks I have called in came to a bleat call. More accurately, they followed a doe that was coming to my call. I also like to use a DOE GRUNT and a buck TRAIL GRUNT.These are non-mating calls and are used to contactother deer.The difference in these two calls is the pitch. The buck's is alittle lower and more gutteral. Another call a buck makes when it is chasing a doe is the TENDING GRUNT. It is similar to the trail grunt only shorter and staccato like. The last call I use,and only use sparingly, is the RUTTING GRUNT. The rutting grunt is a call used by a buck that is trailing a doe awaiting her arrival into estrus. Lastly, rattling is used by many hunters with great success. I recommend rattling lightly,"tickling" the tines together. Perhaps grunting occassionally to add to the scene. Remember to keep your rattling sequence to a minimum. Always pausing to scan the area for deer in the shadows. In order to be an effective deer caller you must have an idea of the make up of the deer herd you are hunting to plan how you will call to the deer. A buck that has few bucks to compete with and has a good harem of does will be less likely to respond to challenging calls. It would be better to attract that buck with doe calls. Challenge calls, tending or rutting grunts, are for the areas where there are low doe to buck ratios and there is much competition for the receptive does. Also, challenge calls will work if you are only after "THE" dominant buck in an area. During the season most of the hierarchy has been established and only sparring occurs until the rut comes. So if you use challenging calls you will be threatening the lesser bucks who will stay clear of the area the calls are coming from to avoid another whipping from a more dominant buck.
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