***ARCHERY TIP OF THE WEEK***

SCOUTING

“Always be prepared” is a motto that every archery hunter should adopt.
Very seldom does it happen that a hunter walks into a piece of woods he’s never been in before, finds any old tree, hangs a stand, and arrows a deer sporting head gear. It does happen but much of it is attributed to luck. As for me, I’d much rather stack the odds in my favor just a little bit. I want to know where the bedding and feeding areas are in the area I hunt. I want to know where that little stand of white oaks is located and when they start dropping acorns. I want to about that draw coming down from a ridge
that seems to funnel deer up and down from the flats below. I want to know where the rub lines and scrapes are located. I just want to know. I want to
know that the stand site I eventually select is going to provide the best shooting opportunities when the opening horn is sounded.
So, how do we get to that point? The answer is scouting so that we’ll be prepared.

Many whole books have been written on what to look for when scouting for whitetails so I can’t possibly tell you everything you should be looking for. What I can do is give you a place to start though.

Topographical maps and aerial photos are an invaluable tool when starting out. Using topo maps from your kitchen table you can pinpoint hilltops,
topographical funnels, draws, spurs, and ridge lines. Aerial photos allow you the ability to find fields, wooded funnels, heavy cover areas, and edges where two types of vegetation meet. Many of these maps can be found online for free. I like to print my topo maps on see-through sheets and
then overlay them onto print-outs of the aerial photos to give me an overall portrait of the cover and topography. If you do this, make sure both maps are in the same scale. Many of the things I want to know about can be found without having to leave the comfort of my home. While there is much more information that these two types of maps provide, deer will utilize all the terrain features I’ve mentioned. If you can find a ridge line that has a couple draws leading down to a field edge, you may have found a good early season stand site. The corner of a field that is hidden behind a hill from prying eyes is a prime area for deer to gather in the
late afternoon.

Patterning deer on fields from a distance with binoculars is another form of scouting for early season hunting. Be aware that once the deer feel that
they are being hunted, it won’t be long before the deer wait until dark to enter the field. But here’s the cool thing. Very seldom will deer totally abandon a feeding area. The deer are still near the field but now they are
hanging back in staging areas around the field until darkness. They’ll still generally leave their beds at the same time each day, but they’ll take their sweet time getting to the field. For bucks, look for ridges near
the field edge. Bucks will sometimes check out the field from a vantage point before using the cover of darkness to access the field. Back tracking trails from the field edges to find heavy cover areas where deer might
stage before entering the field is another good way to find where the deer are hanging out.

The very best method of scouting is to physically get out into the area you plan to hunt and check it out personally. Ideally, the preferred time to do this is after all hunting seasons have closed and before the spring green up. Yeah, it may be cold but you accomplish two things at this time of year. First, the woods will look very similar to what you’ll face in the fall. Summer scouting is more comfortable but with all the leaves on the trees you may miss important features in the distance. Second, you won’t be disrupting deer patterns. They’ll have plenty of time to forget all about
your intrusion into their world by the time the season opens in the fall.
Whatever you do, try to avoid scouting your hunting area in the weeks immediately before the season. A wary old buck may not be over your presence before the season opens.

Most important of all is to enjoy your scouting excursions. Involve the family or hunting buddies on your outings. Scouting during the off-season can keep you pumped up.

***ARCHERY TIP OF THE WEEK***

SAFETY
A lot of things can completely ruin a good hunt. Missing a standing broadside shot at 22 yards comes to my mind immediately but other things
can contribute to turning a good hunt into a bad hunt. These things might include…
Weather
Another hunter moving through your area
A drive that gets totally messed up
The list is endless. But nothing will ruin a good hunt faster (and perhaps ruin your life) than having an accident while hunting.

There’s no way we can totally eliminate all the chances of us having an accident while in the field but there are many things we can do that will
drastically reduce those chances.

First and foremost is the wearing of a fall restraint device (safety harness) while hunting from an elevated stand. Most hunting accidents occur while a hunter is getting into or out of a stand. Your harness should be on and clipped to a safety rope while both feet are still firmly on the ground. Quite often, we are entering our stands in the darkness. Sometimes our stands are wet or even ice covered. Lots of time, it’s very early in the morning and we may still be a little sleepy. Any of those elements alone are a recipe for disaster unless we take precautions that only take a
few seconds to incorporate into our hunt. No deer or deer hunt is worth even taking the chance of a fall that could result in serious injury or
even death.

Always let someone know where you’ll be and about what time you’ll be back.
If you plan on being back shortly after dark but you arrow a deer just at dusk that you now have to wait on, track, field dress, and then get back to your truck, make sure you contact someone to let them know you’ll be late.
Carrying a cell phone is always a good idea. I put mine on vibrate while I’m in the stand with strict orders for my family to call me only in an emergency.

Always follow the legal blaze orange clothing requirements for the state you are hunting in. Many times archery season overlaps with rifle, muzzleloader, small game, or fall turkey hunting seasons that require archers to wear and/or display blaze orange.

Read up on and follow all local, state, and federal hunting regulations. We may not understand why certain game laws are in the books (wearing a back tag in Pennsylvania comes to my mind) but many laws are instituted because they have safety in mind.

If you are hunting with others, insist they follow safe hunting practices as well.

Many accidents occur because someone is not paying attention. The excitement of the hunt sometimes becomes overwhelming and safety is
ignored. Pay attention to every move you make while hunting.

An accident not only will affect you, but will affect your family and friends. Hunt safe.

***ARCHERY TIP OF THE WEEK***

HUNTING FUNNELS

We’ve all been there. We know there are plenty of deer in the area we hunt because we’ve seen their sign and even the deer themselves. We’ve watched them come out to field edges to feed in the late summer, found those oak ridges that whitetails love so much, and even identified some potential bedding areas. The problem is, we can never seem to be in the right place at the right time. We put our stand in tree “A” and they pass by tree “B”. The next afternoon we set up in tree “B” and we watch them walk by tree “C”. The deer seem to be traveling wherever they choose at that particular time. An archery hunter can go mad trying to figure out deer travel patterns. So what can we do? How can we place ourselves in a spot that we KNOW a deer will walk by that’s within shooting distance? The answer my friends can be stated in one word…funnels!

A funnel is created by natural or man-made “obstacles” that condense deer travel down to a narrow corridor for a short distance. These obstacles can be any number of things…lakes, swamps, fast moving and deep streams, steep hillsides, fields, heavily traveled roads, buildings, large amounts of fallen timber, rock slides…anything that makes the deer detour so that they are forced into a condensed travel passage.

Deer are basically lazy creatures and they prefer travel routes that offer the least resistance while still providing adequate cover. Except for perhaps the rut, bucks will not forsake safety for ease. Generally speaking, deer will skirt lakes, they’ll cross fast moving streams in the shallows, the will avoid going up or down steep hillsides, they stay away from crossing open fields, and they’ll shy away from roads and buildings.

By utilizing free online aerial photos (Google Maps are excellent) you can easily identify most funnel locations. Remembering what I said before, look for anything that might force deer into a narrow travel corridor. A prime example would be a hedgerow across a field that connects two large wooded areas. Instead of crossing the open field, deer will utilize the hedgerow to get from one wooded area to the other.

Topographic maps are invaluable in finding steep hillsides from your kitchen table. The closer the contour lines are together, the steeper the hill. If you find a steep hillside that levels out 50 yards from the edge of a field, lake, or swamp chances are you have found a good funnel. Think about it…a well placed tree stand directly in the middle of this funnel allows the archery hunter a 25 yard shot to each side. But remember, the funnel must connect two areas that the deer want to get to.

If you can find a funnel that connects a bedding area to a feeding area, you’d better be prepared for some action. In this type of situation, you’re going to want to be on stand very early in the morning because bucks are usually the first to head back to their bedding area. And you’ll want to stay on stand as late as you can because bucks will generally be the last to approach a feeding area.

I know I’ve mentioned this before but you’ll want to pay very close attention to how you enter and exit your stand. In such a confined area such as a funnel, scent control once on your stand is also of vital importance. Do NOT, under any circumstance, get into a stand in a funnel where the wind is blowing in the direction you expect the deer to be coming from. If they scent you, you will never see them.

Hunting funnels can be a season-long provider of shooting opportunities. I hope we are never able to completely figure out deer travel patterns…what would be the fun in that? But funnels do have the potential to provide us those little honey holes that we can go back to over and over again.