 “ROOKIE
ERRORS - 10 DEADLY SINS OF NEW BOWHUNTERS”
Not Knowing Where To Put Lure, And Not Understanding
When To Rattle
EDITOR'S NOTE: Good bowhunters can become better bowhunters
if they don't commit 10-deadly sins that decrease their
odds for bagging any deer and especially trophy deer.
Here's 10 of the most-common mistakes that even good
bowhunters – sportsmen who have taken several
deer with their bows and who have hunted for four or
five years - make that I've identified by hunting with
through the years.
Not Knowing Where To Put Lure:
Most hunters become very excited about all the new
lures and scents on the market today. However, many
good bowhunters don't understand the difference in a
cover-up scent and a deer lure. You’ll use a cover-up
scent or a masking scent to help disguise human odor
and not attract deer. Therefore, I think the most-effective
scents are best pinned-to, poured-on or wiped-over the
sportsman's outer clothing. A deer lure is a substance
that's made and designed to attract deer. In other words,
when the buck smells the lure, he's supposed to come
in looking for whatever gives off that odor. For example,
a lure like doe-in-estrus is produced for the hunter
to put around his stand to hopefully  cause
a buck to come into the area searching for the estrous
doe that's urinated in that spot. Since the buck comes
in looking for the doe, if the hunter puts that buck
lure on his body, then the deer will come in searching
for the hunter. The deer's nose shows the deer's eyes
where to search for the critter that gives off the odor.
If a bowhunter in a tree stand smells like an estrus
doe, that buck will come in and look up that tree for
the doe that surely must have climbed it. He'll spot
the hunter, spook, and run.
To use a buck lure effectively, the hunter should leave
the buck lure on the ground or at eye level to the deer.
Then when the deer comes in, he's looking at the lure
and not at the hunter. Another mistake that hunters
make with buck lure is that they put it on their feet,
the soles of their shoes or the cuffs of their pants
and then walk into the woods. If a deer crosses that
path and smells the lure, and the hunter is facing into
the wind and has walked into the wind to go to his stand,
then when the buck follows that lure scent, he will
walk up behind the hunter. Then he'll look up into the
tree where the strongest scent is coming from and spot
the archer. If you plan to utilize any type of scent
on the cuffs of your pants, be sure it's a cover-up
scent. Only put out buck lure where you want the buck
to show up, and only place it in a spot where you want
him to look.
Not Understanding When To Rattle:
 Most
experienced bowhunters know that rattling can be an
effective tool to call in a buck, but many of them believe
that the best time to rattle is during the peak of the
rut. The rut occurs at the same time every year in a
given area. Some of my friends even plan their vacations
for the next year during the rut. The shortness of the
day and the amount of light that enters a deer's eye
controls the rut. Therefore each year, December 22 generally
has the same amount of light. If that happens to be
the day when the peak of the rut occurs in your region
this year, there's a very good chance that the same
day next year will be the peak of the rut, too. Although
old timers believed that a cold snap touched off the
rut, all that usually happens during a cold snap is
that deer become more active. I think deer are just
more comfortable in cold weather since they have hollow
hair and are well-insulated. I believe the deer may
be uncomfortable when the weather's colder and move
more. But that doesn't mean that the time of the rut
has changed.
Remember that the buck is ready to breed as soon as
he comes out of the velvet. But he won’t breed
until the doe is ready to be bred. The male bucks will
be in the woods waiting on that first estrous doe to
come into heat. I believe that rattling or using a grunt
call two weeks before the rut begins is the most effective
way to call in a buck. When that ole buck is in the
woods listening and hears horns clashing, he thinks
to himself, "Somebody out there has found a hot
doe, and while they're fighting over her, I'll move
in and breed her." Or, he hears a grunt call, and
he may think, "Some deer is tending an estrous
deer. Maybe there's two of those does, and I can move
in and breed one before anyone notices." Just after
the rut, the buck is looking for a late bloomer, a doe
that will be ready to breed after the other does. Therefore
using rattling horns and grunt calls two weeks after
the rut also can be very productive. During the peak
of the rut, many bucks will have does with them, which
means they may be less likely to come to rattling horns
or grunt calls.
 To
learn more about bowhunting, order “The Masters’
Secrets of Bowhunting Deer,” which contains information
from more than 50 top bowhunters, written by John E.
Phillips. You can send a money order or a check for
$13.50 to 4112 Camp Horner Road, Birmingham, AL 35243
and specify the book you’re ordering, or pay by
PayPal by sending the money to nighthawkpub@mindspring.com.
You also can learn more about the book by going to http://www.nighthawkpublications.com/hunting/mastersbow.htm
where you’ll also find a direct link to PayPal.
TOMORROW: NOT BEING ALERT IN
THE STAND, AND WAITING ON A PERFECT DAY
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