If you are a bowhunter you should have been in your treestand before light. The bucks are on the prowl for does coming into heat. Yes it is early but a few does coming into heat early is all it takes for bucks to go crazy and let their guard down. Calls work, rattling works, scents work and best of all combinations work. For every day that gets closer to the Rut peak which is somewhere in mid November the bucks are on the prowl for a hot doe in estrus. The breeding drum beats louder with each day closer to the peak.

Deer gather in fields and open areas at night to be seen and smelled by breeding deer. Long before light the bigger bucks will leave the fields/open areas and head back to their bedding areas. Look for scrapes, rubs and trails try to build a travel corridor from what you see from suspected bedding areas to feeding areas. The best tree stands are going to be in the woods and away from the fields.

A mistake of early detection by big bucks will cost you. You will likely never see that buck again in daylight. Lesser bucks yes, does yes. Mature bucks no! A mature buck did not become mature by making mistakes. There are many mature bucks that live and die that you will never see because they are never in daylight walking around.

Most mistakes deal with your body odor or your stand placement and your foot/boot odor on a deer trail. Spray your boots every time you enter the woods and keep your hunting boots away from pets and the kitchen odors. Spray your clothes each time you enter the woods. Keep your scent at minimum each time and every time you hunt if you want to maximize your chances of a bow shot. I have made all the mistakes and still do, though I try. Breaking twigs under foot can undo your efforts as well so approach your tree stand as if there is a deer near it. Make as little noise as possible. Be aware that deer do look up if they have been hunted before from tree stands. I had a big buck in Pennsylvania that spotted me every time no matter what I did. I had one chance early on, where he chased a doe under my stand but there was so much brush over his head that I could not shoot for fear of arrow deflection or worse a wounded deer. I let him go. What a buck!

If you are scouting for rifle season or Muzzleloader stay away from tree stands of other hunters. Give them the respect that you would want if the roles were reversed. By staying away from these stands you also keep scent away from them.

Crossing trails with other hunters on the ground in the deer woods during gun season gives me an opportunity to greet your fellow hunter see if they are alone or with others. Occasionally, you might get a response that they jumped a deer on the way in or some tidbit that gives you a hunting edge. Let’s be respectful of our hunting brethren and sisters too. Good Hunting! © 2013

I like to shoot tight groups from a bench rest at 100 yards it makes me feel good. But honestly it does me little good when it comes time to deer hunt.

Practice for deer hunting is best performed after your rifle has been bench tested for groups at the distances you are going to hunt.

Here in New England the average shot at a deer with a rifle is around 40 yards or so. At my club, the range I can place targets are typically in increments of 25 yards. So the 50 yard mark should be ideal to shoot off hand at a target with no specific bullseye painted on it. The kill zone is basically an 8 inch circle but practice with a 6 inch area behind the shoulder and centered on the lungs. http://www.the-whitetail-deer.com/Anatomy-of-a-Whitetail-Deer.html. A double lung shot provides the largest vitals area see the website above.

I like to take cardboard and create the chest/neck area of a deer. I sometimes draw a deer chest that goes left and one that goes right in the same image. In the images I am sure to create the neck chest and front leg and elbow joint which are key landmarks for your rifle whether with open sights or with scope. The front leg of a deer has that pointed elbow joint at the base of the chest.

I use that leg/joint in a broadside shot to position my crosshairs just behind it and above it so the point of aim is a bit below the center axis of the body and just behind the leg. A hit in this location is in the center of the lungs and into the arteries just above the heart. This gives you some radial error of a few inches for adrenaline, being slightly off the mark etc. and still make a great clean shot to Vital organs.

This a paper target from Delta that I use at 50 yards with rifle and 20 yards with Bow.

Should you have a desire to attempt a shot at a walking deer, like I do, then it is important to practice shooting at moving targets as well. Balloons that move 6 inches on the target in the wind are a great way to learn your trigger’s breaking point.

As much as it is fine to shoot fast shots in tight groups, it is the first shot that counts. Everything else is secondary. How long it takes you to get that shot off is equally important.

I time myself with the a five second practice sequence with the safety at full on. Counting begins with the word Go and then count one-thousand one, one-thousand two etc. At 50 yards it takes me 4 seconds to get the shot off with accuracy. Or have the friend time you from spotting a deer you want to shoot and the time it takes to bring your gun up to your shoulder take it off safety and make the shot. Try to improve this time sequence.

Of course there is no adrenaline so that factor is missing. Dry fire is valuable as well. Before live fire you can do the drill and see where your cross-hairs end up when the firing pin falls. You are training your upper arm muscles to obey minor changes to get a shot dead center and feeling where the trigger breaks as well.

Practice with the clothing you are going to hunt with when hunting time is near. If there is a shooting concern with clothing you can resolve it before going afield. It is great to practice with a hunting partner as well to spot mistakes.

Recoil reduction is key to deer hunting for all hunters so a state of the art recoil pad will help the expert as well as the novice. Both Sims Limb Saver® and the Pachmayr Decelerator® have a great recoil pad and even a slip-on style recoil pad. Use them! You will be glad you did.

I have endorsed them for years and don’t want to own a rifle without one.

Make a pact with yourself to try the stand and timed fire sequence! It will bring home the venison this fall!

In addition to this valuable practice, veteran deer hunters still hunt and stop periodically where there is a strategic view and have a tree nearby to brace their rifle against for a steadier shot at approaching game. Remember to have the wind either in your face when still-hunting or cross winding your body.  ©

Get out theyah and get em! There are turkeys everywheyah! Ok go paak yowa caaa. Get yowa camo on fowa showa. Ayuh!

My wife says she can kill turkeys every day right from her caaa as she drives to work.

She says they are so dumb when they cross the road.

That might be, I said, “but once they are back in the woods they become smaat again. Mighty fast!”

This week is turkey shotgun season. A second chance for some and a second turkey for me. At least that is the plan. To have a wild 2 turkey thanksgiving would be a first for my family. Below is my spring turkey. I am a Remington 870 fan.

I got my Fall Turkey this morning October 15, 2013 in Unit M at 7am with Shotgun. It was a hen at 9 pounds. Tag your bird immediately. You are allowed a male or hen in the fall only according to F&G. I had it checked in and sealed. I intended to take either sex to fill out my tag. Rules for identifying male from female are also on this site. Since I was alone, no photo was taken in the woods.

See website below for all details:

http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/Hunt_species/hunt_turkey.htm

Ok here is a new photo of the Hen I shot this morning! Who needs Butter Ball anyway!

It is October in New Hampshire. I reflect on a past October bowhunt that was perfect in every way.  The forest is alive with a kaleidoscope of color, a slice of heaven as it were, as the leaves turn crimson and gold.  The air was crisp and cool.  You could almost hear a pin drop as the oak leaves on the tree nearest me rustled ever so slightly.  I was settled in my tree stand, all was quiet, my bow at the ready.  I was well practiced and confident.  The fall rut would begin in earnest in only a few weeks. The October air had the pungent aroma of pine, earth and oak leaves.  I yearn for the smell of fall in the woods; I just can’t get enough of it.  A cluster of neurons in my brain fire off dozens of fall images and smells in eager agreement.

It was wise to get my tree stand up more than a month earlier. I painstakingly avoided visiting my perch to allow the deer, especially wary bucks, to criss-cross my stand area without ever detecting so much as a molecule of my scent.  It took many years of mistakes to learn to stay out of my direct core hunting areas except to verify from a distance that all was well just prior to hunting them.   I like to hunt after mid October as the first of the mature does may come into estrous and the largest of bucks have yet to see pressure from hunters. This is when bucks are highly vulnerable.  If Mr. Big shows up, I’m ready.  However my freezer was almost bare from the previous years venison (taken with Muzzleloader) thus any respectable deer would do.  My hunting set up was geared for bucks with mock scrapes and scent wicks in view.  My tree stand was located in an ever so slight saddle of oak trees that was bounded on one side by a large pool of swamp water.  The saddle was a great revelation, found in preseason scouting, as it funneled deer via three intersecting trails that were relatively close to adjacent bedding areas.  Getting in the stand undetected was the key.

It was late afternoon when I was settled in my tree stand and comfortable with my state of the art safety harness on.  I always feel like I just need the parachute to complete the harness.  No, I wasn’t quite high enough for that I mused.  The wind wasn’t perfect but it was good enough to carry my scent away from the bedding area.  I covered all bases as I also had doe-in-estrous scent that was strategically placed below in scent canisters.  I reached into my pocket and pulled out a “bleat call in a can” and rotated it so the weight sucked air into and out of the diaphragm.  Baaaaaaa went the bleat call. Again Baaaaaaa.  The call was then nestled back into my pocket so it would not bleat inadvertently.  I stood at the ready, my eyes scanning for movement of any kind. (Let your eyes look right before moving your body right).  A slight rush of anticipation ensued as my heartbeat and breathing stepped up a notch, but then settled back down again.  Something is going to happen at any moment, I kept thinking.  After about 20 minutes I took out my call and let out a few more seductive bleats.  Directly in front of me a deer appeared, like stepping from behind an invisible curtain. Where did he come from?  It was a nice 5-point with a small basket rack.  Instantly, a shot of adrenaline kicked my heart into gear.  The buck stood there for a moment that seemed like eternity. He began to meander my way, smelling the air and bobbing his head around looking here and there trying to see the doe that was cuing sweet nothings in his ear.  I carefully reached into my pocket and rotated the bleat call again.  This way, I beckoned him in silence. This way….  Perhaps the last bleat was a mistake, I thought.  His head went up sharply as if to smell the air looking my way and he came walking toward my stand. At 20 yards he was still coming. He was intent on finding that bleating doe.  Just don’t look up, I kept thinking. As he passed behind a tree and some brush, I drew my bow. The cams on the bow rolled over silently and evenly as my high back muscles took over the job of holding the string against the invisible wall at full draw.  The arrow slid rearward undetected on the arrow rest like rattlesnake coiling in preparation to strike.  My heart was thumping so loud that perhaps the deer could hear it.

He stopped behind the brush momentarily causing me to question my wisdom of drawing, but then he continued his inquisitive approach.  My mental check list goes off just before launching an arrow; all is safe to shoot, check the arrow, arm guard/clothing not in the way, bow clear of branches, bend at the waist with your bow then pick a hair to aim at. Aim small; miss small is my mantra.  My finger squeezed the release. Thumm went the string and an instantaneous thwack, reported back!  The arrow struck low in the chest and disappeared.  The deer kicked his rear legs as they so often do and ran around 20 yards away and spun around to face where the sound had come from.  Too much brush in the way for a follow up shot, I thought. He turned away and walked into the swamp water.  His tail down, gave no indication of panic or that he was even hit except that he was walking slowly.  At around 50 yards, I could still see him in the water.  As he began to disappear in the brush, I noticed the tops of the bushes swaying, a sure indicator that he needed support to stay on his feet.  Now I knew he was hit hard.  I mentally marked the spot he was last seen.  After about 20 minutes I climbed down and located the arrow dug into the muddy soil.  It had some blood on it and totally coated with brisket fat.  But not totally red with blood as is often the case with a double lung hit.  I decided that it was best not to take the trail immediately, besides I would need my waders.  I decided to pick up the trail at first light.  That evening I enlisted my son Jason and a hunting friend in blood trailing and the retrieve.  We found him shortly the next morning after applying good blood trailing techniques.  The buck went 150 yards before piling up on the banks of the swamp.  We all whooped and hollered at finding him so quickly.  The arrow did strike low in the chest taking out a lung and just missed the other lung.

Let me tell you, I don’t know what that buck was feeding on but he was butterball fat dressing out at around 137 lbs.  The meat was absolutely delicious.

My heart quickens as I write this in anticipation of another season.  Mr. Big is still out there too. Isn’t anticipation grand? © 2013

Now is a great time to dust off your muzzle loader for this deer season. It is important to always verify that your muzzle loader does not have a powder charge in it.  Drop your rod inside to see if it is empty or take it to the range and fire it down range. If its an in-line then look down the primer hole if possible to verify it is clear or remove the plug.

I use solvent, cotton cloth patches and my cleaning/Loading rod to clean the barrel because I use a non-fowling powder substitute such a the new BlackMZ™ by Alliant Powder.

For my Hawken years ago I used soap and boiling water and sucked the water up in the barrel with plunger action of my cleaning rod. I stopped using all lead bullets years ago. Everyone has a slightly different technique.

All is fine as long as the barrel is clean. I finished my barrel cleaning after the long winters nap with a bore polishing cream in J&B Compound. Looking down a clean bore makes me smile!

I am using TC 300 grain sabot-ed Copper jacketed (yellowpoints), bought them last year, they are designed to expand rapidly in deer and bear. I chronographed the 300 grain heads using 100 grains of Black Powder substitute at 1638 fps which provides a muzzle energy of 1787 ft-lbs. At 50 yards energy is 1560 ft-lbs and at 100 yards it was still 1363 ft-lbs. That’s a lot of whump for deer! Energy minimums for deer are 1000 ft-lbs and it was still over that at 200 yards ( I limit shots to around 100 yards max).

I zeroed the muzzle loader for 100 yard so 50 and 75 yards were an inch high. My trigger breaks harder than my rifle but it does not creep.

I have to swap a scope to this muzzle loader each year. Use a good scope don’t get chincy here. The chances of getting a deer with Muzzle Loader are excellent in New Hampshire. You can get your License on line too at https://www.nhfishandgame.com/

Remember that most scopes are 1/4 inch per click at 100 yards, 3/16 inch at 75 yards, 1/8 inch at 50 yards and 1/16 inch movement across the paper per click at 25 yards.

As an example my shot was 2 inches low and three inches left at 25 yards. To correct this at 25 yards each click moves the crosshairs just a 16th of an inch with each click.

So move the vertical adjustment (top of the scope) up 32 clicks and your windage adjustment 16 x 3 = 48 clicks to the right. Seems like alot? It is!

Now move your target out to 100 yards and shoot again.

You should be on paper. Use the 1/4 inch rule to finish.

Many hunters today use the black powder pellets. They work fine.  I like the powder but that is likely because I am used to doing it that way. I tried the pellets but they’re not for me.

I use tubes designed for pre loading your bullet, powder and cap. Buy them anywhere muzzle loader gear is sold.  I take three extra’s with me when hunting. If I shoot, then I just pop the cap pour the powder in the muzzle, use the rod to push the bullet into the bore, grab the cap on the end of the tube and there you are. Good Hunting! © 2013

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Wildlife Harvest Summary is a must read for every hunter. The summary comes out every year and I read it every year (see below). Of course that does not mean you will kill a deer every year but the summary slices and dices the harvest data every which way so you can get at specific information that you are looking for. Trophy deer data is available too.

http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/harvest_summary/Wildlife_Harvest_2012.pdf

Southern NH has always had a great deer population so many hunters consider this a focal point. Yet at the same time there are many hunters that want a really wild experience away from roads and homes so they go north. North country, my hunting friends, grows really big bucks. Why? The deer density is low, hunting pressure is low. This is where a buck can live to the trophy age above 3 1/2 years and peak at about 5 1/2 years and his antlers are in their best size and shape. When I say north I really mean Central New Hampshire and north.

So if you want a bigger deer “on average” to hunt consider northern deer. Its harder, much harder some say. If you know the area, then it is not as hard as you might think.

There are porker bucks in Southern Zones but you have to do your homework to have a chance at them in and around No Hunting Signs. Getting written permission to hunt in southern hot-spots is very much worth investing your time. Do it before hunting season and be neat in appearance. All the landowner can do is say no. Offering to aid the landowner in some way can help as well.

Yes I love my venison and have shot many lesser bucks but this year I may hold for a bigger buck and it may take 2 or 3 years to achieve success.

Once you have located your hunting areas then it is essential to scout them out. Topographical maps are also an essential tool for the mobile hunter. I like Topographical Software. There are numerous companies that offer it. Today there are phone apps that can do this too. Just remember to keep your phone charged. I still prefer a way to print out my Topo map and carry a paper copy with me.

Remember to wear Hunter Orange  during the firearms season, it will keep you out of harms way.©

A squirrel behind me was making noise in the leaves, irritated with the scuffling in the Oak leaves, I turned my head to spot the little critter and found instead a large 8 point buck sniffing something in the air and walking my way with great interest.

It was early November, I was hunting with a friend some years back in a new spot during the first day of shotgun season in southern New Hampshire. I was supposed to be “still” hunting. I did not switch to shotgun that morning. I was hunting with my Hawken 50 Cal. Cap Lock Muzzle loader. My friend and I were spending time trying to identify movement patters when a large doe appeared walking down a woods path in front of me. She was definitely going somewhere.  I raised my Hawken and fired as she stepped between trees.  I missed cleanly finding the large errant bullet path in the leaves below her.  I should have got the doe to stop with a whistle, I lamented, or practiced more at the shot I took. Seeing another deer that day was unlikely, or so I thought.  We followed the fresh doe tracks to see where she was headed and to ensure that there was no injury.  She crossed a stream that fed out of a beaver pond and it was there that we found fresh rubs on swamp alders that were so worn that they dug a half inch into the trees. My eyes nearly popped out of my head, this was a rare find indeed. This was a signal to me that a mature buck (more than 3 1/2 years old) with a significant rack was in the area. What makes that rub so special is that when large antlers are growing, it takes large wide veins to carry nutrients all the way to the top of the large antler beams.  In August the velvet and veins are shed leaving rough bone hard former vein channels and bumpy ridges at the antler base, like a very, very rough file. Rough enough to file a three inch thick alder trunks to pieces. More on Whitetails here;

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-9105.pdf

Back to the story;  I saw a deer trail that crossed the stream near the rubs but did not have boots high enough to follow. I needed waders! I believed that the buck was using the edge of the beaver pond as his home bedroom turf as the wind would blow towards the bedding area near the pond to signal danger or perhaps a doe coming into estrus.

I shared with my friend those same thoughts and we should hunt here this afternoon. He said, “Naaa, I have some things to do this afternoon, can’t make it.” Further, I think he did not buy my theory that the buck is bedded near the pond.

The problem was to get onto the bucks theoretical bedroom was next to impossible, because the wind blew into that so-called bedding area right to the edge of that beaver pond. Undaunted, I went home and showered, I dusted myself with baking soda, changed to newer hunting clothes grabbed my slug shotgun instead. In analysis of this situation, I needed a scent lure to draw the buck from his hideout and cover my own scent. I was using Bob Kirshner lures Silver top Doe in Estrus and his mature buck scent. I got my duck waders and put them in a backpack and off I went. It was around 1PM when I crossed the stream with my waders.  I took them off and left them at the stream edge. It was warmer than expected that day and nearly 60 degrees in the sun, sweat was on my brow, so I slowed my pace for the last 100 yards. Wind was blowing toward the theoretical bedded buck at the edge of the pond so I immediately placed both the doe in estrus and the buck urine not far from one another and found a forked tree to hide my back side if the buck sneaks up behind me. It was tough to navigate in there as it was more of a thicket than open woods. About 45 minutes had passed when A squirrel behind me was making noise in the leaves, irritated with the scuffling in the Oak leaves, I turned my head to spot the little critter and found instead a large 8 point buck sniffing and walking my way. The  scents I had placed worked like magic. My heart began racing as adrenaline shot through me. I was facing the wrong way to take a shot. The buck was looking at my orange back side but I made little eye contact with the buck while lifting my shotgun, a Remington 870 pump. I lifted it in-line with the tree so the deer could not see the gun movement. I rotated in an instant and the buck jumped. As the shotgun got to my shoulder the buck ran to about 45 yards stopped and looked back as if to say, what the heck was that?  This gave me a front shoulder to aim at. I sent the slug on its way and watched as it struck just behind the shoulder and neck. The buck went down but tried to get up, a follow-up shot ended the encounter. I believed not only was the buck was where I thought but by using both the buck and doe scent, the buck believed that an amorous intruder was with his doe in his bedroom no less. In hindsight, I was perhaps lucky, but was truly where preparation met opportunity. A photo of my prize should be next right?

Tragically, A few years later our home was destroyed by fire thus photo’s and my upstairs deer mounts were destroyed. I wrote an article for  NH Wildlife Federation News on that buck years ago.

I have taken lesser bucks with muzzle-loader and bow but none as grand, but still trying. I will show you a big buck yet.

You saw my friend Ovide Lamontagne’s buck from last year? Now that is a NH buck! Look back to December articles from last year in the photo below. Now that is NH Buck with brow tines that should be in the record book!©

August is a great time to scout in Northern New Hampshire for Deer and Moose sign. I began my scouting trips last month and found plenty of Deer and Moose sign in one area.

Last Month’s trip produced a young bull in the early morning dew at roadside. On the August cover.

Yesterday I went all the way to Pittsburg, NH to see what I could find and then worked my way south.

As I headed north I photographed the closed resort “The Balsams” at Dixville Notch. It is a shame that the economy is so poor for so long and this place is so silent in its nestled beauty. 

As you might suspect the deer sign increased as I moved south but so did the Moose sign. I spent the night camping ($25/night) at Lake Francis State Park on my solo journey .http://www.nhstateparks.com/francis.html

The highlight of my night there was a visit by a Raccoon who sniffed my tent and made mouth/ nose sniffing sounds that were so rapid that it could not have been a bear.  At 2 AM I shouted  “Beat-it”! . And he did…My guess is that this Raccoon made the rounds to every campsite looking for scraps left by messy campers. I am not a messy camper as food was locked in my car. It is the rare bear visits that can really light up your night they say!

In the morning at 5:30 AM I got in my car, no coffee yet,  and hit the road to Moose Ally on Rt 3 with my Nikon D60 hoping to put a Bull in my Camera lens. http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product-Archive/Digital-SLR-Cameras/25438/D60.html

Strangely after two ten mile passes I did not see a single Moose. Even Moose Alley Trail was silent.

Nada, Zip! Are the Moose there? Of course they are.  Just not when I was driving at 20 mph. Morning at Lake Francis is glorious!

Oh, I listened to F&G radio on 1610 AM talk about the great Moose numbers for NH (Over 6000) the majority being above Concord NH. I have made this trip before to Moose ally and have always seen Moose. Hmm. Whats up with that? So I drove two logging roads and still nothing but Moose tracks. Moose must be somewhere? Just not roadside!

Back to camp for some breakfast I thought.  I had enough camp wood to cook over the fire. Breakfast over an open fire is something my family did for more than a half century and it brought back fond memories as a young boy.

I used one non stick all metal skillet for all my cooking starting with Coffee. Coffee made on a hot skillet is fast to heat up. Hot Colombian Roast Coffee..  Coffee in hand, I added butter to the skillet and cooked up two eggs over easy and put them aside while I cooked sausage, home fries and canned baked beans till they were bubbling hot and then added back the over easy eggs to the bubbling hot pan.  I could have had some venison but I was fresh out of it.This year, I hope.

I wanted to show you photo’s of Bull Moose but here is my breakfast feast over the fire instead. It was grand to be here just the same! Any day in the north woods is grand!

I used the clean, well maintained Shower facilities there at Lake Francis. Refreshed, I headed south for more scouting. I stopped at LL Cote Sports Center in Eroll, NH. I have been a customer of theirs for decades. It is just gigantic inside with everything imaginable for sportsman and women.  http://www.llcote.com/servlet/StoreFront

Heading further south I rounded a corner and there on the roadside was a Mackenzie Deer Target at the woods edge, you know, the ones that are so life like at archery shoots,  only it swapped ends as I approached, and ran into the woods.  A young handsome spike buck! Too fast for me to get a snap shot of his long neck and sweeping long spikes. Seeing is believing they say, so I marked the area and scouted. The deer sign was encouraging.

On the way south I came across these wind turbines that will forever be a part of this landscape and produce so little energy that it will take decades to break even, if ever.  Wait the photo captured them saying something as they turned. Y I K. I interpret that as a form of YUK!

I stopped at my nephews camp north of Berlin to check in on it, all was well. This camp was part of my family for 50 years. Shot my first deer there in 1967. Just a year later much of the heard was decimated by snow and winter-kill. We could walk on to the roof of camp back then. Guess Al Gore was still in diapers.

It was there that I learned to chop wood, and the value of a warm cabin in sub-freezing temperatures and the value of a good hunting friendships and getting up at 4:30 AM each day.

Back home now, my clothes are all smokey. A nice trip, a few Moose photos would have been better. When I got my moose three years ago. I scouted in my area for hundreds of field hours never seeing a Moose, just their tracks so stay at it. There is a Moose around the next bend in the road so be ready! ©

I like to shoot tight groups from a bench rest at 100 yards it makes me feel good. But honestly it does me little good when it comes time to deer hunt.

Practice for deer hunting is best performed after your rifle has been bench tested for groups at the distances you are going to hunt.

Here in New England the average shot at a deer with a rifle is around 40 yards or so. At my club, the range I can place targets are typically in increments of 25 yards. So the 50 yard mark should be ideal to shoot off hand at a target with no specific bullseye painted on it. The kill zone is basically an 8 inch circle but practice with a 6 inch area behind the shoulder and centered on the lungs. http://www.the-whitetail-deer.com/Anatomy-of-a-Whitetail-Deer.html. A double lung shot provides the largest vitals area see the website above.

I like to take cardboard and create the chest/neck area of a deer. I sometimes draw a deer chest that goes left and one that goes right in the same image. In the images I am sure to create the neck chest and front leg and elbow joint which are key landmarks for your rifle whether with open sights or with scope. The front leg of a deer has that pointed elbow joint at the base of the chest. I use that leg/joint in a broadside shot to position my crosshairs just behind it and above it so the point of aim is a bit below the center axis of the body and just behind the leg. A hit in this location is in the center of the lungs and into the arteries just above the heart. This gives you some radial error of a few inches for adrenaline, being slightly off the mark etc. and still make a great clean shot to Vital organs.

Should you have a desire to attempt a shot at a walking deer, like I do, then it is important to practice shooting at moving targets as well. Balloons that move 6 inches on the target in the wind are a great way to learn your trigger’s breaking point.

As much as it is fine to shoot fast shots in tight groups, it is the first shot that counts. Everything else is secondary. How long it takes you to get that shot off is equally important.

I time myself with the a five second practice sequence with the safety at full on. Counting begins with the word Go and then count one-thousand one, one-thousand two etc. At 50 yards it takes me 4 seconds to get the shot off with accuracy. Or have the friend time you from spotting a deer you want to shoot and the time it takes to bring your gun up to your shoulder take it off safety and make the shot. Try to improve this time sequence.

Of course there is no adrenaline so that factor is missing. Dry fire is valuable as well. Before live fire you can do the drill and see where your cross-hairs end up when the firing pin falls. You are training your upper arm muscles to obey minor changes to get a shot dead center and feeling where the trigger breaks as well.

Practice with the clothing you are going to hunt with when hunting time is near. If there is a shooting concern with clothing you can resolve it before going afield. It is great to practice with a hunting partner as well to spot mistakes.

Recoil reduction is key to deer hunting for all hunters so a state of the art recoil pad will help the expert as well as the novice. Both Sims Limb Saver® and the Pachmayr Decelerator® have a great recoil pad and even a slip-on style recoil pad. Use them! You will be glad you did.

I have endorsed them for years and don’t want to own a rifle without one.

Make a pact with yourself to try the stand and timed fire sequence! It will bring home the venison this fall!

In addition to this valuable practice, veteran deer hunters still hunt and stop periodically where there is a strategic view and have a tree nearby to brace their rifle against for a steadier shot at approaching game. Remember to have the wind either in your face when still-hunting or cross winding your body.  ©