THE
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:
If
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 opening
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 the
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
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