Bow hunting is a fun and adventurous way to hunt wild game. Many who have experienced success at it will tell you that there’s nothing quite like it.
Whether you are looking for information on bow hunting for beginners or even a seasoned veteran, we’ve got some helpful bow hunting tips to help you in your quest to become a better bow hunter.
There’s lots to learn with bowhunting. Below are 10 tips that will help you become better at harvesting an animal with the stick and string!
Bowhunting Tips Overview
Don’t worry, we’ll get to bowhunting tactics further down, but some of the best bowhunting tips are the ones that you learn before the hunt.
Tips 1-5 will prepare you in a way so that you can have the confidence to make a great shot when it counts the most.
Tip #s 6-10 will focus on tips and strategies to help put you in a position to hopefully punch your tag on your target animal.
Check out the FIVE archery video tips below to get valuable information on how you can be sure you have an arrow that’s “Just Pass’N Through!”
Bow Hunting Tips: #1 – Bow Maintenance | Avoid Freak Accidents Like This One…
When you see this freak archery accident, you’ll want to learn what you can do to help prevent the possibility of it ever happening to you.
Bow hunting is more than just flinging arrows. bow maintenance checks in the off-season, as well as before your hunt, are an extremely important part of being sure you are able to bow hunt safely and avoiding injury.
In the first of our bow hunting tips, we’ve got details on how to do preventative bow maintenance, so you can avoid unnecessary accidents like this one when shooting your bow…
If you watched the above video, you’ll understand why bow maintenance is an important part of bow hunting.
Some of you are shooting your bow year round, but some of you put it into storage during the off season and because the temperatures can change in those environments, it’s very important to check bowstrings cables as well as your limbs before shooting.
Here are some things you should check before you shoot your bow:
Be sure before every shoot that you check your strings and your cables for any signs of wear or fraying. Anything like that can be a potential for a broken string or cable during a hunt just like in the video above.
Be sure you check your limbs very carefully. You want to be sure there’s no signs of splintering, bubbling, or cracking. Extreme temperatures and sometimes even storage can cause limbs to weaken. And, you don’t want to have one of those limbs be damaged or break during a shoot.
Be sure all your screws and any bolts are tightened properly, so that you don’t have any of your accessories loose during a shoot.
Check your cams. Be sure you don’t have any nics or cuts that would affect your string in any way, whether it be to cause a fraying or a cutting of the string, or else damage to a cam, where your string may actually even come off the track.
Be sure your rest is aligned properly.
Check cam rotation and be sure the cams are not warped and that they both reach letoff at the same exact time.
If you are not sure how to check the above items, we recommend you take to your local bow shop and have them look for you and inspect that, so that you can have the best chance of a safe shoot.
Tip #2 – Blind Bale Shooting [Improve Your Archery Technique]
In this N1 Minute archery tips video, learn how closing your eyes can be the best way to see results in your archery and bow hunting technique.
Stand back a few feet from a large target. Draw back and locate your target. Close your eyes and shoot. This drill will help grip, form, anchor point and release techniques. Put all these techniques together N1, and you’ll be seeing the results soon.
Tip #3 – Aim Small Miss Small [Improve Your Accuracy]
In the third of our bow hunting tips videos, 3D archery tournament shooter, Cole Honstead, shows you a “small” tip that could help you BIG during hunting season!
Tip #4 – Hunting Stances Can Make Or Break A Bow Hunt [So, Know Them All!]
In the below N1 Minute archery tips video, learn about various stances that can help you in all types of bow hunting scenarios.
For those of you who have bow hunted any amount of time, you know that some things can happen during a hunt that simple target practice can’t prepare you for. The video above will show you some archery tips to help you be best prepared when your moment of truth comes.
Hunting stances can be used for everything from spot and stalk hunts in the West to using blinds and tree stands in the east.
For tree stand hunting, try your best to get to the elevated position. This is as simple as finding the hill and using the bed of a pick-up.
For spot and stalk hunts, try practicing using incline and decline slopes. When shooting from a blind, you’d better get used to sitting in a chair or kneeling position.
Practicing these stances throughout the off season will give you that confidence for a shot of a lifetime.
Tip #5: Off-Season Bow Practice [You’ll Hunt Like You Practice]
In this N1 Minute, learn some bow hunting tips on how to to keep your archery skills polished and sharp during the off-season so that you can maintain proper archery form.
You know for us bow hunters, this is the time of year that we practice and practice for. But what about when the season’s over? How do you keep your skills sharp?
Here’s a simple tip to keep those muscles active after hunting season and all it takes is a simple exercise band.
So many hunters put away their bows, after the fall, through winter, until turkey season. With, one of these exercise bands, you can practice your draw cycle throughout the winter and make that first draw in the spring a little easier.
Simply grasp one end of the band with your front hand and with your drawing hand, pull the band back to your anchor point. Repeat this ten to fifteen times and then switch hands. This will work both your back and shoulders. A few sets of this draw cycle exercise a day, and you’ll be ready to hit the mark on your next 3D shoot or Spring turkey hunt.
Tip #6: Guessing Is Gambling [Scout Instead!]
Everyone has things going on in life. Whether it’s work, family or other obligations, sometimes it’s hard to make time to scout. Then, before you know it, deer season sneaks up on you and you find yourself scrambling to grab your bowhunting gear and get in a tree or blind.
Or, maybe you’re just tempted to get in the same stand you always hunt and hope for the best.
Sure, there’s always a story of this happening… but the reality is you need to put in the work before the season ever starts to increase your chances of taking a deer or other game.
Don’t gamble when you bowhunt. Scout prior to the hunt so you can put yourself in a position to be successful.
Basic trailcams have become much less expensive in recent years, so save your pennies and get a couple of these helpful scouting tools and place them overlooking scrapes or on know travel corridors to and from bedding and food sources. Y
Trail cam pictures can you give you insight into deer patterns and how they coincide to time of day, time of year, weather and food/water source availability. This will help you make decisions on where to hang that deer stand or blind.
As discussed in our earlier tips, having properly functioning equipment and being proficient with it is critical. However, it can all be for nothing if you don’t practice scent control.
You will be hunting deer and other animals on their home turf. They have the upper hand and their noses are a big reason why. Not only are they at an advantage – but you’re bowhunting – so, you need to be able to get much closer to the animal than you would if you were rifle hunting.
So, the bottom line is that you need to smell as little like – well, YOU – as possible!
Don’t give a deer’s nose a reason to tell it to run away. Make every effort to be as scent-free as possible.
There are plenty of scent-free and scent-control soaps and detergents available at your local sporting goods store. You can also wash your clothes in baking soda. Then, store your clothes in a scent free bag or container.
On the day of your hunt, avoid coming in contact with any scent that would smell unnatural to a deer’s nose. Yes, that means you might need to skip the steaming hot sausage biscuit run or the pre-hunt cigarette before the hunt.
Tip #8: Entry And Exit Routes [They Can Make Or Break Your Hunt]
When you’re bowhunting, it’s easy sometimes to get focused on where you’re going to hunt.
But, you need to spend just as much time planning how you’re going to get to that magic hunting location that will put you in the best spot for a harvest. But, you need to spend just as much time planning how you’re going to get to and from that magic spot also.
Whether you’re hunting public land on thousands of acres, private land or even suburban hunting, animals are always looking – and smelling – for danger (you realize you are considered danger, right?)
Staying downwind of the deer’s location will decrease your chances of getting busted!
So, if the deer or other game see, smell or hear “danger” as it goes to and/or from the magic hunting spot, they aren’t going to stick around and stand quartering away for you to put an arrow through the boiler room.
So, how can you avoid being busted on your way to and from your hunting location?
First of all, as we’ve already covered, you must do everything you can to be scent free and you must always pay attention to the wind direction. You don’t want your scent blown to where you expect the deer to be on your way in.
The same goes for exiting your hunting location. If deer bust you leaving your hunting location, they will associate that location with potential danger and you may not get another chance at them there.
So, be sure to plan your entry and exit routes so that you stay downwind of the where you know the deer or game to be. This can greatly increase your odds of slipping in and out as undetected as possible.
Taking an ethical shot is such an important part of bowhunting. Take a shot that gives you the best chance at a quick and clean kill.
This isn’t always easy when bowhunting. So, that’s why it’s so important to have followed the pre-hunt bowhunting tips in #1-5 that we covered, so that when the moment of truth comes, you know you are ready.
You don’t want the animal to suffer and you also want to be sure you are shooting at the deer or game so that you can have as quick and humane kill as possible.
We couldn’t leave out number 10, could we. After all, you’ve put in the work getting proficient with your bow and you’ve worked hard to get yourself in position to successfully take an animal. So, when you finally do it, you’ve got to celebrate the moment!
And, there’s no better way to do that than with family and friends.
Celebrate! It’s one of the best bowhunting tips we can give you…
That’s why we say here at N1 Outdoors: Where the moments happen, we’ll meet you there!
Happy hunting… we hope you have found our bow hunting tips to be useful in your quest to become better at your craft.
So, what’s the big deal with deer hunting and all this “upwind” and “downwind” talk?
Every year hunters make mistakes by not paying attention to wind direction. You can have all the deer in the world on your property. You can have all the “best” and most expensive hunting gear.
But, if you don’t pay attention to wind direction, you will be severely limiting your chances of harvesting a whitetail.
So, let’s learn how to hunt the wind, so that you can give yourself the best chance for hunting success while in the field.
Wind direction doesn’t really matter when hunting whitetail deer… does it?
You’ve probably heard stories of the hunter who rolls out of bed, goes through the local breakfast joint drive-through and gets a greasy sausage biscuit and drives to the hunting land.
Then, gets out of the truck, rides his/her 4-wheeler straight to the bottom of the tree they plan to hunt, ascend, light up a cigarette and shoot the biggest buck of their life.
When it comes to harvesting mature whitetails, you had better be on your A-game when it comes to scent control and wind direction.
Then, when the subject of scent control and wind direction in deer hunting comes up, they point to the wall hanger in the den and say something like, “pffffft, I never pay attention to the wind and you can see I’m doing just fine.”
Sure these stories are out there, but don’t be fooled. A mature whitetail didn’t become mature by “throwing caution to the wind.” A whitetail’s nose is its best defense and you are one of the most offensive smells around.
So, if you hope to have sustained success in the deer woods, you need to be serious about scent control. For bowhunters, who typically need to get a close shot to get the kill, it’s even more critical.
So, if you’re still reading, you must want to learn about how to hunt the wind in a way that keeps your scent away from a buck’s nose.
When it comes to wind direction, the key is to stay “downwind” of the deer you are hunting. But, what does “downwind” and “upwind” really mean?
How to “hunt the wind”
Being “downwind” of a deer means that if you were looking straight at the deer you hope to shoot, the wind would be blowing in your face. Thus, the wind would be blowing your scent away from the deer.
Conversely, if you were “upwind” of the deer, the wind would carry your scent “downwind” toward the deer (not what you want).
So, you want the deer to be upwind of you, and you want to be downwind of them. Got it?
Let’s take a look at the diagram below, which might help clear things up.
In this graphic, the yellow indicates wind direction. If deer are typically in the location indicated in this graphic, a hunter would want to approach the stand location from the “downwind” side of the deer, so they would not be alerted by the hunter’s scent.
It’s not just about being in the stand
So, let’s say you are in the stand (or from the ground) and you’re overlooking a field where you know the deer feed. You are downwind of where you think the deer will eventually be. You are golden, right?
Well, maybe not.
You’re scent doesn’t just matter when you are in the deer stand. It matters well before you even sat down!
One thing deer hunters often ignore is how their entry and exit to and from their deer stand impacts the deer they are hunting.
So, the hunt actually begins before you take one step toward your hunting location.
When you are making your way to your deer stand, the wind is carrying your scent just as it does from the stand.
So, unless you want your hunt to end before it even gets started, you need to be sure that you have thought through the wind direction as it pertains to how you are going to get to your stand.
If you are going to use the wind to your advantage, your hunt begins long before you actually sit down in your stand.
This means you need to know where the deer typically are during the time you plan to enter. Are they bedding? Are they feeding? Where are these locations in regard to your entry route?
And it’s the same for your exit route. If your scent gets blown toward the deer when you leave your stand, you have just educated those deer to your location.
So, if you are trying to avoid danger, are you going to continue to go back to where the danger is every day? Well, neither would a deer. They are trying to stay alive and that means avoiding the danger, which in this case, is YOU!
So, be sure you are paying attention to wind direction as it pertains to your entry and exit routes.
Let’s be clear, you can never truly “fool a deer’s nose.”
But, there are some things you can do to make it harder for them to bust you.
You can never totally fool a buck’s nose, but you should do everything you can to make things more difficult for him to bust you. (photo by Jeff Coldwell)
Kill that clothing scent
Take a whiff of your laundry detergent. Smells nice, doesn’t it?
Not to a deer.
What might smell great to you could make a deer want to leave the county. So, what can you do about that?
It’s a good idea to wash your clothes in a scent-free detergent. Baking soda is also a good scent “eliminator.” There are lots of these types of scent-killing hunting detergents on the market, so you’ll have no trouble finding them at you local sporting goods store.
But, when it comes to deer hunting, that sweet smell of typical detergents that we discussed above… you want to avoid that in your shower soap as well.
Be sure to get a good scent-killing soap to use when showering before the hunt. And, don’t be afraid to be generous. You’re after an animal that lives and dies by its nose, so give yourself the best chance possible to NOT STINK!
Well, of course you want to have hunting clothing that will keep you warm in cold weather, but that doesn’t mean you have to wear all of it while you are walking to and from your stand or hunting location.
Plus, if you sweat on your way to the stand in an attempt to stay warm, you are going to end up being cold anyway when the sweat cools your body down. Nothing like being we in cold weather, right?
Many hunters are hunting on public land, which can mean a long trek to the final hunting destination. So, if you have a long walk to where you are headed and know you are going to work up a sweat, consider starting out by removing a layer or two. You might be a little bit cold when you start walking, but your body will warm up as you get moving.
Then, once you arrive at your stand or hunting location, you can put the layers back on, so that you will stay warm during the hunt. By doing this, you not only will be warmer, but you’ll avoid much of the odor that sweating causes.
But clothe your body with the most “invisible” clothing possible.
This means wearing scent control clothing and using scent killing sprays.
Scent control is a big market in hunting apparel world, and there are a wide variety of options to choose from. So, take advantage of some the products that can help shield human scent.
It’s also a good idea to spray down your clothing, as well as your boots and gear with a scent elimination spray.
Well, remember, wind direction is the most important scent control tactic you need to pay attention to, but if you can gain any kind of advantage in harvesting a whitetail (especially a mature buck), should you do it?
Use cover scents
The use of covers scents can be helpful in shielding a deer from your scent. There are a variety of cover scents available, such as racoon or fox urine, acorn scent, pine, etc.
Just be sure to native to your area. So, if there are no oak trees in your area and you use an acorn cover scent, this could have the opposite effect you are intending.
A deer may be on high alert when smelling this, since it is not a smell they are used to in that particular area. So, take care in choosing the “right” cover scent.
Find out what deer hunting and playing the lottery have in common. Stick with us for the N1 Outdoors N1 Minute.
Suppose I knew the five winging numbers to the lottery and all you had to do was guess the order they go into to win. How many of you would refuse that information and instead, decide to guess the numbers yourself and the order they go in?
Hopefully none of you, but that’s exactly what many deer hunters do every season by not paying attention to the wind.
Wind direction is critical in deer hunting
All the scouting and trail can picture is in the world won’t make up for poor planning when it comes to wind direction.
For you bow hunters out there, it’s even more critical. Always be aware of which way the wind is blowing, not only in regards to stand location, but also in relation to the entry and exit routes to and from your stand or hunting location. The last thing you want is for your hunt to end with deer blowing before it even gets started.
Stay downwind of the deer in all situations. For those of you not familiar with the terms “upwind” and “downwind,” an easy way to remember, is to be sure the wind is in your face when approaching and hunting your favorite trail or location.
Paying careful attention to wind direction certainly won’t help you win the lottery, but when combined with effective scouting, planning and accuracy, it will increase your chances of seeing and taking more deer.
We hope you have a great week and remember… “where the moments happen, we’ll meet you there.” We’ll see you next time.
I used to hate having my pull-up rope tangled when I pulled it out of my pocket. There is nothing more frustrating than needing to quickly and quietly get up in your deer stand and then have to spend extra time untangling your pull-up rope.
Something had to give.
So, for years I used a gadget called a hunting hoist. It worked well enough, But, it was an extra 1-2 pounds of gear that I didn’t want to be weighed down by when walking to my stand. Also, the thing stip-like nylon material made a very unnatural noise when retracting.
For many years I used a hunting “hoist” like this, but the weight and unwanted noise made me look for other alternatives.
It’s hard enough to kill a deer. I don’t need any extra noises making it more difficult.
I needed a pull-up rope for my bow that wouldn’t get all knotted up
I wanted to get rid of the unwanted noise as well as the extra weight. So, here’s what I use now and it works like a charm.
No tangles, no mess, and I don’t have to deal with any unwanted noise.
How to make your own tangle-free pull-up rope for your bow or gun [step-by-step]
So the first thing you’re going to need is some paracord. I like to use 1/8-inch paracord. It’s big enough to do what I need to do, but it’s also not so bulky that it can’t be handled easily.
I prefer using 1/8″ paracord for my pull-up ropes. It strong, but also not too bulky.
Now, I cut the paracord to 30-feet, simply because when I’m using a climbing stand, I like to climb a bit high in the tree when bowhunting. The last thing I want is to have 20 feet of this rope and climb to 25 feet in the tree and have my bow hanging 5 feet off the ground because I didn’t have enough rope.
So, keep in mind how high you typically climb or how high your fixed tree stand is when making this rope.
So, in this example, I’m going to show you how I incorporate that pack into making my pull-up rope.
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Time needed: 2 minutes.
Here’s how you can make your own tangle-free pull-up rope for your bow or gun so that you can easily and quietly raise your bow or gun to your deer stand.
Tie a knot in one of the tag ends
Take one end of your paracord and tie a small overhand knot.
Put knotted end between index and middle fingers
Take the knotted end that you just tied in step 1 and put it between your index and middle fingers. This will serve as somewhat of an “anchor.”
Begin the “figure 8”
With the knotted end anchored between your fingers, take the paracord and wrap it around your little finger first and then around your thumb and back around your little finger.
Continue “figure 8” to desired length.
Repeat the process from step 3 until the rope is at the desired length for what you will need to lift your bow or gun up to your tree stand height.
Remove “figure 8” rope from your hand
Once you have come to the end of your rope (pun intended), pull the it off your hand, keeping it in the same “figure 8” form it was while on your hand.
Wrap remainder of paracord around the center of the “figure 8.”
Once you have removed the paracord from your fingers, take the length that is left and wrap it a few times around the center of the “figure 8” bundle of paracord.
Put paracord bundle in your hunting pack pocket
Take the neat bundle of paracord that you have and tuck it into the pocket of your hunting pack. Be sure to leave both tag ends handing out of the pocket.
Tie the non-knotted end of the paracord to the zipper or other part of the hunting pack.
Take the non-knotted end of the paracord and tie it to the zipper of the hunting pack pocket and zip shut, leaving a small opening for the knotted end to hang out.
Knotted end is ready to be pulled out of pack.
Tie the knotted end of the paracord to your gun or bow. As you are climbing the tree or ladder stand that you will hunt from, the paracord will begin to come out of your bag, TANGLE FREE!
Putting the paracord back
When your hunt is over and you have descended from the treestand, simply repeat steps 1-8 and your tangle-free pull-up rope will be all ready for your next hunt!
Video instructions on how to make a tangle-free pull up hunting rope.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. A tangle-free pull-up rope for your bow or gun that will neatly stow away in your pack and easily unwind without the tangled mess.
And maybe the best part? You can do all this for a couple of dollars.
Just Pass’N Through™ Tee (featuring Iron Will)$24.99 – $28.99
