Features

Welcome Page
John's Journal
Backyard Survival
Special Reports
Guides & Lodges
Writing
Publishing
Free Tips
Picks
Links

Book Selections

Hunting
Fishing

Fun & Games

Trivia Game

Contact Us

Subscribe
Comments
E-mail Us

John's Journal... Journal Entry 12 - Day 5

Click to enlargeTECHNO DEER HUNTING

We've learned all this week that you have to expect the unexpected if you're going to bowhunt successfully. The wind can change when you're on a stand and start carrying your human odor to a deer, which means you'll have to move. Or, another hunter can wander through your area on the day you're hunting and ruin your hunt with his odor. Too, if you find cigarette butts, candy wrappers or any other signs of another hunter in the region you're hunting, you may not want to hunt from that area that day. You also may prefer to leave your hunt site if dogs or coyotes come through your hunt site.

 


To solve these problems that occur every season, Ronnie Groom of Panama City, Florida, the owner of C & G Sporting Goods Store, and a bowhunting teacher, makes the following suggestions.

  • "Have as many different stand sites logged into a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver as you can possibly get on the lands you hunt.
  • "Make sure each of these stand sites should produce a deer, and know why it should produce a deer.

Click to enlarge
When the stand site you're hunting from becomes contaminated because of changing wind directions, other hunters, dogs or coyotes or perhaps because you've spooked a deer there, then turn on your GPS receiver. Get your location, and pull up the other stand sites that you've logged in, identifying which site is the closest to you and what's the shortest distance from where you are to get to that other stand site. Make sure when you log in the stand site that you also identify which wind direction you must have to hunt from that stand site. If your GPS receiver won't allow you to log in additional information, tape a piece of paper or cardboard to the back of your GPS that gives the number of the stand site and the wind direction you must have to hunt from that stand site."


By following Groom's procedure, you always know ...

  • where you can hunt with a favorable wind, anytime you're in the woods,
  • how far you are from that stand site,
  • what direction you need to walk to get to that stand site and
  • when you get to the area where the stand site is, because the GPS receiver will let you know you've arrived.


Click to enlarge"To be an effective bowhunter, you may need 20 to 50 stand sites on a 1000-acre piece of property," Groom emphasized. "I've found there's no way I can remember the location of all those stand sites, much less the wind direction I must have to hunt from each of those stand sites.

"However, with a hand-held GPS receiver, I don't even have to try to remember all that information. I can store that information in or on the back of any GPS, and I'll always know where to hunt if my hunt gets spoiled. A hand-held GPS receiver can and will make you a much more efficient bowhunter and will prevent you from being frustrated, aggravated and upset if the wind changes or an animal or a hunter spoils your hunt."


Click to enlarge
I believe that the new hand-held GPS receivers are the most worthwhile new piece of technology that the deer-hunting fraternity has seen in many years. The newer GPS receivers are easy to operate, simple to learn, lightweight to carry and highly dependable. Do remember you may need a clear sky to get a clear reading on a GPS, and carry extra batteries in case the batteries in your GPS receiver go out.

I hope you've enjoyed this week of bowhunting with the masters and that you'll return every day each week, Monday through Friday, to learn more about hunting and fishing from the people I believe to be some of the best in the nation.



Read more from Jerry Simmons and others...

How to Learn the Land
Have a Successful Three Day Hunt
When to Stay in Your Treestand and When to Leave
How to Hunt the Right Spot
Techno Deer Hunting

To learn all you can about bowhunting, buy the "Masters Secrets of Bowhunting," by John E. Phillips. Click here to see the book's cover and review portions of some of the chapters.