Deer can see your eyes, so squinting can help during a stare-down. Holding your bow directly in front of you helps break up your outline and hide your face -- and also leaves you in a better position when it comes time to draw.

To maximize your success, minimize your movements. Situate your stand or blind so that you'll need to engage in as little movement as possible for those times when the big one slips in on you before you realize it.

If you're a right-handed shooter, this means having any shooting paths off your left shoulder.

This is a must! It avoids having to turn around or move your feet to situate yourself for the shot. If you plan right, rarely have should the deer end up on the wrong side of the tree.

Position Your Bow
Keep your bow hook pointed at your anticipated shooting lane with the arrow nocked and ready. The bow hook should be placed at the exact height so there is no need to lift the bow up or lower it down for the shot. Your only movement should be lifting it off the hook and drawing.

As mentioned, it's important to be familiar enough with your stand's setup that you can pick your bow up off the hook without taking your eyes off the deer. Practice taking your bow off the hook a couple of times when you get into your stand. If it makes a noise, or if a piece of bark or limb might snag the string or bow, it's better to know about that ahead of time.

Holding your bow while you are sitting or standing is always a good idea. If you do this, try to hold it in a position that requires a minimal amount of movement while you prepare to draw. Keep in mind that it's more difficult for animals to detect movement straight toward or straight away from them than motions from side to side, or up and down.

It can be awkward or fatiguing to hold your bow during the entire several-hour hunt. So during the first hour of light in the morning, and the last hour of daylight in the evening, I'll often stand close to the tree, holding my bow in the ready position.

During the remainder of the hunt, I'll leave it on the bow hook, pointed at the main path.

Perfect Your Draw
Drawing the bow is that critical time when many bowhunters get spotted. Learn to draw your bow slowly, while keeping the pin on the deer at all times. Not only does this minimize movement, but keeping the pin on the target while drawing is also the same method used by an overwhelming majority of the top tournament shooters.

If you can, draw your bow when the deer's head is behind a tree. If this isn't possible, try to draw slowly while the deer is moving and/or when he's looking in the opposite direction.

The faster a deer is moving, the more apparent movement he sees in his field of view, and the more difficult it is for him to detect your movements.

When a deer moves slowly, you should move slowly. But when a deer is moving fast, you can often get away with faster movements.

Improvise When Necessary
Be adaptable. Learning to improvise when things aren't going as planned can be a valuable skill. Knowing how to read a buck's body language makes it easier to predict his next move and makes it easier to plan your next move.

Deer hunting is a constant challenge, with no guarantees. Preparing for and anticipating your next opportunity for a shot on a deer doesn't mean you will get it. But it does mean greatly increasing your odds of capitalizing on that opportunity, should it arise!

(Editor's Note: The author is an Olympic silver medalist archer from Illinois who has taken over a dozen trophy whitetails. His dad, Terry Wunderle, is a well-known Olympic coach and frequent contributor to North American Whitetail. For archery lessons and appearances, you can contact the author at www.vicwunderle.com.)

page: 1 | 2