A Brief Overwiew of the Sport of Bow Hunting for Whitetail Deer

It has been said that anyone who eats meat must be one of two things: a predator or a scavenger. Think about it: if you buy your meat at a grocery store, you are essentially no different than the typical rat or opossum, scavenging for food that someone else has killed. But, if you are a hunter, you are like the noble tiger, or mountain lion, searching out your own food, and being willing to strike the killing blow to feed yourself and your family.

This predator/prey relationship is no more clearly defined for us as hunters than when it comes to bow hunting. It takes great skill to be able to position yourself to take a wild game animal such as a deer. And, if you are searching for a trophy whitetail, the challenge is even more intensified. It takes skill, patience, and cunning to be able to get within bow shot of a deer.

Then it takes even more skill, patience and cunning to be able to make a humane, killing shot. Rarely will a hunter "luck into" killing a nice deer with a bow. There are far too many things that can go wrong. Such mishaps may be compensated for if you are holding a rifle, but they cannot be minimized if you are hunting with archery equipment.

More often than not, things do not work out perfectly enough for a hunter to take a deer. So many things can cause a plan to not come together. The deer might not walk down the right trail to put it within that crucial 40 yard window. An overhanging branch might block the vital area, forcing you to pass up a shot at a monster buck. Equipment might fail (archery equipment has many more moving parts than a rifle, and therefore has much more that can fail).

But, there are also some great things about bow hunting that cannot be found in other types of hunting. For one thing, you have the opportunity to become a part of nature. You have to fit in, in every aspect, with your surroundings if you are going to be successful. You have to look like your surroundings, smell like your surroundings, and sound like your surroundings. Anything that tips off the wildlife to your presence will ruin your hunt. So many people overlook these basic necessities, and don't understand why they never have an opportunity to take a deer.

To be able to take a deer with archery equipment, you will have to learn your quarry. You don't just have to learn about deer, but about the specific deer you are trying to take. Where does he travel? Where does he eat? Where does he bed down? When does he move? Only by learning about his way of life will you learn when and where to ambush him. And of course, once you get him patterned, and set up your stand, he changes his routine and you have to start over again. Bow hunting is one of the greatest challenges of the hunting sports.

If you have never tried it, give it a whirl. There is nothing like the peace of tree stand at sunrise, and nothing like the thrill of taking a nice deer with a bow.