How a Guide Gets Ready for Bowhunting Season

Editor's Note: Brian Ross of Port Sulphur, Louisiana, has guided clients from across the nation to deer and turkeys the past 11 years. You can read more about the adventures of guiding hunters for a living by visiting "John's Journal" and looking for the information on Scott Dillon.

Question: As a guide at White Oak, when do you arrive there to prepare for deer season?

Answer: I usually get to White Oak about September 20 each year.

Question: Since bow season doesn't start until October 15, what do you do with your time until then?

Answer: I spend the first month checking all the ladder stands to make sure they're still safe and secure. I also trim shooting lanes out, flag all the trails, plant greenfields and make any repairs on the trucks and equipment at the lodge.

Question: So you spend an entire month getting ready for White Oak's bow season?

Answer: I need that full month -- every day of it.

Question: What's the difference in some of the things you do to prepare for bow/deer season? How do you set up the stands for bowhunters for deer?

Answer: Well, when I trim out shooting lanes for bowhunters, I leave as much cover around the ladder as I can to break up the bowhunters' outlines in the trees. I make the shooting lanes wide but not long.

Question: How long do you make the shooting lanes for bowhunters?

Answer: I never make them longer than 50 yards.

Question: How do you pick the spots from which bowhunters will hunt?

Answer: Over the years, you find out which stands have the best travel routes at that time of the year. You want to hunt the ones that are thicker in cover because that's where the deer will be. And you hunt stands in areas with heavy acorn crops a lot more often than stands on the edges of fields.

Question: As a guide at a hunting lodge, do you actually do the scouting for the customers?

Answer: Right. We guides do all the scouting and stand placement and clear shooting lanes and all those kinds of things. The hunter basically walks in, climbs the ladder stand and hunts.

Tomorrow: Preparing for Gun/Deer Season

Check back each day this week for more about Diary of a Hunting Guide: Chapter Two ...

Day 1 -Getting Started as a Hunting Guide
Day 2 -How a Guide Gets Ready for Bowhunting Season
Day 3 -Preparing for Gun/Deer Season
Day 4 -The Challenge of Turkey Hunting
Day 5 -Balancing Marriage with a Guiding Career

John's Journal