Ten days. Just ten days until the fall hunting season in Utah begins. On August 21st, Utah’s archery deer hunt gets underway. As the first hunt of the fall season, sometimes it sneaks up on us, almost without warning. We say things to ourselves like, “Oh yeah, the bowhunt is coming in a couple of weeks. I’d better get practicing.” If you are in this situation, what are some things you could be doing now to increase your chances of success? Here are three tips that will maximize your success:
1 – Break out that bow and shoot it. By now you should’ve been practicing with your bow, until it has become a part of you, but if not, there is still time to increase your skill level to a reasonable level. A hunter who doesn’t practice enough, is unethical, in that he will most likely wound an animal, perhaps not finding it and leaving it to a lingering painful death. So don’t put off practicing another day. Start now. You should put up a target and begin practicing by shooting from the same distance, say ten yards, until you feel fairly confident that you can place several arrows near the center of the target. When that happens, it’s time to begin shooting from various distances and from various angles, getting behind a bush if possible to emulate actual hunting conditions as closely as possible. At first, you will get tired and sore as you shoot, because of your long lay off. Something that will help is…
2 – Exercise. There are specific exercise tools designed for increasing strength for the bowhunter. If you don’t have such equipment though, or even if you do, there are some other exercises that are great for bowhunters. Any type of rowing movement builds the muscles of the upper back that are used for pulling a bow string back. Workouts should also include pushups and other shoulder strengthening exercises. Arm strength can be increased by doing curls and other biceps movements, along with some triceps exercises. For a stronger grip and forearms, a wrist roller works wonders. And be sure to include some aerobic exercise, such as running, cycling, hiking, or any other activity that gets the blood pumping.
3 – Scout out your area. Again, several trips during the summer would’ve been great, but if you’ve neglected to do this–too busy water skiing or off-roading–you can still have an impact now. If you’re going to a tried and true area, you will know the area pretty well already. I’d suggest that, if you haven’t had a chance to scout. But if you’re trying some place new, get out there on your next day off and study the lay of the land. Look for tracks and water holes. Look for cover and bedding areas. Most of all, look for the animals themselves. And do most of your looking with binoculars. No sense in wandering too much through the deer’s terrain and spooking them just a couple of weeks prior to the hunt. Find where all the dirt roads are as possible hunters will be accessing the area at many points along those roads. Study your maps and decide your plan of attack.
If you’ve put off until tomorrow what you should’ve done today, nip that in the bud now and get ready for your hunt. The tips mentioned above will help you improve your chances this bowhunting season.
