It’s not what you think. It’s been a very slow season so this year with nary a chance to get a shot at anything with antlers so far. Here in the area of Michigan where I live, we have had unseasonably wet weather for the first 15 days of the season. We even had snow (about 4”) on the 13th of this month. The season also began with a full moon right at twilight and a couple of those nights it actually seemed to get lighter as it got darker, if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, the deer have been rather “nocturnal” these first couple of weeks where we are hunting right now.
I have been “practicing on does that have come into the apple pile to eat though to get ready for the big shot when it does come. What do I mean by “practicing”? Well what I am doing is drawing up and placing a sight pin on the “boiler room” of the deer. I don’t release an arrow when I’m “practicing”, although I could legally take a doe should I choose to do so. By doing this, I can accomplish a couple of things. One is just getting used to drawing up on a live target because no matter how much I practice on a 3D target, it’s never quite the same. Two, it gets you used to the feeling of even the small amounts of adrenaline flowing through your body that happens to most of us when deer are close in. It gives you a chance to mentally “rehearse” your shot when it’s not a “do or die” situation rather than trying to do it only when the big chance comes and making the mistakes it’s easy for anyone to make under pressure. You can prepare mentally by reminding yourself to bend at the waist if your hunting from a tree stand when aiming, and to breath through your nose and exhale before triggering the release, and most anything else you might want to prepare yourself for. I’ve believe I could have taken 3 deer this year while practicing, although I haven’t actually added anything to the freezer. Try it next time you are in the woods. It’s just another way to be ready for the “real thing”!
One word of caution…I’ve never had it happen but make sure you can legally take any animal your practicing on just in case something went wrong and you accidentally released an arrow. I’ve never had it happen, but the chance is always there so you must be prepared for that if you decide to practice on the real thing.
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