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Summer Practice Boredom Busters | Add Realism to Your Sessions 

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Realistic Summer Bow Practice

A 95 degree day, dogs barking through the neighborhood fences, cicadas supplying an intense background noise, and a sweaty grip on your bow release…sound familiar? This is an all too familiar chain of events to most bow hunters during summer bow practice. The hot, humid, and repetitive shooting in the backyard can get boring. Even more, it can prove pointless if it achieves this level of boredom. Yes, it is good to fling a few arrows every afternoon, but you should set some goals to accomplish and challenge yourself with realistic scenarios. This will build confidence in your abilities, provide relief from the boredom, and take your mind off of being in your backyard and not in the stand.

Practice at Longer Distances

One of the most obvious boredom busters for summer bow practice is chancing longer distance shots. Sure as an ethical bow hunter you should have limitations as to how far you would shoot at a deer. A lot of different factors go into play here. How far you can effectively shoot on the range, how the deer is acting or whether or not they will jump the string, and open vs. tight terrain/habitat is just some things that should be considered when taking a shot.

When on the range or in the backyard it is great to practice at distances you feel comfortable shooting a deer at and closer. But, you should also be proficient at shooting at longer distances even if you would not shoot at a deer at that distance. Besides that, it’s rewarding to hit that 1 inch square from 70+ yards…

For example, if you would never shoot at a deer past 30 yards, get to where you can consistently hit the target out to 50 or 60 yards, or more. The reason for this is it is a great confidence builder. If you can hit your target at 55-yards, you won’t even feel the pressure at 30.

Another reason to shoot at longer distances is to criticize your shooting ability. If there is anything about your form or follow-through that is off, you will notice it at 60 yards. When you are able to notice something you are able to fix it.

PHOTO | Flatline Whitetails

Realistic Practice Sessions

Summer bow practice attire is usually shorts, flip flops, and a white tee-shirt. This is not challenging or realistic…it’s boring! Try being realistic with your shooting! At the very least you should have on pants, long sleeve shirt, and maybe gloves and a face mask. As the season progresses the more clothing you will have on to stay warm and often times this clothing is very bulky.

Once you are confident in your abilities to hit your target in your summer outfit, try doing it in the actual clothing you will be wearing while hunting. It might be a little hot to be in these clothes but you are likely to notice some differences while shooting in your hunting gear.

You might find it is more difficult to pull your bow back with a lot of clothing on, you might not have the same line of sight or your string could rub against your clothing. Now is the time to be certain that you are just as proficient at shooting with your hunting gear on as you are in your summer wear. If you realize changes need to be made it is better to do them now rather than when a monster buck is just mere yards away.

PHOTO | Reagan Bryan

Realistic Shots and Angles

Just because you are hitting the bullseye from the ground consistently doesn’t mean that everything will be the same when you are shooting at a downward angle from a treestand or sitting within a ground blind. Do you know how to handle a 90 degree angle shot?

Some of your practice should be from realistic hunting scenarios. If you do not have an archery range with an elevated platform, consider hanging a tree stand and shooting from the elevated position. Doing this a few times throughout the summer and consistently hitting the target will build confidence in your shooting and when the moment of truth arrives this fall you will feel comfortable in your abilities to hit your target. Practice shooting from the sitting position, standing, twisting and so on. If you can imagine it happening while hunting, practice it now.

PHOTO | The Virtue TV

The same holds true if you hunt out of a ground blind. Set up the same ground blind that you hunt out of and practice. Shooting while sitting down might make you realize some changes need to be made as to how your body is angled.

Better Archery Targets

The best practice for a bowhunter is shooting on a 3-D course, not to mention it is much more enjoyable than backyard practice. Today’s 3-D targets and courses are lifelike and provide realistic practice sessions.Distances vary from very close to uncomfortably far. The terrain is also challenging and often similar to hunting.

Concentrate on Just Making a Few Good Shots

It might sound as if in order to be a proficient shooter that you need to shoot a lot of arrows every day. That is not true. You are better off going out and shooting just a few arrows every day if possible and concentrating on your form and making the best shot possible. This puts pressure on you for each shot, and shortens your practice session.

Long practice sessions tend to tire out the hunter and before you know it your shots are getting sloppy and you are wanting to make changes to your setup because your groupings are not as good as you would like. By shooting just a few arrows and putting everything you have into those few shots you will be better for it. And, always quit on a good shot so you are not second-guessing yourself and thinking of changes that you need to make. Everybody makes a bad shot from time to time.

Conclusion

Getting bored from summer bow practice? Becoming more involved in practicing realistic scenarios, shots, distances, and even shooting at more realistic targets can all bust the boredom!

Kinetic Energy of Arrows

 

How to Install Nock Out® Lighted Nocks

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Installing Lighted Nocks | Nock Out® Contender Nocks

Nock Out® lighted nocks has developed an impressive lighted nock for compound shooters that is durable and accurate while being simple and easy to use. The Contender vertical lighted nocks fit X,H,S/GT shafts with the included universal bushing kit contained in each package, making them the perfect fit no matter what size arrow shaft is in your archery setup.

Nock Out® includes the needed bushings to make the Contender lighted nocks truly a universal fit for any arrow in the industry from 5mm all the way up to 6.5mm shafts. Installing the nocks at home is an easy process that requires few tools. Some items you will want to have on hand include bowstring wax, a pair of needle nose pliers, and possibly a universal nock tool for inserting and indexing nocks. Organize your arrow shafts, tools, and Contender nocks on a clean level work surface, and follow these few steps to smoothly install your new Contender lighted nocks by Nock Out.

Lancaster Archery Supply – Lighted Nock Contender Install

Steps to Proper Lighted Nock Setup

  • Remove the orange C clamp located midway on the nock body with needle nose pliers. This clip is used strictly for packaging purposes.
  • Identify the arrow shaft size and the appropriate bushing for your arrow shaft.
    • Contender nocks fit 5mm or X shafts directly from the package with no bushing required.
    • 6mm (H) and 6.5mm (S/GT) shafts require the use of the included appropriate bushing.
  • For 5mm or X shafts at .204” ID the Contender Nocks are ready to install after the removal of the orange C clamp. Simply apply a liberal amount of bowstring wax to the lower nock body and insert the nock into the shaft. Take care to index the nock to the arrow fletching according to your arrow rest. Never force your Contender Nocks into the shaft by forcing the nock and shaft down onto a hard surface without a nock tool.
  • When installing the Nock Out® Contender nocks into 6mm (H) or 6.5mm (S/GT) arrow shafts, first remove the orange C clip on the lower nock body. Identify the appropriate bushing for your arrow shaft from the packaging. Insert the nock into the bushing before pushing the bushing into the arrow shaft. After installing the nock into the appropriate bushing with the orange C clip removed, apply liberal bowstring wax to the exterior of the bushing and insert into your arrow shaft. Take care to index the nock to the arrow fletching according to your arrow rest. Again, never force your Contender Nocks into the arrow shaft by forcing the nock and shaft down onto a hard surface without a nock tool.
  • Key takeaways to installing the Contender lighted nocks are to be sure and utilize bowstring wax on the nock body during installation, do not force the nock into the arrow shaft by pressing the nock down onto a hard surface, and remember to index the nock according to your arrow’s fletching and bow rest.

The Contender lighted nocks are activated by string pressure at the shot. During the installation process it is easy to pull back on an installed nock that has been activated to turn off the illumination. Be sure your lighted nocks are not activated when you finish the installation process to conserve battery life.

Tuning Nocks

Setting Up a New Property for Bow Hunting

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Creating a Bow Hunting Property From Scratch

Picture this, you’ve just purchased your dream hunting property. It’s exactly like you pictured, two-thirds of it is wooded and the other third is in AG production. The previous owners haven’t done anything too fancy in terms of deer management, but that didn’t stop your mind from racing with ideas on how to improve the property for deer hunting for the first season of hunting it. Since then, you’ve scoured the aerial maps, jotted down ideas, bought trail cameras, and planted food plots. The property is yours and you’ve got a blank canvas. It is time to turn this property into a deer hunting and more importantly bow hunting masterpiece that even Picasso would envy!

As you begin this process it’s important to realize what is realistic, and what is/can be the most effective in terms of delivering bow hunting opportunities for the first year of hunting a new property.

Creating a Plan that is Realistic

Like any great architectural design, it starts with a vision. From there you will start to develop a plan, then change the plan, then change the plan some more until finally, you’ve got something tangible to work with. The canvas may be the physical landscape, but the blueprints happen on maps first. Many websites and hunting map apps offer incredible aerial imagery with a few clicks and scrolls of the mouse allowing you to focus in on your property. One such asset is the free version of Google Earth Pro – it’s a major step above the standard version and offers just about all the features a land manager and hunter could ask for. You can mark trails, food plots, sanctuaries, tree stands, trail cameras, and even figure out acreages and distances. Perhaps the best part is that Google Earth Pro turns everything you add into a layer that can be clicked on and off allowing for easy altering. Check out the photo below to see an example of a strategic layout of a hunting property done using the free Google Earth Pro.

Maps will always be the lifeline and center of discussion when it comes to doing anything on your property, be it hunting, managing, or just plain strategizing. It makes sense to use a variety of apps and maps to get as much detail on paper as possible. Now onto the fun part, setting the stage for successful bow hunts.

Bow Hunting Food Plots

Let’s start with what’s usually first on everyone’s mind when it comes to habitat management – food plots. Plant it, and they will come…right? Wrong! Often times we are so anxious to get something in the ground, we hurry and plant a food plot wherever it might be convenient for us, not the deer. These spots often include power and gas line openings, field edges, old grassy spots, or just about any place that’s on our hunting property and void of trees. While there is no harm in this, these spots are not always ideal bow hunting locations. This is where those maps come in handy. Mark the bedding areas and physically draw out how the deer are moving about your property. There will be hidden clues lying in the topo lines and habitat edges as to how deer will likely travel across the area. A well-placed kill plot along one of these travel corridors might create the opportunity you’re seeking for your first year of hunting the property.

PHOTO: The Virtue TV

Plan your attack carefully and remember, bigger is not always better when it comes to creating killer bow hunting plots. There’s a big difference between a destination feeding plot and a bow hunting plot. The two main differences are usually size and location. It’s not to say a destination plot can’t be a killing plot, but generally speaking, a feeding plot is usually more than two acres in size, while a killing plot is typically under an acre. It’s often closer to ¼ acre to promote close encounters for bow hunting.

Additionally, a network of food plots will create bottlenecks for deer movement. Often times, bucks will travel just inside the cover on the downwind side of the food plot while scent checking for does or danger, especially during the rut. Deer and big bucks especially will stage up in a well-placed food plot that’s tucked back in the cover and within one hundred yards or so of their desired feeding field. Use these tactics to layout and install food plots in the best locations possible – it’ll save a lot of time, money, and headaches down the road.

Bow Hunting Food Plot Tips

Waterholes for Deer

Food plots are usually top-of-mind when it comes to improving the deer habitat, but let’s face it, the majority of hunters don’t have the time, money, or effort for exceptionally productive food plots. This is where deer waterholes come in. They are cheap, easy to install, and can be placed just about anywhere. The simplest designs include 50-gallon barrels cut in half, kiddie swimming pools, cattle tanks, and holes lined with plastic. The cool thing about water holes is you can place them just about anywhere. Placing them on ridgetops and funnels may slow up cruising bucks for a quick drink during the rut, allowing you to get off a perfect shot. Placing them in open timber or along field edges can also help bring deer in range. Once the deer get conditioned to this new source, it may even shrink their range if water is the limiting resource on your hunting property.

Hinge-Cutting

After food plots and waterholes for deer, habitat is usually the next asset to look at for a new hunting property. One of the first things that comes to mind when discussion deer habitat management is hinge-cutting. Not too long ago hinge cutting was once a relatively new and foreign topic, but now it’s a household term amongst deer hunters and managers. For those that are unfamiliar, hinge cutting is simply cutting a tree three-quarters of the way through and approximately 3-5 feet off the ground. Ideally, the tree will fall in the direction you intended and the portion of the tree you didn’t cut through will continue to provide water and nutrients to the rest of the tree which is now laying on the ground. There’s plenty of articles that cover this topic more in depth, but the point is to provide living and growing browse and cover at a height beneficial to deer.

There are three basic management outcomes that hinge cutting will achieve depending upon how it is implemented: bedding, browse, and transitional cover.

  1. Hinging for bedding purposes can be done in two ways: creating individual bedding locations and creating overall bedding areas. Basically, the difference is whether you will be doing select individual trees or an entire area.
  2. Hinging for browse is similar to hinging for bedding areas, but is done at a higher frequency. Browse areas should be done in areas with little to no future timber value or areas that are extremely crowded and choking each other out.
  3. Feathering the edges with hinge cuts is also an effective management practice. Feathering edges around food plot openings will increase the security cover and can provide a soft edge between hardwood stands and food plots or field openings. This is an important factor to consider, as these denser edges will often lead to an increase in daytime deer movement, especially mature buck movement.

Along the same line of creating soft edges, is the practice of creating barriers with hinge cuts or other downed trees. In essence, you’re creating a semi-natural fence to alter deer movement in your favor. You can cut or stack a tangled mess around food plots so the deer can only enter in certain areas or even lay a line through a big chunk of timber to concentrate the often-erratic deer movement to certain pinch points. There’s a lot of fun to be had in the woods with a chainsaw, but just remember you can’t uncut a cut tree. It’s always a wise idea to consult a forester first or at least take the less-is-more approach.

Strategically Placed Scrape Trees

When it comes to creating bow hunting opportunities on a new hunting property mock scrapes are often overlooked. Planting scrape trees or creating mock scrapes in October and November in certain areas is a super simple and effective project to steer deer into bow range. All you need to do is to cut down a scrape worthy tree or branch within bow range of your stand, scrape a patch of dirt in below the branch, add some scent to the ground and branch, and wait for the right buck to start using it frequently. Like any scrape, these are perfect trail camera locations and once a pattern is developed, hunting locations! If you don’t want to physically place a tree, another strategy is to selectively trim branches along field edges, making sure to only leave one or two perfect scrape branches in the perfect spot.

And there you have it – a quick guide to creating an ideal bow hunting property from scratch. While this barely scratches the surface of some techniques and improvements, these simple enhancements can drastically alter a bow hunting property’s productivity with the realistic effort needed to produce results. Remember though, it’s crucial to start with a vision and map out your plan before you go in with time and money. Be strategic in your approach and remember less is usually more if it is done properly.

Early Bow Season Tips

Tips for Developing Your Bow Hunting Plot

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Bow Hunting Food Plot Tips

Feature Flatline Whitetails

Bow hunting food plots can be, and most likely are, essential to your bow hunting strategy. However, knowing where to develop them, how to develop them, and how to maintain them can be very overwhelming. That’s why it’s important for you to clearly define the purpose of your food plot, set a goal, and set realistic expectations for the plot. Questions to ask yourself are:

  • Do you want to grow larger deer?
  • Do you want a larger population?
  • Are you simply looking for a spot that will help you harvest more deer?
  • When do you want to hunt the plot?
  • What species is best for your goals?
  • What resources do you have to plant the plot?
  • What food plot or design best aligns with your expectations?

Knowing the answers to these questions will help you create a successful food plot. However, only you can answer these questions. A magazine, video, or blog will not tell you the magic equation for your specific situation. There are too many variables involved. You can however receive some valuable knowledge to steer your strategy. Defining your goals and expectations, and combine that with helpful food plot knowledge will help you select the right locations, seed choices, and strategies to implement with food plots. This blog will provide you with the knowledge and considerations to help you steer towards that ideal bow hunting food plot.

Picture: Flatline Whitetails

Pick a Strategic Location and Species

Once goals and resources are considered, you can begin the process of establishing the food plot by selecting the right location and species. There are normally two types of plots to plan for that influence location and seed selection:

  1. Kill plots
  2. Feeding plots

Kill plots exist to help you harvest more deer. Feeding plots allow you to monitor, grow, and protect your herd. It is important to differentiate the two, and how each are considered to be bow hunting food plots, as they both play pivotal roles in the overall strategy.

Kill Plots

Perennial plot species like clover, easily one of the best food plot species, tends to do well for both kill plots and feeding plots. Clover specifically does not require much in the way of planting, and maintenance, but it also tends to be browse tolerant and shade tolerant…ideal for small bow hunting food plots.

Clover plots are among the most popular bow hunting plots because the species make great staging area food plots. These are small areas that deer, and more importantly bucks stage in before progressing into larger food source or destination feeding plots. The idea behind staging plots is that it presents the opportunity to shoot a deer before legal light fades, as deer typically appear in staging areas before waiting for the cover of darkness to enter an intimidating larger plot. For the most part, staging areas are kill plots, a plot location, design, and shape for harvesting deer.

Entry and exit routes are the most critical factor that influences location of kill plots besides deer behavior and movement. Utilize features like creeks, terrain, rising or sinking thermals, thick brush, food plot screens, logging roads, or anything else that can give you an edge to be quiet and scent free on your entry. Shift access around or away from where deer are bedding or traveling. Your entry and exit should be on the downwind side of the stand or blind you plan on bow hunting in. Looking out for these features should steer your decision of plot placement.

Picture: Flatline Whitetails

Feeding Plots

While perennial species like clover can easily take the roll of feeding plots, annuals like corn and soybeans tend to be the species of choice for feeding plots. These, mostly large-scale food plots (3+ acres) are destination food sources that can provide enough food for continual feeding through most if not the entire year. Soybean, particularly varieties that mature early and provide high yields of grain provide summer nutrition and late season food sources. If species like winter rye and winter wheat are planted with the beans (in the fall when beans start turning) a green food source can be provided in the same plot that will provide forage through winter and spring. The location of these destination food sources are just as, if not more important than the placement of your kill plots. A feeding plot determines the direction of deer travel on a property, influence bedding areas, and determine the location of your kill plots.

Picture: Flatline Whitetails

Typically destination food sources are untouched, leaving deer unpressured so movement across a property is not hindered. This movement is in turn targeted for hunting between the destination food source and the bedding areas. This area of transitional movement is the perfect spot for a bow hunting kill plot. Whether you hunt that plot or not is determined by trail camera and scouting Intel, wind direction, and the level of pressure you want to put on the plot.

Tips for Better Bow Hunting Food Plots

Knowing the location and type of species is the biggest decision when developing bow hunting plots. Here are some helpful tips when it comes time to actually turn over the dirt!

Know the Soil

The first thing you need to do once you pick out your ideal location and choice of species to plant is to get your soil tested. The results will help you determine what you should and should not plant, how much lime and fertilizer (particularly nitrogen) may be needed, and what quality of a plot you can expect.

The best part? Soil tests are easy to get. Simply bring a sample into your local feed store, conservations district, local extension service, or if you have to, order one to take yourself. This will not only help you grow a better yield, but also save you money on unnecessary lime and fertilizer costs.

Picture: Flatline Whitetails

Plant Wisely

When it comes to the actual planting, there are numerous things that need to be considered. However, the details of each are dependent on your location, choice of seed, size of plot, and ultimate goals. In summary, these are the things every hunter should be aware of when planning their plot:

  • Kill existing vegetation
  • Try to plant before a rain
  • Use lime and fertilizer to prime the soil
  • Plant towards the sun (for maximum exposure in short fall days)
  • Know the correct planting depth (depending on the seeds you have chosen)
  • Keep up with weeds
  • Add subsequent fertilizer as necessary
  • Don’t babysit the plot to avoid unneeded pressure

Maintain the Plot

Depending on what you chose to grow, you will need to selectively keep up with the changing conditions of the plot. Soybeans and corn will need to be sprayed for weeds. This is easiest with a roundup ready soybean or corn variety. Clover and alfalfa require more selective herbicides such as a broadleaf selective herbicide (2-4D B (butryac)) and a grass selective herbicide (clethodim or sethoxydim). You can also mow these species, but mowing can take valuable food and soil moisture away from these food plots which can hurt the plot in the long run. Depending on your crop of choice, it may also be necessary to supplement with more fertilizer shortly after planting.

Avoid Too Much Pressure

Pressure on both feeding plots and kill plots has been a reoccurring point for this blog, but that stresses the importance. After putting all of the work and resources into a food plot, one of the biggest mistakes people make is spending too much time in it. This leaves your scent and presence throughout the entire area. Pushing the deer out of the food plot defeats the purpose of putting it there in the first place and the consequences could be drastic come hunting season. Therefore, once it’s planted, limit your time there. Outside of checking your trail cameras and keeping an eye on your crop, stay out! Try to stay on vehicle as much as possible, and avoid visiting it during peak activity.

Picture: Flatline Whitetails

Evaluate the Plot

Once the season is over, it’s critical that you evaluate the plot, the deer movement within the plot, and its success rate. Some evaluation points to think about and track are:

  • Are deer feeding throughout the peak activity times in your destination food sources?
  • Are deer working through your staging area kill plots?
  • Are their patterns being developed by particular bucks on the kill or feeding plots?
  • What plots are deer avoiding and why?
  • What other tactics could you employ in the plot to make it more attractive (waterholes, mock scrapes, food plot screens)?

This will help you determine its viability for future use, and possible changes you could make, whether it be location, choice of seed, stand placement, or more advanced bow hunting plot tactics that you could have engaged in.

Picture: Flatline Whitetails

Finding Success with Bow Hunting Plots

Creating and managing successful bow hunting food plots is hard work. It requires self-education, dedication, time, and labor. However, the key to success is consistency and observation. Make small changes and improvements where necessary, keep an eye out for opportunities, and keep your plots active for years to see trends and patterns develop.

Over time, you’ll see the effort pays off. Not only will you see more deer, but you’ll create better bow hunting opportunities. Bow hunting food plots eventually may be your biggest success in your overall bow hunting strategy.

Early Season Bow Hunting

Nock Out® Field Journals Ep.2 | Post-Season Inventory with Flatline Whitetails

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Episode 2 Post-Season Inventory

For the second installment of Nock Out® Lighted Nocks Field Journals, we join Nick Kravitz of Flatline Whitetails. In this episode, Nick shows us how he keeps tabs on which bucks survived the year and which have shed their antlers so far. He walks us through a couple trail camera tips as he sets up a quick post-season inventory trail camera survey!

The trail camera tips Nick shares with us include:

  • Use large capacity SD cards (16gb)
  • Use fresh batteries especially in the cold winter months
  • Use photo mode (rather than video) to keep the capacity from filling up and the batteries dying
  • Use deodorizing scent spray or foam to kill scent on the trail camera
  • Clear the camera’s field of view from debris and brush

Stay up to date with more bow hunting tips, tactics, and information from Nick and the other Nock Out® pro staff at the In Action Blog.

Shed Hunting

Post Season Scouting
NockOut-FieldJournals-One-min (1)

Nock Out® Field Journals | Off-Season Planning with The Virtue’s TJ Unger

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Episode 1 Off-Season Planning

For the first installment of Nock Out® Lighted Nocks Field Journals, we join The Virtue’s TJ Unger for a quick entry on some of his off-season planning for the 2018 bow hunting season. Bow hunting tasks never stop, not even in the dead of winter. With snow on the ground, fresh deer sign, and plenty of time until the season opens, the off-season creates the perfect time to scout and plan.

While TJ scouts the property he starts his supplemental feeding program. He explains that the recent temperatures and snowfall have created a need to start a bit earlier than March, his normal supplemental feed start date. This also helps TJ in his post-season inventory efforts. Attracting deer to the feed, a perfect opportunity is present for post-season inventory. This not only confirms which deer survived the season, but which bucks are still shedding. TJ also explains that this is in an effort to keep his number one hit-list buck on the property and away from neighboring properties that receive high hunting pressure.

With this info TJ can plan when to shed hunt, but also has more intel available to reaffirm strategies like bow hunting plots. He mentions plans for a perfect early season bow hunting plot. A 5-acre waterway that feeds from a large crop field into the small 60-acre parcel.

Stay up to date with more bow hunting tips, tactics, and info from TJ and the other Nock Out® pro staff at the In Action Blog.

Shed Hunting

Early Season Bow Hunting

 

3 Shed Hunting Observations to Apply to Bow Hunting

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Shed Hunting Tips | Apply What You Learn to Bow Hunting

This winter you will get a second chance at your hit-list buck’s antlers. You already know that his antlers will be dropping anywhere from now until March. As a result, you will spend several hours and walk countless miles in search for them. While your shed hunt will be considered a success upon finding just one of his sheds, you might have failed in observing some useful information that you could employ to harvest him next fall. This shed season might be the year to finally ask yourself “are you connecting the dots, taking notes, and considering the reason for the deer sign you observe?” This shed season, pay attention and look for these 3 critical observations that could provide useful tips for bow hunting your hit list buck next year.
“What information gathered during shed season could be useful for bow hunting?” If you would answer that question with “none or very little”, you might be under the impression that there is a stark difference between the winter/postseason and opening day of bow season. On the other hand, you might agree that there is an abundance of information, and the majority of it would relate to the deer sign that can be observed during the winter. The assumption you’re making here is that there are similarities that connect shed hunting to bow hunting, or rather, similarities in deer patterns and behavior during two different times of the year. So which opinion is correct?

Is Post Season Scouting Information Useful?

Jotting down notes and marking deer sign on your hunting map doesn’t necessarily seem as fun as just scouring the property for sheds. Is wasting valuable shed hunting time worth it? While it always is helpful knowing where deer spend time, where they travel, where they bed, and where they are feeding…what facts demonstrate that this information will prove useful for bow hunting? The answer and these facts are actually staring at you right in the face!

First off, the most notable information you learn upon finding a shed is proof the buck made it through the hunting season. However, this one solid tidbit of information is just the tip of the iceberg. When finding a shed, or any deer sign for that matter, all you need to do is stop and logically think through the reasoning. If you do, you will quickly note that most of the information can relate to bow hunting. For a shed, ask the following.

  • Why is this shed here?
  • Why was the buck spending time here?
  • What about this location makes sense?
  • Where did he come from and where was he going?
  • What aspects of this location will carry over into fall?
These questions should be asked every time you find a shed, or any other deer sign, and your thought process jotted down for review at a later date. While the questions might vary depending on the deer sign found (shed, track, bed, scat, etc..) the end result is the same…you have useful information for next fall. Take for example the process you should use when finding a deer bed:
Deer bed is found:
What about this spot makes it a great bedding area? – Is it a great vantage point over where they will travel once dusk hits? Do they have the wind to their back? Is their low pressure? Is there a clean exit route for the bedding area?
Is this a south slope?– Is the sun reaching the bed? Does the bed have good side cover blocking the harsh wind, yet still allowing the sun to hit the deer?
Is it one bed, or multiple? – What is the size of the bed? This will help distinguish from a buck or doe bed.
Where is the closest food source? – Is the bed overlooking a path the deer will take to get to a food source? Is it close to your food plot?
Is the bed overlooking any areas you hunt?– Are the deer positioned in a spot they can see you enter/exit your property or stand?
Would this same bed be here during the early or late bow season? – Does the bedding area have characteristics that make it a bedding area during bow season?
This information is hard to judge, but thinking each observation out logically is the first takeaway from any deer sign. However, the most valuable thing you can do as a hunter is think through whether or not the information relates to bow season. There is a good chance any observation you make offers insight into both the late season (December-January) and the early season (September-October). The early season, late season, and shed season have 3 things that can connect almost any deer sign to bow hunting. During any time of the year deer still need to bed, travel, and feed!
While bedding areas, food sources, and travel routes may change throughout the deer season, the principle of a deer’s day remains the same…bed, travel, food, and repeat. Logically thinking through any deer sign observation can flag important takeaways that can be applied to bow hunting since these principles are always present during any part of the year.

Feeding Destinations

It’s clear why deer are here, but let’s distinguish one thing for certain…you will be shed hunting only feeding destination fields. Feeding destination fields are plots that have food all year long. You should make sure a destination feeding plot supports deer during the spring, summer, fall, and especially the winter. Besides nutritional benefits, this establishes organization for your observations. Understanding that a food plot is a destination food source from the early season through the late season can be one of the best things you do for your property. It allows you to understand where deer are going (the destination food source), what routes they use to get there (travel routes), and where they are coming from (bedding areas).
Shed hunting a destination food source also reveals the path deer prefer to take into and out of the food source. Are they passing through the edge quickly, staging downwind on a feathered edge, or hitting a smaller end of the plot? Knowing this could help you identify not only where to hang a stand, but where deer might travel in a hunting scenario to catch your wind.

Travel Routes

Destination food sources are often the best areas to start shed hunting because deer are in bedding areas during the majority of the day. This allows you to shed hunt food sources without risk of busting deer. This also allows you to spend time taking notes and plan your next move. Backtracking deer from the food source to bedding areas can be easy during shed season. If your food source is truly a destination food source that has food year round, then a deer’s travel route will also relatively stay the same. The topography or habitat diversity will steer the deer from their bedding area to that food source. Often times these travel routes will be used year round, but its important to understand why they might change.
Travel routes will change as bedding areas, other food sources (acorns, crops, kill plots, etc.), and hunting pressure shifts throughout the year. As you’re shed hunting travel routes ask yourself…why are the deer traveling here? Are they skirting around pressure? Are they taking the path of least resistance? Are they catching the dominant wind or thermals from where you normally hunt? Are they hitting staging areas/staging plots that you have put into place in order to steer their movements? If they change, where would the next likely spot be for a deer to travel?
Making logical sense of worn deer trails this time of year can reveal major travel routes you might have missed during the hunting season.

Bedding Areas

Besides food sources, bedding areas are one of the best spots to find sheds. Deer spend a large part of the day in a bedding area, as a result, sheds can usually be found in or next to a large bed. Bedding areas shift frequently depending on the property. Sunny south facing slopes of thick early successional cover, or native grass/old field habitat will be some of the best winter bedding areas to find sheds. While it can be important to observe why deer bed there, where they come from, and where they head from bedding, it is just as important to understand that these bedding areas will change throughout the year.
Sunny south slope bedding might change to thick and shaded north slope bedding during the summer and early fall. More secluded bedding areas might be selected for during fall as deer escape hunting pressure. Again, question the observation. What about this areas makes it a perfect place for a buck to bed? Where would you set a stand to encounter this buck once he moves from this bed?
Knowing the answers to these questions can help you formulate a plan for next year’s bow season.

What About Other Deer Sign?

As you comb food sources, travel routes, and bedding areas in search of sheds you will naturally come across other deer sign. While highly variable (compared to bedding areas, food sources, and travel routes), it’s important to take note of deer sign such as heavy browsing, rubs, and community scrapes. Heavy deer browse could reveal where deer stage just before entering a bedding area or food source. It could tell you that they mill around waiting for the light to fade and thermals to work towards them just before hitting a food source. This could identify where you might want to hang a stand downwind of the nearest travel route around that browsed area. Deer sign like rubs are more variable than browse or scrapes, but they at least reveal some rutting action from bucks in that area. Rubs in thickets in and around food sources or oak flats could reveal hot spots for late October and early November pre-rut hunting. Another great deer sign you could use during the pre-rut would be large community scrapes. Besides being great places to hang a trail camera, scrapes in the right locations can be used to set a buck up for a perfect bow hunting shot. If you locate a community scrape in a food plot, staging area, or travel route that lend itself to a great bow hunting ambush point be sure to take note! It’s not often that you can predict exactly where a deer will stand like you can with a scrape, allowing you to setup an easy 20 yard chip shot with a bow.
Take note of these shed hunting tips. Observing deer sign and areas where you find sheds is extremely useful for next year’s bow hunting. While weather, temperature, deer activity, and hunting pressure may shift during throughout the season, limiting what deer sign is useful. The one constant is that deer still need to sleep, travel, and eat. Take advantage of this during shed season. Scoring intel on a buck’s bedding area, travel route, feeding area, and other habits in addition to his sheds is considered the ultimate shed hunting success!

4 Post Season Scouting Tips for the Serious Bow Hunter

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Post Season Scouting Tips for Bow Hunting

Has your season just ended? Then it’s the perfect time to prepare for your next hunt.  Post season scouting starts for any serious bow hunter as soon as the season ends. This is the time of year to roam your hunting land, investigate new properties, and start developing a productive plan for next season’s bow hunting. Below we highlight four tasks that should be added to everyone’s off season to-do list.

Photo: Alex Charlton, Fresh snow = a fresh #NockOut

1. Discover New Land 

Exploring property should be your number one priority right now.  Whether it be the thickest piece of your own land, or a new piece of public land, there isn’t going to be a better time than now to scope it out.  

Public Land 

For public land hunters, post season scouting allows you to travel new distances, discover new spots, and familiarize yourself with any new rules and regulations.  If there is a piece of land you always wanted to explore, you’ll have all the time you need to do it.  

Why is this important? Because as a public land hunter, you have no control over the land you are hunting on. You have no control over vegetation, hunting pressure, or heard management.  It’s likely that every public land user has seen their favorite spot lost to a fellow sportsman. As defeating as this can be, it doesn’t have to end your season.  Spend your off season exploring new property and creating new opportunities.  

When you do find a piece of property you are interested in, be sure to invest time studying it. Set up your trail cameras, walk through the property, and make note of your favorite landmarks. 

For open country hunting, this is the perfect opportunity to find new glassing points or ask permission for private access property. Often times, owners of private parcels give permission on a first come first serve basis.  

Private Land 

For landowners, this is the perfect time to check those spots that you avoid in the summer.  You know, the ones that are painful to get to and leave you covered in dirt and sweat. There is no better time than now to explore these places.

Photo: Brett Moore “White Gold” Series

Below are three things to consider when creating your offseason scouting plan.  

Scent is Limited 

Little do people know that scent is highly limited in cold environments.  Temperature is dependent on the speed of air molecules. Cold temperatures mean slow molecules. Slow molecules mean a slower interaction with your nose. This limits our sense of smell and the deer’s as well. That’s why immediately following the season closing is a perfect time to tromp through some of those sacred areas.  

Consequences are Low 

If you do walk up on that big buck, you can be relieved to know that it won’t affect next week’s hunt. Why? Because there is no hunt.  You have months before you will need to hit the stand. This means that as long as you don’t make a habit of it, you can count on your deer eventually returning. 

Early Season Bedding Areas May Be Abandoned 

Deer in cold weather climates may abandon their early season bedding areas altogether.  However, that doesn’t mean they won’t return when the weather warms up and vegetation starts to grow. In many areas of the country, deer will herd up, move to a major food source, and avoid their traditional bedding areas. These areas are likely snow packed and away from the major food source. This is just one more reason why checking out these spots should be done now.

Photo: Standing soybean fields are a great winter food source for deer.

2. Use Your Trail Cameras

Don’t put your trail cameras away just because deer season is over.  If you are wondering what happened to that dominant buck you were chasing last fall, this could be the best time to find out.  

In many locations, deer will still hold their antlers for at least another month. By grabbing photos of them now, you can easily account for the deer you passed on and the ones that were possibly shot.  

This is also a great way to monitor the gene pool. By surveying the survivors, you can gauge their antler development during the regrowth period.

Photo: Weston Schrank, Use post season footage and pictures for management of both the herd and the habitat.

3. Look for Sheds 

Many public land hunters are afraid of investing in a camera that could be potentially stolen on public property.  Therefore, instead of photos, these hunters will need to rely on signs. One of the best signs are sheds.  

Finding these sheds have two major benefits.  The first is helping you determine the quality of bucks that made it through this fall’s hunt, and secondly, it helps decipher which trails are popular routes for cold weather patterns.  This can be especially important in cold weather climates where patterns change drastically between each of the seasons.

Photo: Weston Schrank, Determine feeding destinations, bedding areas, late season funnels, and bow hunting stands all while shed hunting this year.

Shed Hunting Tips

4. Study, Study, Study 

Perhaps the best thing to do in the off season is study.  Study your observation notes from the season, your footage if you film, study your trail cam photos, your property, your stands, and so on. 

Layout any habitat plans or stand movements and get to work.   

Some questions you should think about: 

  • What changed from last season?  
  • What stands were a bust and which were successful?  
  • Which crops will be in rotation?  
  • What habitat projects could improve your property?  

By answering these questions now, you’ll have plenty of time to setup for a successful hunt without disturbing the deer on your property. Remember, human pressure can be one of the biggest factors in bow hunting success.  Eliminate pressure by taking care of your property early in the post season.

 Putting it All Together 

Take this time to reflect on your mistakes from last season. Improve your post season scouting, take more notes, and re-evaluate your setups.  The biggest benefit of post season scouting is taking your time to do things right.   

Practice with Lighted Nocks

 

3 Key Objectives for Your Summer Bow Practice

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Bow Hunting | Summer Bow Practice Priorities

 

Among the most important things that a bow hunter can do in preparation for the season is not only to prepare their equipment, but to prepare themselves physically for shooting strength, stamina, and accuracy. Accuracy is key to an ethical shot and a successful hunt. Being physically fit, shooting a perfectly tuned bow, is the textbook recipe for success. With opening day being less than three months away in several states, now is the time to make sure your bow hunting equipment is up to par and to start physically training for the season. There is no worse feeling than not having the confidence that you and your equipment is prepared on opening day.

 

Where to Start

Inspecting your equipment is the first place to begin. Make a physical inspection of the condition of strings, bow riser, cams, arrow rest, fiber optics, stabilizers, and vibration dampeners/suppressors. If anything looks worn or needs to be upgraded, now is the time to do that. Many archers perform their bow maintenance, but the majority of bow hunters use a bow technician to work on their bows. Taking your bow to the archery shop as early as possible will ensure getting it back with plenty of time to practice shooting it while physically preparing for the season. Once the bow is tuned, the timing rotation of the cams are in sync and the center shot alignment is paper tuned, the bow can be added to bow practice.

 

Objectives for Summer Bow Practice

Physically preparing for the season has three key objectives: gain strength, improve shooting technique and form, and enhance accuracy. Form issues need to be addressed during bow practice such as torquing the bow, punching the release trigger, dropping the bow arm, not properly seating the bow grip in the V of the hand, and not allowing the bow to roll forward with the shot.

Pay attention to shooting form. If you are having issues in shooting true and you don’t have someone to critique you, you can video yourself shooting. Using Nock Out lighted nocks can allow you to see the flight of your arrow and placement on the target.

 

SHOP LIGHTED NOCKS

Gaining Strength and Improving Form

The areas that an archer will want to focus on are the upper back, latissimus dorsi muscle, posterior deltoid, lower traps, biceps, triceps, wrists, and abs for core stability. All of these areas have an importance in archery. A weak back will cause strain on the rotator cuff. A weak core will cause strain on the back. Practicing with poor posture and weak muscles will cause sloppy form resulting in overuse of joints. The overuse of joints will eventually cause joint inflammation and ultimately injury. To improve the range of motion in joints, it is important to proceed at a pace that will not overuse any muscle to exhaustion.

 

There are several exercises to strengthen and develop the muscles important to archery; these exercises can be done without having to join a gym and with minimal time involved. Physical training should start well before ever drawing a bow for the first time in practice. This is recommended for heavier draw weights that an out of practice archer cannot comfortably pull after storing the bow since last season. An exercise that is recommended for working the deltoid, triceps, biceps and the latissimus dorsi is the push-up. An upright reverse pushup will strengthen and stretch the upper back and latissimus dorsi muscles and the pectoral muscles. This upright reverse pushup can be performed by standing in a corner, facing the wall and placing the right hand at shoulder height about 10” from the corner and the left hand in the same manner on the left wall. Lean into the corner as if you plan to touch your nose in the corner. Slowly press and hold. The muscles you feel stretching and the muscles that you feel scrunching together are the same muscles used in archery, and more so, for a back tension release.

 

Nock Out lighted nock Pro Willi Schmidt of Pure Hunting has recently supplied a hunting workout playlist. These workouts are geared towards preparing your body for hunting!

Check out his full blog here! – Western Hunting Workouts

 

 

 

There are various other exercises and stretches that will strengthen and develop the muscles important to archery that can be found with a little research online. Yoga improves stability, strength, and balance for archers and can be found on the Internet. For simplicity, search for the exercises for the gym equipment and location available to you.

 

Using Archery Tools

There are several archery aids on the market to assist bow hunters in preparing for the season, increasing draw weight, strengthen the bow arm for a steady aim, perfecting an anchor point, and a smooth release.

 

The AccuBow is the most realistic archery training device available that not only offers draw weights from 10 to 70 pounds, but it also incorporates a laser for honing in on precise stability and accuracy. The AccuBow has a release adapter for use with any style release, and the AccuBow can be dry-fired over and over without harming the bow or archer. This training system not only increases strength, stability, and stamina, it ingrains mind-muscle memory. The archery training device replicates an actual bow incorporating a bubble level in the riser and stabilizer adapter for proper form. The ergonomic and ambidextrous grip makes this training device available to all archers.

 

The Firing-Line is a release training aid that simulates the draw and release of a bow string. The compact device is designed to practice the perfect release, time after time. This device doesn’t aid in strengthening and stamina, but it does help train for stability, accuracy, and mind-muscle memory important for a smooth, effortless release. The draw length is adjustable from 24 inches to 32 3/8 inch draw by positioning the slide handle on the tube. The Firing-Line release aid is the perfect training aid for those bow hunters who suffer from target panic or punching the trigger.

 

Archery and Summer Bow Practice

There is no better conditioning than actual practice with a bow. The best bow practice in preparing for archery season is drawing your bow. This should never be done with a bare bow. Always practice with an arrow nocked and standing in front of a target to safeguard against dry-firing, causing damage to the bow or injury to you. Drawing the bow, holding the draw for a minimum of 15-30 seconds, let the draw down, rest for double the time you held the draw. Increase the length of time held as needed. Doing this exercise for 30 minutes equates to shooting 100-125 arrows.

 

Once an archer can safely and comfortably pull the draw weight of their bow, it is time to start shooting arrows down range. It is important that the archer is not over-bowed; this occurs when the archer pulls the draw weight with marked resistance. This will cause fatigue, poor form, and frustration which leads to bad shots. Proper form and repetitive shooting will further develop the muscles in the back and shoulders ingraining mind-muscle memory for a strong draw and consistent anchor point. Always stretch out the upper back muscles, deltoids, and triceps before any bow practice. Flexible muscles will ensure against injuries, inflammation, and muscle fatigue.

 

If a bow hunter wants to increase their draw weight, it will be easier to do so after they have become comfortable and physically fit with their bow practice. The archery aids mentioned above can be used in conjunction with physical bow practice in efforts of conditioning for a heavier draw weight. Always keep in mind that increasing draw weight should be done slowly and only to the point that the archer is never over-bowed.

 

In the months leading up to opening day, the confidence that a physically prepared bow hunter has will go a long way in planning a successful season. The earlier a bow hunter gets started in physical preparation for the season the more confidence they will have when that important moment comes when they are at full draw with that trophy animal standing broadside in front of them.

 

If you plan on taking your bow practice to the next level check out Nock Out Lighted nocks. With the practice mode, you can now stay technical and shoot your hunting nocks without wasting the battery. Check out the video below!