A Few Bowhunting Tips Worth Knowing
Just knowing or memorizing a few bowhunting tips won't guarantee success in the field. There's plenty one needs to know or be aware of to avoid a wasted day. There's going to be times when the deer, elk, or whatever you're after just won't cooperate, but you can still practice those things that can give you a bit of an edge, a better chance to get a shot off, and a better chance of hitting your target.
Just for the heck of it, lets work backwards, starting with the kill, and ending with the preparation. When hunting with a rifle, the goal is to hit a vital spot, or failing that, bring the animal down so it won't wander off for a mile or two. In addition, you can shoot from a distance, and even shoot at a moving target, if it isn't moving too fast. Finally, you may be able to get off more than one shot in some instances. All of these advantages go away when bowhunting. You have to be close, you have to hit the right spot on the animal, and if you ever get more than one shot in, tell others about it, because that will be a rare event.
Where To Hit It - One of the bowhunting tips worth knowing is where to try to hit the animal. The thing to remember here is that an arrow does most of its damage through hemorrhaging, the substantial loss of blood, rather than knocking the animal over or shattering bones. There are two tips here worth knowing. The first is to divide the animal in three horizontal parts, upper, middle, and lower. Shoot at the upper half of the lower third, which will include the heart and lungs in front, and the gut in the back. A major wound in any of these areas will bring the animal down quickly. When you do bring the arrow tip into position, come up on the animal with the tip, don't come down. The latter technique causes many more misses. If you come up with the tip and are aiming for the lower third of the body, you'll have a greater chance of scoring a hit than if you're bringing the tip down.
Let Them Come To You - We've just made our kill, so let’s back up in time and see how we got to where we got. The next tip then has to do with finding an animal to shoot at. You'll have far better luck if you know where the animals are at, or are likely to be, than if you go out searching for them. If you're upwind, you'll probably never even see a deer or elk, they'll have sensed your presence long before you get close. If downwind, you still have to stalk, slowly and quietly. On the other hand, if you know where the animals are apt to show up, you can just wait, quietly of course.
Work The Details - Going back further in time, we find ourselves shooting at a target. Here is where some of the most valuable bowhunting tips are to be found. There are more than can be discussed here, but they have to do with getting comfortable with the bow, choosing the right arrows, working on your breathing and your stance, and practice, practice, practice. In golf, a beginner is tempted to work mostly with the woods and 5-irons, practicing accuracy over the long distance. It just so happens that many golf tournaments are won or lost on the putting green. One bowhunting expert recommends practice in shooting at a target 15 feet away over and over, until you're ready to die of boredom. When you reach that point, do it some more. What's the point of practicing on a target you could hit with a dart? The point is, you're not working on accuracy, you're working on breathing, control and feel of the bow and arrow, and your stance. In the field you may not always be releasing the bow from the most comfortable stance, but it's all important to work on your basic stance, find out what it is, and make it second nature. It's the same with breathing and releasing the arrow. If you're concentrating on aim, you're probably not concentrating on proper breathing, the feel of the bow, and your stance. If any of those aren't right, aiming may not matter.
Know Your Distance - The last of our bowhunting tips is probably worth giving some thought to. Know your distance, the maximum distance you can shoot with a reasonable chance of bringing the target down. You're not storming the ramparts of a fortress or castle, shooting off arrow after arrow in the hope of hitting something. You have one shot, and if 40 feet is about your maximum distance, you'll unlikely have luck at 50 feet.