Claude Pollington the Whitetail Wizard
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Forget Multiple Sight Pins On A Bow
It was years ago, and I was hunting Colorado for elk. That evening a young hunter came into our camp with a sad tale of woe.
“I had shadowed this big 6X6 bull elk for most of the day,” he said. “The bull finally slowed down, met up with some cows in a grassy alpine meadow, and just before dark the cows and bulk walked into the black timber and within 30 yards of me.”
The young man had time for just one shot. He came to full draw, went to put his 30-yard pin on the heart-lung area of the bull, and as adrenaline coursed through his body, he mind back-fired.
He had five pins for various yardages, but in the heat of the moment, he forgot which of the five pins was for 30 yards. He doesn’t know for sure, but thinks he put the 50-yard pin on the bull and missed.
The bull and the cows launched into a wild and panicked run down the mountain, and the dejected hunter had a long hike back to camp. During the two-hour hike, he had ample opportunity to ponder his improper actions.
There’s nothing much that can be said under such circumstances. Muttering “too bad” didn’t seem adequate, but what more can be said?
Hunters come in to buy a new bow, and ask us to mount their five-pin super deluxe archery sight, and I always ask them what the different pins are for. They always reply ” 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 yards or some other combination of yardages.
I ask if they are competent at judging yardage, and they often reply that they carry a laser range-finder. That is fine, if time permits, but often a deer or an elk offers one opportunity for a shot, and it doesn’t include much time for using a range-finder. Judging distance is an acquired art that comes from guessing the distance to an object, and then stepping off 36-inch steps.
On a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, misjudging yardage can cost a hunter a wonderful trophy. Under such conditions where a bow must be drawn while calculating the distance, and the shot must be taken immediately, there is no time to try to remember which pin is for what yardage.
I tried pin sights years ago and gave up on them when I introduced the red-dot archery sight over 20 years ago. A red-dot sight isn’t for everyone, but once a bow hunter learns the basic principles of its use, it is extremely fast to bring on target.
An elk is a big animal. Most bows, with a draw weight of 55 to 60 pounds, will push an aluminum or carbon arrow at a fast enough speed to shoot an elk at 50 yards. The trick is knowing the exact distance within a yard or two.
I developed the “gapping” method for the red-dot sight. It means knowing the distance to the elk, knowing how much your arrow will drop at various distances. A bow sighted in for 20 yard shots will be slightly (an inch or two) low at 25 yards, two to three inches low at 30 yard, eight inches low at 40 yards and 12 to 14 inches low at 50 yards.
The above are rough averages, and may be slightly different based on draw length, arrow weight, amount of poundage, anchor point and other factors. Each hunter must establish a table of arrow drop from 20 to 50 yards based on the equipment used.
So, if the elk is 30 yards away with a bow sighted in at 20 yards, a dead-on hold will hit the vitals. If the animal is 40 yards away, the hunter must “gap” (hold over) roughly eight inches higher than normal. A bull at 50 yards will require a holdover of 12 to 14 inches above the desired point of impact.
There is no substitute for practice at longer distances if the hunter plans a western antelope, elk or mule deer hunt. The same principle applies if a hunter uses a single pin. Multiple-pin sights can be a recipe for disaster until the hunter trains specifically for such shots, and can remember which pin is used for which distance. It’s easy to forget.
A single pin or a red-dot sight allow the gapping technique to be used. It offers a quick and easy aiming system with a single sight in front of the eye, and holding over the desired point of impact is much simpler with a single aiming device.
Guess wrong with a multiple-pin sight, and chances are very good that the hunter will shoot over or under the animal and miss, or even worse, make a non-fatal hit.
My method of gapping is not confusing, but does require cool nerves and a steady hand, and an ability to accurately judge distance. When that opportunity you’ve waited for walks out in front of you, draw, aim, and accurately place the arrow where it counts. It requires practice, but so does everything else about bow hunting.—The Whitetail Wizard
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Enjoying the Moment
The buck minced along a fence line in no hurry to enter the field before dark last night. It stopped every 10 feet, lifted its head to look around and sniff for danger before moving slowly toward the dinner table. The day, still warm but overcast, threatened rain. The buck, more wary than it should have been, wasn’t in a rush to leave the heavy cover. It poked along, feeding along the edge of a corn field, after leaving a thick swale where it and several other deer had been bedded down. The buck, sporting six points in a small basket rack, was only 1 1/2 years old. It was plenty old enough to know enough to stay with other deer his age and not get mixed up with larger, older bucks. However, he had taken to hanging out with some big bucks on my ranch. My stand was 15 feet up a towering maple.
The buck was still on the same path it had used during August and September, and apparently saw no reason to deviate from its chosen course. Would it follow the same trail again? Yeah, it would because he always traveled the same morning and evening routes, and it would soon pass within easy bow range of my tree stand. My stand wasn’t too far from my wife Ruth’s covered pit blind. The does and other yearlings had already passed by and continued on into an open field 200 yards away. The buck, moving slowly and daintily like his feet hurt, was taking all the time in the world. He was in no rush to go anywhere. Many things would have to come together before a bow shot could be taken, and I knew I wouldn’t shoot him.
The buck seemed to be buddies with some trophy bucks. Now, some of those boys were shooters. Would I be ready if one of the big bucks showed up? Daily practice and well over a half-century of studying big whitetail deer at close range had chased away any possible jitters. My mind and gear was ready. The buck moved a few steps closer. He stopped to sniff where his sister, mother and cousins had paused, and the young buck looked around as its mother had done countless times before. He wasn’t running with Mom now but was in the big leagues with the big guys. My bow, sighted in to be dead-on at 25 yards from 15 feet up a tree, was waiting. An arrow was nocked, and it was ready to use when and if the right time arrived. I was ready for one of the big bucks, not Junior.
The six-pointer hopped over a single strand of barbed wire, and paused again to study the upcoming terrain. Other deer, 300 yards away, were heading out to feed as the sun began to sink in the western sky. And then I saw them. Three big bucks were using an adjacent trail. They were only 40 yards away from me but the thick brush would deflect any arrow sent their way. The young buck turned again, and slowly stepped a few feet closer to my tree. Its head came back, and its nostrils flared as it snuffled the air for danger. None was detected, and satisfied, the buck began to move again, now toward the big bucks. My tree stand was directly downwind from the buck, and it couldn’t smell me. Rubber boots and a downwind position kept the buck from detecting my presence. The buck bent forward, nibbled on a few sprigs of grass, and moved again. The buck was only 20 yards away and quartering toward me. It wasn’t a shot I would take even if the buck had been huge.
Patience would now become a factor as I waited for the animal to turn and head for the other deer. I could only hope a big buck was lagging behind. I’d watched that small buck walk to that exact place many times before, and knew he would turn slightly and offer a quartering-away shot at 10 yards. I didn’t move, and the buck followed the same pattern he had traveled for months. The buck slowly turned, quartering away, and my bow came up. It felt like an old friend in my left hand, and as it came up the arrow was cautiously drawn back as my eyes tracked the buck. The bow was held back at full draw, and my sight settled low behind the buck’s near-side shoulder. One more ounce of pressure on the release would send the Maxima carbon arrow through the buck’s chest. He stopped momentarily to look around, and my finger softly caressed the release trigger without applying the pressure needed to send the arrow on its deadly flight.
Slowly, as the buck began walking off again, I eased up on the bow and let the buck walk away, unaware and unharmed. No other bucks came along that trail. For whatever reason, the bigger animals had taken a different route and were far out of range. It was really too early in the season to shoot a whitetail buck without studying all of my hunting areas, and patterning this six-pointer and his friends had been easy. There would have been little need to arrow a deer in early October, and besides, there would be other opportunities to take an animal in the coming days and weeks.
This exercise was good practice. It provided me with superb outdoor recreation, numerous deer sightings, and the chance for a close shot at a nice young buck. Who knows? Perhaps next time my finger will put that extra ounce of pressure on the release trigger. And then again, perhaps I will again choose not to shoot but wait for a larger animal. It’s always this unknown question: whether to shoot or not to shoot, and my deep respect for the deer I hunt, that allows me the wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the magical difference between hunting and killing. For me, on this hunt, it just wasn’t the right time to shoot.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Play the Wind
It’s human nature. We fall in love with our opening-day ground blind or tree stand because we’ve thought about it for months on end. Does this mean your hotspot will be hot on opening day? Perhaps it will and maybe it won’t. It all depends on wind and weather conditions. One major problem hunters face is setting all of their stands for the prevailing wind direction. During Michigan’s bow and firearm deer seasons, the prevailing direction is south and southwest in October, west to northwest in November and northwest and north in December. So here is this hotspot stand set up for opening day. It has the stand downwind for a south or southwest breeze. Good thinking! However, if you’ve followed wind patterns the past few years as I have, you’ll remember that nearly half of our October days featured an east wind. An east wind, unless stands are specifically placed for such wind currents, makes other stand locations nearly impossible to hunt without being detected by approaching deer. It’s easy to advocate having stands in key hunting locations for an east wind, but it’s sometimes quite difficult to find good spots.
Most bow hunters, like me, prefer hunting out of a tree. One way to get around this problem is to hunt from an elevated coop. Keep the windows closed until it’s time to take a shot. The best way is to look at how deer travel, especially on an east wind, and locate that one key spot where whitetails filter through. Try to be downwind of the whitetail traffic. Fishermen have long known that angling success often takes a nose dive on an east wind, and deer hunters - especially bow hunters - know the same holds true for them when hunting on an east wind. I’ve long known that an open tree stand may cause your scent to drift to the deer when the wind huffs from the east.
An enclosed and elevated wooden blind with shooting windows can save the day. One thing is certain. The hunter who deliberately puts himself upwind of deer on an east wind will probably ruin that hunting spot for the rest of the season unless he can prevent deer from smelling them. A simple V-shaped wooden structure with just enough room to shoot can work if a box-type blind is not used. If an east wind blows on the Saturday opener, and your stand is not placed properly for that wind, it’s better to sit out the day than to risk spooking all the deer.
Once deer are spooked from your hotspot stand, the odds are that they either won’t return past that site or will approach it with a great deal of caution. Be a savvy hunter. Play the wind like a fine violin, and never discount the ability of a whitetail deer to catch your scent.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Opening Day at the Ranch
About 20 people showed up at the Buck Pole Ranch to greet the archery opener tonight, and those hunters had mixed results. The weather turned with rain and northwest winds, and the temperature hovered at about 59 degrees, and the deer didn’t move well as the front came though.
Hunters were spaced all over my 1,000 fenced-in enclosure, and half a dozen people were hunting my land outside the enclosure. Reports of deer sightings this evening varied from none to 12 for one hunter, and another sportsman said he saw several bucks still traveling together in a bachelor group. The biggest buck in that group was a heavy-antlered 8-point.
One hunter shot at a buck and missed, and another hunter hit a buck but followed up on it too quickly and it jumped up and ran. He came in, had something to eat, and two or three people went back out later to look for the animal. So far, they haven’t returned.
I went to a spot where I’ve wanted to check for deer activity, and saw just two but both were bucks. One was a very nice 10-pointer, and the other was a nice buck with eight glowing-white points. Both deer stayed just far enough away to avoid me having the temptation to shoot one of them. The 10-pointer had a 22-inch spread and respectable G-2s. One more year on that buck will turn it into a dandy that any hunter would be proud of.
It’s been a long, hard day and I’m ready for bed. Hope your deer hunt went well today. Tune in here tomorrow for more on deer hunting. Good Luck!—The Whitetail Wizard
Photo From Last Night Bucks
Trailing Wounded Deer
I’ve helped many people blood-trail wounded deer, but one look at the spoor of this whitetail doe told the story. It would be a difficult trailing job. She had been hit through the paunch, and finding gut-shot deer is never easy. There was very little blood to follow. I knew if we pressed the deer it wouldn’t lay down, but would continue to run all night, resulting in a lost animal. The arrow was covered with digested food, tallow and specks of blood. It was a bad hit, and the hunter was baffled. “Where did the arrow hit?” I asked. “How did the deer react when hit?” “I thought it went in behind the front shoulder,” he said. “The doe humped up when the arrow hit her, but it should have been a good lung hit.” It wasn’t. A gut-hit deer often humps up when hit and can travel long distances before succumbing. A hunter’s only hope is to walk away, have a late dinner, and return several hours later to begin a tough tracking job. We hoped to find the animal before the coyotes did. We hoped the animal would lay down and stiffen up instead of moving away from pursuing hunters. Waiting several hours would improve our chance of recovery but also increase the risk of losing the it to coyotes. We recovered that animal, but it required an hour that evening. The doe covered a half-mile of thick swamp before bedding down, and we lost the trail several times before finding the animal under a fallen log.
A gruesome story? Absolutely, but any hunter worthy of the name must do everything possible to recover the animal. Hunting ethics demand nothing less than a concentrated effort. Blood-trailing wounded deer is the responsibility of the hunter who shot the animal, but some skill is required. A good lung or heart shot usually anchors the deer within 100 yards; a gut-shot animal may run miles. Unfortunately, what looked to be a good arrow hit to the hunter, and what actually took place, were two entirely different things. It’s important to observe the exact point of arrow impact, and know how the animal reacted when hit. Clues, like color of deer hair found on the ground where the animal was shot can indicate where the arrow hit; white hair usually indicates a belly hit. Train yourself to key in on the exact location of the arrow wound, and learn if the arrow exited the animal, leaving an entrance and exit wound. A bloody arrow, a steady blood trail, frothy blood that indicates a lung hit; can help the hunter make wise trailing decisions.
The Game Tracker, a string tracking device, is a great tool for bow hunters. The string attaches to an arrow behind the broadhead, and once the head slices into the deer, the line pays out from a canister attached to the bow. It is easy to follow the line (use orange Game Tracker line) to the fallen animal. A double string means the arrow passed through the deer; a single line means the arrow is still in the animal. A sharp broadhead kills by severing arteries, capillaries and veins, and by slicing through and disrupting the function of vital organs, thereby creating massive hemorrhaging. All deer, unless hit in the spine, will run and offer some type of blood trail although it may take 50 yards before the flow exits the animal.
Trailing wounded deer can be a time consuming task. It often means a slow approach from one drop of blood to the next, and the task cannot be hurried. Too many people charge wildly through the trail and obliterate all sign left on the ground or nearby vegetation. Move slowly, one step at a time. Mark each drop of blood with a piece of tissue paper to establish a line of travel or leave one person at the last blood. Move cautiously forward until more blood is found, but don’t lose track of the last blood. Never allow well-meaning bystanders to move ahead; serious blood trailing is a one- or two-man job. Look for blood on grass, leaves, twigs or weeds. Blood on autumn leaves will look rusty, and a squirt of hydrogen peroxide will cause blood to bubble. A russet-colored leaf will not foam up. Look for any sign that might indicate a deer’s passage. A scuffed leaf, matted marsh grass, hoof prints, broken tree limbs near the ground or any blood, tallow or bodily fluid. Wounded deer often run in a straight line until they reach heavy cover. Then the animal often follows established deer trails until it begins to weaken, and then it may head downhill or begin to travel in a circle. A badly wounded deer with a heart or lung hit may not bleed until the last 10 to 20 yards before dying on the run. Be alert to sudden direction changes, and if necessary, spend time on hands and knees when searching for sign. A Coleman lantern works better for blood trailing than a flashlight. Blood is more visible under lantern light. Blood trailing isn’t fun, but it is a necessity. It also is the ethical and proper thing to do.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
A Bow Hunter Is
The above title is a question that has been asked of me many times, and it’s always a very difficult one to answer. A true bow hunter is a combination of many things, all of which are upstanding and good.
*A bow hunter is ... *A person who revels in nature, loves the outdoors, seeks a difficult challenge, equals the odds between hunted and hunter as much as possible, and who is finely tuned to the ways of the game we seek.
*One who seeks his or her game on a one-on-one basis, and who strives to get close enough to deliver a quick and certain death from a well-placed arrow.
*A person who masters accurate arrow placement, and one who spends long hours testing personal mettle against a whitetail buck that is more attuned to its surroundings that we are. This person shrugs off rain, forgets about windy weather, and laughs at a snowstorm. Deer hunters hunt deer, and weather conditions are meaningless. We become one with the weather, and use it whenever possible, to our advantage.
*A hunter who thrills to the small things, and takes brief moments each day to savor the wildness of the animal being hunting and the land where such game lives. We don’t live for the kill; we live to have had the opportunity in this free society to hunt in a well regulated manner.
*Someone who knows that getting close to game means knowing and playing the wind, studying the habits of deer, knowing how and when to move, and being one with his bow and the land. He or she finds more love in the act of hunting than in the act of killing although the two are ever-entwined and a respect for the game we hunt is most important.
*One who enjoys the fine feel of a smooth bow, the effortless drawing of the string, the smooth feel of a carbon arrow, and the “whisst” of a arrow leaving the bow. It’s the silent but straight flight of an arrow, and seeing the broadhead hit where we aim.
*Having the knowledge of deer habits that allow us to defeat the most important protections that deer possess: the sense of a deer hearing the faint whisper of clothing against rough bark; a flicker of movement as a hunter comes to full draw prior to a shot; or the deer’s sense of smell that allow them to pinpoint a careless human presence.
*More than just someone who takes but gives nothing back to nature. A bow hunter is more than a person dressed in camo clothing with a hunting license in his pocket. We are caring, giving folks, who pursue deer with a passion. We are superb hunters because we must be to get close shots at 15 to 20 yards. We are the supreme hunting predator, and we take pride in our accomplishments without having to brag.
*It is teaching our children, and our grandchildren, this ancient art of hunting. What we do is a time-honored tradition, and it is a way of life for us and for others who will follow the bow hunter’s creed. We, as avid bow hunters, are above-average in our hunting skills. We rely less on luck, and work hard to elevate those hunting skills that allow us to succeed. We hunt, not because our friends do, but because we must. We need to hunt and we must hunt in order to achieve these skills, and it is through long hours of practice that we become proficient. We are bow hunters, and we are most proud of it.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Memories of Whitetail Spots
Fishermen are commonly known for “fishing memories,” or going back time after time to the same old spot. Sometimes it works on deer, and sometime it doesn’t, but memories often remain long after the size of the rack and the venison has disappeared. Much the same thing occurs with hunters. We all develop a feeling for certain ground blinds or tree stands, and often this can be good. In many cases, if a particular stand was once good, it may still be good.
For about three years my son Matt and outdoor writer Dave Richey took turns hunting the same tree. It probably produced a dozen nice bucks for them, and then it seemed to go dead. They didn’t hunt it daily, and it may only have been hunted twice per week. Matt took a few nice 8-pointers out of it, as did Dave, and they still talk fondly about hunting that tree. However, as I make my rounds to study deer behavior and travel routes, it has become obvious that deer had quit moving past that tree. I’ve got many memories of favorite tree stands, and those thoughts often are built around having taken a really good buck from it or having seen a wide-racked buck nearby. In some cases, a new stand may reveal a great travel corridor than has been overlooked. One stand sticks out because I had seen a heavy beamed 10-pointer there, and I noted the time he passed by. I was there the next night but he wasn’t, and several deer were passed up because I didn’t want to shoot a lesser buck if the big one may be nearby. I went back to that stand periodically, and saw that buck on three occasions but he was either screened by heavy brush or just too far away.
And this brings up a point: every bow hunter should know what the maximum range is for them to make an accurate shot. Shooting at a buck too far away usually results in a miss but a deer that is spooked by an irresponsible shot may never return. Even worse, a bad hit may be made, and that may result in a long tracking job and even then, the animal may never be found. Sportsmen must know their limitations, and strive not to exceed them. Years ago one of my favorite tree stands was in a tree I called the Posturepedic. If a hunters back didn’t hurt when they climbed in, it would be hurting when they climbed down. That stand, 30 years ago, was positioned between a bedding area and nearby fields, and it produced quite a few bucks back but is no longer being hunted. Those who hunted the Posturepedic stand usually did so just once. It wasn’t a comfortable stand, but it produced some big bucks for me.
Another of my favorite locations was in a dead elm, and it was located 15 yards from a hole in a fence between my land and a neighbors, and was positioned for a broadside shot once the deer came through. Many people do not realize that given the chance, a deer would prefer going through a hole in the fence rather jumping the wire. The last time I came down out from that fence-hole stand I felt the tree shudder. I kept going and made it to the ground. The next day I drove down a wooded trail past that tree, and it was laying on the ground.
Hunting memories, my phrase for going back to tree stands that once produced shots at whitetail bucks, is something that hunters do. Some of it is nostalgia, and some is to determine if that area is as good as it once was. These memories are good for hunters. It helps us remember a stand that once led to the arrowing a trophy buck, or a memorable miss, or a stand that just makes us feel good. I’m willing to bet that all of us have such memories. A little thought can make them reappear on demand, and part of hunting’s thrill is traveling down the back roads of our memories.
Opening Day Tips
It’s human nature. We fall in love with our opening-day ground blind or tree stand because we’ve thought about it for months on end. Does this mean your hotspot will be hot on opening day? Perhaps it will and maybe it won’t. It all depends on wind and weather conditions. One major problem hunters face is setting all of their stands for the prevailing wind direction. During Michigan’s bow and firearm deer seasons, the prevailing direction is south and southwest in October, west to northwest in November and northwest and north in December.
So here is this hotspot stand set up for opening day. It has the stand downwind for a south or southwest breeze. Good thinking! However, if you’ve followed wind patterns the past few years as I have, you’ll remember that nearly half of our October days featured an east wind. An east wind, unless stands are specifically placed for such wind currents, makes other stand locations nearly impossible to hunt without being detected by approaching deer. It’s easy to advocate having stands in key hunting locations for an east wind, but it’s sometimes quite difficult to find good spots. Most bow hunters, like me, prefer hunting out of a tree. One way to get around this problem is to hunt from an elevated coop. Keep the windows closed until it’s time to take a shot. The best way is to look at how deer travel, especially on an east wind, and locate that one key spot where whitetails filter through. Try to be downwind of the whitetail traffic.
Fishermen have long known that angling success often takes a nose dive on an east wind, and deer hunters - especially bow hunters - know the same holds true for them when hunting on an east wind. I’ve long known that an open tree stand may cause your scent to drift to the deer when the wind huffs from the east. An enclosed and elevated wooden blind with shooting windows can save the day. One thing is certain. The hunter who deliberately puts himself upwind of deer on an east wind will probably ruin that hunting spot for the rest of the season unless he can prevent deer from smelling them. A simple V-shaped wooden structure with just enough room to shoot can work if a box-type blind is not used. If an east wind blows on the Saturday opener, and your stand is not placed properly for that wind, it’s better to sit out the day than to risk spooking all the deer. Once deer are spooked from your hotspot stand, the odds are that they either won’t return past that site or will approach it with a great deal of caution. Be a savvy hunter. Play the wind like a fine violin, and never discount the ability of a whitetail deer to catch your scent.
Opening Day
Oct. 1 can be the best time of all to shoot a whitetail buck, but it’s also a time when hunters make some common mistakes. I’ve hunted for many years, and when I make a mistake now, I learn by it. There are many ways for hunters to mess up. Here are 10 common mistakes that bow hunters make. *Know exactly where you are going. Hunters who blunder around before dawn or late in the afternoon trying to find their ground blind or tree stand often spook deer. Sometimes they scare animals that never blow or snort, and the hunter proceeds to his or her stand hoping for a great hunt. Know your way in and know your way out, and don’t cover more ground than is necessary. *Don’t get too jumpy and take hasty shots. There are two high-percentage shots: broadside and quartering away. A hurry-up-and-shoot shot often is not as well aimed as we think, and a low-grade shot likely will wound a deer. A wounded animal can spook other deer from that hunting location. Wait and take a good shot. *Take your time. Don’t take the shot a deer gives you; wait and allow the animal to settle down before drawing, aiming and shooting. If deer are not spooked, they often will mill around before moving out of the woods. Wait out the buck, and if he doesn’t provide a good shot, hold your fire and try for him again another day.
*Hopefully every hunter will have determined where bucks will travel in their area. If a hunter climbs into his stand early enough, rather than an hour before shooting time ends, he may be rewarded with a shot at a buck he has seen many times. If the stand is properly positioned, sit still and wait patiently for your opportunity. *Make certain you are downwind of the travel trail. Watch for sudden wind direction changes, and if the wind blows into the area where the buck comes from, leave. Sticking it out in a stand and hoping the wind will switch may lead to to scaring off any buck or doe. *Being downwind and scent-free is only part of this deer-hunting puzzle. Hunters also must sit still. That means being absolutely motionless, and few people can sit without moving a muscle for two, three or four hours. Even a small movement at the wrong time can spook deer from your hunting area, and they may not return. *Make certain that no part of your ground blind or tree stand squeaks.
A faint squeak when a buck is within 100 yards can scare off the animal. This also means not having anything that can be accidentally knocked to the ground. A dropped bow release can bounce off a ladder-stand, and scare an unseen but nearby buck out of its wits. *A common mistake that first-time bow hunters make when hunting over bait is to shoot the first deer they see. Ninety-five percent of the time the first deer to the bait will be a button buck. Sit back, study the animal through binoculars, and wait for other deer to arrive. Hunters who shoot the first deer to a bait site almost always shoot button bucks. Wait, allow the doe fawn and their mother to feed, and often during the last 30 minutes of shooting time, a buck will arrive. *Hunters who have deer nearby when shooting time ends should un-nock their arrow, and sit quietly and wait for the deer to feed off. Sometimes the hunter may have to sit for 30 minutes after dark before they move on. A hunter who moves when deer are nearby will never see a good buck. Stay legal, remove the arrow and wait. *Deer can’t count. If two hunters arrive on a four-wheeler, one gets off and gets into the stand, and then the other hunter drives away, a nearby deer will think it’s the same person coming and going. We’ve dropped people off, drove away, and the hunter shoots a buck while the vehicle noise can still be heard. The reverse is true after shooting time ends: a truck or four-wheeler pulls in and spooks the deer away, and the hunter gets out of the stand, gets in the vehicle and it moves off. It’s the vehicle noise and movement that spooks the deer, not the hunter.
Claude Pollington
My name is Claude Pollington, and this is the first of my daily weblogs. Some hunters might ask: what is a weblog and why should I read it? It is a daily journal of my activities. Some might refer to it as a daily column. It will be about what I think, what I do, what I feel and see, and things I do during my days in the bow hunting world. Reading it can add more hunting knowledge to your life, and that can be a good thing. I’ve hunted deer for about 60 years, and have seen many changes over those years. I remember when the very first compound bows hit the market; those early and wonderful days when I hunted with a long bow; and I remember those times when Michigan whitetail deer numbers were very high or very low.
My mission, with this daily weblog, is to provide you - the reader - with my personal viewpoints on archery, bows, hunting and much more. I intend my daily weblog to be entertaining and very informative. It is my great good fortune to own C.P. Oneida Eagle Bow Company, the Buck Pole Archery shop (both located in Marion, Michigan) and the Buck Pole Deer Ranch. My goal is to produce the finest compound bows on the market, and my Signature Series ?Extreme? is a limited edition and signed bow that meets that lofty standard. This daily weblog will not be another way to promote C.P. Oneida Eagle bows, although it will do some of that. There is a link here that will take readers to that website. This weblog is designed to write about hunting, various techniques, and different hunting methods. It will be informative, and in this modern era, information means increased knowledge.
You may read some about bow tuning, other stories on how to properly shoot a bow, but most of all this weblog will offer information about deer hunting. I’ve taken plenty of game in my time, from bear, caribou, deer and others, and I have some hardcore knowledge about some hunting methods, strategies and techniques that I will share in the future. Today, now that my first weblog has appeared on the internet, I want readers to know that it’s my desire to share with you the magic of bow hunting.
That most magical day kicks off Saturday, Oct. 1, when the Michigan bow season opens. Make this weblog page your go-to location every day. You’ll find my blog to be a breath of fresh air as we wander our way through life with a bow in hand. We’ll have fun, you and me, and perhaps you will learn a few things about bow hunting that you didn’t know. Most of all, we’ll have fun - you and me - living the good life in the outdoors. Come visit my weblog tomorrow. You’ll be happy you did. - The Whitetail Wizard.
2010 Kestrel
With only the best craftsmanship that over 30 years of quality has set apart. The Kestrel is made by hunters for hunters. The Kestrel is made with the best quality money can buy.
At C.P. Oneida Eagle we take our product very seriously and strive to provide you with the best product possible. The 2010 Kestrel shows what advanced engineering and workmanship can build.
We made the New Kestrel smaller and faster then any other previous adult model in Oneida history. Once you pick up this masterpiece you will understand the difference. Give yourself the advantage and pick up the new Kestrel, get your wings today!
Tip to Tip Length : 41”-44”
Available Draw Lenghts : 26” - 31 ”
Available Draw Weights : 35/55, 50/70 lbs
Mass Weight: 4.20 lbs
Let Off: 65% - 80%
Available Bow Color(s): Flat Black, Autumn Orange, NexGen-G1 Camo
MSRP - $1395.00
MEET CLAUDE POLLINGTON, THE WHITETAIL WIZARD
Hi, my name is Claude Pollington and my daily weblog will provide hunters with some great information on bows, hunting, and the many things I have done to make bow hunting easier and more fun for a very large cross-section of the hunting world. Click on Whitetail Wizard for my daily weblog. It will cover a wide variety of bow hunting topics, and I would hope that after you read several days of my copy, you will tell your friends, neighbors and relatives about my site. I’ve always been a bit of a maverick when it comes to bow hunting for whitetails. I’ve learned to trust my gut instincts while hunting, and some of my findings may fly in the fact of what other hunters believe. C. P. Oneida Eagle Bow Company is my company, and for the past several years we’ve worked hard to develop new bows that feature a smooth draw curve, fast arrow speed, and are easy and quiet to shoot. I live in Marion, Michigan, 15 miles southeast of Cadillac in the Lower Peninsula.
We opened up my Buck Pole Archery Shop many years ago just before it became the largest selling Oneida dealership in North America. I also own 1,000 acres of the finest deer range in the state, and about 900 acres of this land is under high fence. My hobby is studying deer, and the best way to do so is to have enough land under fence where deer will behave as they would in the wild. We offer trophy deer hunts, and they are listed on our Buck Pole website. This weblog is an offshoot to the archery business. I’ve had countless requests for more detailed information about deer hunting, and decided a daily weblog is the best way to do it. A weblog is a daily journal of what I see, what I think, what I do, what I feel, etc. If this were a newspaper rather that an internet weblog, this would be similar to a daily newspaper column. The difference here is my webblog is free. Some weblogs will be long, some will be short, but all will be informative and provide readers with things they really should know about deer behavior and hunting methods that work. I have been into archery development since 1982 when I began selling Oneida Eagle bows. However, long before that, I was an avid archer with many magazine and newspaper columns written about me.
In 1980, Outdoor Life, in a feature story by David Richey, called me “The Whitetail Wizard.” The name has stuck for all these years, and people still come into my archery shop to ask for me by that name. Studying whitetail behavior is my passion. That, and developing what many hunters feel are the finest made compound bows in the world. My latest “The Extreme” is a fine example of the bowyer’s art. My goal is to make every person who visits my store a better archery shot, and I strive to make a novice bow hunter successful on their first hunt. Obviously, how hunters shoot a bow will determine accuracy. People who follow my easy steps become successful hunters. It is my intention to make this blog successful. Each day readers will learn something more about hunting deer.
There will be stories of some of my hunts, fun things to read about bow hunting, tips and tricks I used to out-wit whitetail deer, and some of the many observations I’ve made over nearly 60 years of hunting with a bow and arrow. Place my weblog address in your Favorites list, and check me out every day. Most of my weblogs will be illustrated with a color photo, and it’s my intention to make this weblog fun and interesting for you. Click on my weblog every day. There will be new copy on this site on a daily basis, and anyone who reads it will learn something new. And, if you are in the neighborhood, feel free stop in and visit. We are located at 20669 30th Avenue (highway M-66) about one-half mile north of the Marion blinker light on the west side of the road. Hope to see you on the hunting trail. - Claude Pollington