Take a Stand

We don’t know how they do it, but deer have an uncanny ability to catch us by surprise. No matter how ready you are, and no matter how loud the woods, a deer can be right on you and catch you flat-footed before you know it.

Once the deer is that close, there’s almost no chance you’ll be able to pull up your gun or bow and make a shot before it spots you, and this is especially true if you’re sitting down in a treestand and need to stand up.

One thing you can do to help avoid this situation is to already be standing at key times of the day. The last hour of daylight is a key movement time for deer, so stand up and be ready that last hour. Expect to see a deer any second and you’ll be ready when you do.

While morning movement is harder to predict, take turns sitting and standing. Make sure you take a good look around before doing so, and move as slowly as possible. You just never know if a deer is in the area.

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Buckmasters Tip of the Week: Range finders: A Hunter’s Best Friend

In recent years, the proliferation of the laser range finder has given hunters a tremendous tool to hunt more responsibly and increase their success. Laser range finders give hunters previously unheard-of ability to accurately measure distance to ranges of a half mile or more. This allows all hunters, whether they shoot rifle, bow or muzzle loader, to determine if an animal is in range.

With practice and knowledge of a particular weapon’s trajectory, shot placement should be more accurate, producing quicker, cleaner harvests. When employed by a responsible hunter, a rangefinder should greatly reduce the chances of wounding and losing game.

Another benefit of using a range finder is that, with practice, the hunter will learn to judge distance better without it. This will aid when shots need to be made quickly and there is no time to employ the device.

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I think the last paragraph sums it up. Use one and get good at predicting range so you do not need it. One thing less to carry out into the woods. Oh, and I think if range finders are a hunters best friend then their hunting dog comes in a very close second

Buckmasters Tip of the Week: Make Your Own Perfect Tree

How many times have you found the ideal tree for a stand, but it doesn’t have enough cover to break up your outline? There are handy brackets on the market with very real-looking tree limbs you can purchase to help hide your treestand, but if you’re willing to do just a little work at home, you can make your own with some simple plumbing supplies.

You can make a branch hanger with 3/4- or 1-inch PVC pipe. Cut a piece of the PVC about 4 inches long on a 45 degree angle, then in the middle of the angle, straight through the pipe, drill a hole to insert a #8 or #10, 3-inch decking screw. Paint the hanger with your favorite camo color, or wrap it with camo tape. These hangers can be placed on the tree around your stand with a cordless screwdriver. Then cut limbs from the natural surrounding area and place them in your brackets.

You can also attach the brackets to your climbing stand with camo tape. Remember to check your local laws concerning cutting branches and other plants on public lands.

–Thanks to Kevin Canfield of Middletown, Ohio, for this week’s Tip.

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Buckmasters Tip of the Week: Close Your Eyes to See the Light

Here’s a tip to use when setting up a bow or gun for hunting. When drawing a bow to set a kisser button and/or peep sight, close your eyes before you draw. The same holds when setting up a scope on a gun or when testing stock length — close your eyes and pull up the gun.

It’s amazing how many compensations you make when your eyes are open — and you’ll never even know you made them. When you close your eyes, you will draw your bow or pull up your gun in the most natural way possible. Your movements won’t be influenced by what you see, and you’ll find your natural anchor points.

Don’t believe it? Draw your already set-up bow with your eyes closed and see where your kisser button hits your face or if the peep is actually lined up with your eye. With a gun, check where your head goes in relation to the scope and stock, and notice if you catch the butt of the gun under your armpit. One of the keys to good shooting is good form, and one of the keys to good form is having a weapon that fits right.

Close your eyes and you just might see the light.

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Photo by Gbfan
Buckmasters Tip of the Week: There are Treestand Options

Climbing treestands are all the rage, and there’s no question they can’t be beat for portability and comfort. And if you think prices at the gas pump can cause sticker shock, wait until you get out the checkbook for a new climbing treestand. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my climber and wouldn’t be without it, but don’t rule out a fixed-position treestands or ground blinds.

Fixed-position stands are less expensive and, more importantly, can be put in places you can’t take a climber. It only takes one thick limb sticking out of the best tree to make it unusable for someone with a climber, but branches are no problem for a hunter with a fixed-position stand. The new lightweight ladder sticks make installing a fixed-position stand a breeze, and you can really get in the thick stuff and hide.

Ground blinds can be used in places where there are no climbable trees, in fields or near crops. They’re great for taking kids or for people who can’t climb. If you’re planning to use a ground blind, it’s best to put it in place before the season starts to let the deer get used to it.

–Jackie Bushman

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Buckmasters Tip of the Week: Nikon Binocular Tip

While Nikon binoculars are some of the most user-friendly models on the planet, we want to offer a couple of quick tips to help you get the most enjoyment possible. If you haven’t already done it, make sure you set the diopter for your eyes. Most people have one eye that is a little stronger than the other and by carefully making this adjustment you’ll enjoy better viewing with no eyestrain.

Here’s how to do it:
1. First cover your right eye while looking through the binocular. You can do that by covering your right eye or the right end (objective lens) of the binocular.
2. Pick out an object about 100 yards away and focus the binocular using the center focus wheel.
3. Next, cover your left eye, making sure your right eye is clear, and adjust the right side using the diopter adjustment located below the eyecup. Make sure you are looking at the same object as before. Note the diopter setting.
4. From now on just use the center focus wheel when focusing and you’ll enjoy crystal clear viewing.

–This week’s tip is courtesy of Nikon

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Buckmasters Tip of the Week: Handle With Care

I had the good fortune to take a nice buck last season. I thought I kept the buck’s shoulders and neck off the ground as I dragged my 160 1/8-inch, 270-pound deer out of the woods. To make a long story short, the fur on the buck’s right shoulder was worn down to its skin.

Luckily, the taxidermist was able to fix the area. Remember to be careful and use a deer cart or the floor mats of your vehicle to protect the deer’s hide while dragging it out of the woods.

–This week’s tip was submitted by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Rickey A. Monroe, Kirtland AFB.

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Tip of the Week: A Good Mount Begins in the Field

You’ve just taken your best buck ever and you are so excited you can hardly think straight. While you should be on cloud 9 after taking such a buck, you need to think clearly if you plan to have it mounted.

When field-dressing your buck, do not cut up through the brisket like you normally would. Keep your incision back as far as possible and reach up into the body cavity and pull the entrails back through the opening.

When skinning your buck, pick an area well back past the front shoulder as your cutoff point on the hide. The middle of the rib cage is a good choice and should give your taxidermist enough hide to work with.

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Tip of the Week: Sighting In

It is absolutely necessary to sight in your deer rifle before you go hunting. You owe it to the deer to make certain your rifle shoots where you point it. Even if you just bought a rifle and the store bore-sighted the gun with a collimator, you still need to shoot it and fine-tune the point of impact. Bore-sighting can be precise and can make a rifle shoot close enough to hit a paper target at 25 yards, but it’s not meant to be a substitute for sighting in the rifle on a range.

Twenty-five yards is where you should start shooting when you take a new rifle to the range. You can get a friend to sight in your rifle for you, but I do not recommend doing so. You need to know how to make adjustments to your sights, no matter if you shoot a scope or open sights.

If your sights get knocked off while you’re hunting, you’ll have to resight the rifle yourself, and you need to know how it works. Besides, the more you shoot your rifle at targets, the more likely you are to make an accurate shot on a deer.

Take your rifle to a range where you have a solid bench to shoot from. Use sand bags to create a solid rifle rest.

Most popular deer rifles that shoot slightly low at 25 yards will be about 2 inches high at 100 yards. Hunters who take shots out to 200 or 300 yards usually sight in a little high at 100 yards. If you never take a shot beyond 100 yards, sight in to be dead on at that distance.

Any time you put a rifle on an airplane, you should shoot it at a target before you hunt. For that matter, you should fire at a target every now and then throughout the hunting season.

Once sighted in, most hunting rifles are very reliable, but even the most accurate rifle can be “off” if it’s knocked around enough.

–Jackie Bushman

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Tip of the Week: Ammunition

You should shoot a variety of ammunition from your rifle or shotgun to see which works best in your particular gun. Just because a particular brand and grain size works for your buddy doesn’t mean it will work well in your gun.

Once you have found a bullet design and brand that suits your style of hunting, make sure you sight in with the same brand, bullet design and bullet weight that you will be using when hunting. Changing any of those three variables can cause a shift in where your gun shoots.

Several companies now make premium ammunition, and it’s worth the added cost. In fact, premium ammo is the next best thing to hand-loading your own ammunition, which I don’t have the time or inclination to do.

It is particularly important for hunters who travel long distances to make sure they have at least two boxes of ammo with them. You never know when your rifle might take a lick that knocks it out of sync, and it might take several shots to get the rifle back to form. If you’re out hunting in the boonies, the local hardware store might not carry your brand of ammunition.

Some hunters prefer a fast, light bullet and others like a heavy bullet that moves a little slower. They will all take deer. For hunting mature bucks — deer heavier than 200 pounds — I’d recommend a minimum of 130-grain bullets. As long as you stick with a well-designed bullet and concentrate on making a good first shot, you won’t have many problems.

–Jackie Bushman

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Tip of the Week: Ballistics Do not Have to be Complicated

I like to study ballistics charts because they help me fully understand what my ammunition will do at varying ranges. Most ballistics charts show bullet drop out to 500 yards and include information about crosswind drift.

Such detailed information is extremely helpful, especially if you’re used to hunting where shots are close and you are planning a hunting trip to somewhere with wide-open spaces. Modern rifles and bullets will do their job at very long distances, but only if you know where to hold so the bullet hits the target.

Studying a ballistics chart also will help you in selecting a bullet design and weight. It can likewise help you determine what caliber gun will work best for your style of hunting.

For example, the .35 Remington, a popular caliber for deer hunters in thick woods, works just fine in close quarters. If you have to make a 400-yard shot with a .35-caliber rifle sighted dead on at 200 yards, however, you’d have to hold 70 inches above the target! I don’t know many hunters who can make that shot ethically.

A ballistics chart allows you to compare calibers and loads to help you make decisions regarding various hunting conditions.

Once I have made a decision on caliber and load, I study the table for bullet drop like I’m preparing for a test so I know where to hold in different yardage situations. If you have trouble remembering numbers, you can even write the drop figures/yardages on a piece of paper, laminate it and tape it to your rifle stock. If the deer is several hundred yards away, you’ll probably have time to consult the chart — and you’ll be glad you did when you make a nice, clean shot!

–Jackie Bushman

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Tip of the Week: Don’t Miss High

Ninety percent of the shots missed at deer are high. If you shoot at a deer and he just stands there looking at you, chances are good that the shot went high. When you get excited about taking the shot, you’re more likely to jerk the trigger, and that makes the shot go high.

When I aim at a deer with a bow, I aim at the lower one-third of my target area, which takes care of any tendency to shoot high.

Bowhunters talk about whitetails “jumping the string,” which means they’re reacting to the sound of the bow. I’ve learned about this the hard way because I’ve had a lot of bow shots go just over deer. I’ve looked at slow motion video of those missed shots, and the deer don’t really jump when they dodge an arrow. They simply react to the sound so quickly that they duck down and turn to run. As they do so, the arrow misses high.

By putting my sight on the lower one-third of the deer’s lungs, it will usually be a good shot, even if the deer ducks before the arrow gets there. If the deer doesn’t react to the sound, I’m still in the fatal zone by aiming low, and my exit wound is lower in the deer’s body, so I’m more likely to have an immediate blood trail.

If you’re hunting with a shotgun, there’s even more of a tendency to shoot high because most shotguns don’t have nearly as crisp a trigger as a rifle. It takes a pretty good pull to make the shotgun go off, and you wind up shooting high.

–Jackie Bushman