Pennsylvania Game News - October 2022 - 62

occur again. And in the 66 years since
taking that first archery buck, I've rarely
missed filling a deer tag while archery
hunting.
I never viewed my success as unusual
until one day someone commented that
" you always seem to get your deer with
a bow. " I soon realized such consistent
results were outside the norm.
So I began studying what separates
those who take a deer with a bow only
occasionally from those who do it
regularly.
When putting on bowhunting seminars,
I always survey the crowd, asking
first how many of those in the audience
have ever taken a deer with a vertical
bow, then how many have taken two
or three, and on up from there. By the
time we're talking about having taken
between eight and 10 a lot of hands
drop; at 15 there may be only two or
three hands still in the air. Once you
hit 20 there's generally only one hunter
left and he's there to learn what he can
without giving up any secrets of his own.
What do the more successful do differently
from the less so? Here's what
personal experience and information
gathered from the few consistently successful
bowhunters I know says.
KNOW YOUR BOW
Most consistently successful bowhunters
do not change their equipment
unless they work within the archery
industry or are testing a product. Rather,
they get a setup they can comfortably
shoot accurately and stick with it.
They prefer forgiving equipment -
meaning a bow that doesn't magnify
human error, as high-performance,
fast-shooting bows can. They prioritize
accuracy over speed.
62
And their equipment is always wellmaintained,
though most keep a backup
bow ready, just in case of possible equipment
failure.
SOUND SHOOTING
Skill levels vary even among consistently
successful hunters. But those I
surveyed all practice regularly and shoot
daily during hunting season.
Consequently, they're quite familiar
with their own capabilities, and they
hunt accordingly - being especially
careful to ensure their stands provide
shot opportunities within their effective
ranges.
Bowhunting is a close-range affair
and nearly every successful hunter
spends countless hours observing deer,
both at a distance and up close, learning
how they move and interact.
Those observations, and a greater
familiarity with deer, allow these hunters
to more reliably anticipate what a deer
they're watching while on stand might
do next.
Such information tells the hunter
when to move, when to freeze, when to
draw and when to shoot, all of which
are vitally important since the decision
to shoot often must be made in a splitsecond.
FAMILIAR
& FLEXIBLE
Most successful hunters intimately
know the ground they're hunting and
how deer use it.
They learn that by walking the ground
in winter and spring - prime times
because of increased visibility and lack
of foliage to find deer trails, food sources
and bedding areas. Knowing how those
things are connected tells them how to
Pennsylvania Game News - October 2022

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