John's Journal...

Click to enlargeTHE MASTERS’ SECRETS OF BOWHUNTING

Jim Crumley

EDITOR’S NOTE: Why do some archers consistently take deer each season with their bows while others who spend just as much time in the woods rarely if ever experience success? Let’s see how some of the best bowhunters in the nation produce deer.

Jim Crumley of Roanoke, Virginia, the creator of Trebark camouflage, has bowhunted for many years across the country as well as on his own property.

Learn the Land:

Click to enlargeIf I’m hunting new land, then as soon as I obtain permission to hunt that land, I spend as much time as I can in those woods. I feel learning as much as possible about the woods where I’ll be hunting well in advance of deer season including where…
* all the potential food trees and other food sources are.
* all the agricultural fields are and
* the deer are most likely to approach those fields
are all critical ingredients to my arrowing a buck.

If bow/deer season starts the middle of October, then by the first of September, I’ll already know whether or not this region will have an acorn crop by seeing the green acorns on the trees. I’ll have leaned when the farmer plans to cut his crops on which the deer have fed as well as where the deer will feed after their early food sources are gone. For a pre-season scout plan to be effective, pinpoint not only where the deer will feed and bed during the Click to enlargeopening week of bow season but also where and what the deer will eat once that food supply is depleted. When you stock your freezer for a month, you’ll have an idea of what you’ll eat first, what food is available in your freezer mid-way through the month, and what you’ll have to eat at the end of the month. And you’ll set your menus accordingly. Deer generally follow that same timetable. When a primary food source is gone, they already have other food sources identified that they can eat. By understanding the different types of food the deer will feed on as they deplete that primary food source, you can pre-predict where and when deer may be each week of bow season.

If you don’t know the deer’s food timetable, talk to your local department of conservation’s district wildlife biologist about where you plan to hunt. This wildlife specialist will be able to tell you the deer’s food sources and the order in which the deer will feed on those food sources in the area you plan to hunt. Once you have that information, then look for those food sources on the property you’ll hunt. Set up tree stand sites to hunt over those food sources each week of bow season. If you’re hunting private lands, you may want to go ahead and set up your tree stands six to eight weeks before Click to enlargethe season opens.

To learn more about bowhunting, you can buy John E. Phillips’ books, “Jim Crumley’s Secrets of Bowhunting”, “Masters’ Secrets of Bowhunting Deer”, “How to take Monster Bucks – Secrets to Finding Trophy Deer”, “The Science of Deer Hunting” and “Masters’ Secrets of Deer Hunting”. To learn more about these books, go to www.nighthawkpublications.com/hunting/hunting.htm. You can send a check or money order to Night Hawk Publications, 4112 Camp Horner Road, Birmingham, Alabama 35243, or use PayPal address nighthawkpub@mindspring.com .

TOMORROW: LARRY NORTON


Check back each day this week for more about THE MASTERS’ SECRETS OF BOWHUNTING

Day 1: Jim Crumley
Day 2: Larry Norton
Day 3: Bob Foulkrod
Day 4: John Demp Grace
Day 5: Dr. Robert Sheppard

 

 

Entry 321, Day 1