Bowhunting Whitetail Deer

The ideal terrain for bowhunting whitetail deer, the archer should seek an area unspoiled by firearms. In fact, as a matter of safety, an archer particularly should avoid those hunting areas overrun by the gunman. The very methods employed by the bowman make him a ready target for the unerring, accidental bullet.

Never go in company with those using firearms; never carry firearms. The first spoils your hunting, and the second is unnecessary and only gives your critic a chance to say that you used a gun to kill your animal, then stuck an arrow in to take its picture.

On our deer hunts we first decide upon the location. The sporting proposition of shooting whitetail deer with a bow strikes the fancy of most men in the country.

Having reached the hunting grounds, we make camp. Tents are pitched, stores unpacked and arranged, beds made and all put in order for a stay of days or weeks.

Each archer has with him two or more bows, and anywhere from two to six dozen arrows. About half of these are good broad-heads and the rest are blunts or odd scraps to be shot away at birds on the wing, at marks, or some are shot in pure exhilaration.

As a rule, there are two or three of us in the party, and we hunt together.

Having decided what seems the best buck ground, we rise before daylight and, having eaten, strike out to reach the proposed spot before sunrise. There we spread out, approximately a bowshot apart, that is to say, two hundred yards.

In parallel courses we traverse the landside; one just below the ridges where one nearly always finds a game trail; one part way down, working through the wooded draws; and the third going through the timber edge where deer are likely to lurk or bed down.

In this way we cross-cut a good deal of country, and one or the other is likely to come upon or rout out a whitetail buck. With great caution we progress very quietly, searching every bit of cover, peering at every fallen log, where deer often lie, standing to scrutinize every conspicuous twig in anticipation that it may be horns. Does, of course, we see in plenty.

So carefully do we approach that often we have come up within ten yards of female deer. I once sneaked up on a doe nursing her fawn. I crept so close that I could have thrown my hat on them. While watching, the mother got restless, seemed to sense danger without scenting or seeing it.

She moved off slowly, pulling her teats out of the eager fawn's mouth, gave a flip to her hind legs and hopped over him, then meandered leisurely to the crest of the hill. The little fellow, unperturbed, licked his chops, ran his tongue up his nose, shook his ears, and seeing mother waiting for him, trotted away unaware of the possible danger of man. But we do not shoot does.

So we travel. Sometimes a startled deer bounds down the hillside leaving us chagrined and disappointed. Sometimes one tries this and is defeated. One evening as we returned to camp, making haste because of the rapidly falling night, we startled a whitetail deer that plunged down the steep slope before us. Instantly I drew to the head and shot.

My arrow led the bounding animal by ten yards. Just as the deer reached cover at a distance of seventy-five yards, the arrow struck. It entered his flank, ranged forward and emerged at the point of the opposite shoulder.

The deer turned and dashed into the bush. As it did so the protruding arrow shaft snapped; we descended and picked up the broken piece. Following the crashing descent of the buck down the canyon, we found him some two hundred yards below, crumpled up and dead against a whiteoak tree. It was a heart shot, one of the finest I ever hope to see.

Having worked out a piece of country by the method of sub-division, we meet at a pre-arranged rendezvous and plan another sortie.

If the sun has not risen above the peaks, we continue this method of combing the land until we know the time for whitetail bucks has passed. For this reason we work the high points first, and the lower points last.

Sometimes, using binoculars, we pick out a buck at a considerable distance, either in his solitary retreat, or with a band of whitetail deer; and we go after him. Here we figure out where he is traveling and make a detour to intercept him, up hill and down dale, but all part of the game.

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