Whether you hunt with a gun or bow, this post by Josh Honeycutt can easily save your deer season. Successful bowhunting is the accumulation of doing many things right, sometimes small items that you may not think of. Josh’s first point is “Bad Entry and Exit Routes,” something we can easily overlook. Last fall I had a chance to hunt a very thick area in a section we jokingly call “The Promise Land” due to its high productivity. I had all of my bowhunting ducks in a row and arrived well before dark, planning to make my entrance by circling above the thick cover and sneak to my stand completely undetected. Unfortunately, I forgot that deer moved across the same open terrain in darkness moving from agricultural fields to the thick bedding area and quickly set off a snort fest in the dark. Waiting in place for daylight so as not to spook more deer, the situation got 
worse. What should have been an exciting and possibly successful day, became a disaster before it started. Also, getting to a stand may very different than you think. I once hunted on a promising farm in Nebraska that had a number of well positioned stands. A buddy and I were discussing which to hunt, when the owner entered the discussion. “Hunt any stand you want, but let me drive you there,” he said. “Our deer see farm trucks and equipment all the time and they’ll spook at first sight, but quickly resume their normal activities.” You would think that driving a vehicle to a deer stand would be one of those deadly sins, yet in this case, with farmland deer, it was the most logical approach. The final factor to consider when approaching or leaving a stand is wind direction. It’s better to walk a mile with the wind at your face than approach your stand with that scent-carrying breeze at our back. You can’t control the wind, but you can adjust to it.
Bowhunting whitetails (and other game for that matter) is no easy endeavor. It takes serious dedication, effort and skill to get the job done, especially in a consistent manner. On the flip side, make mistakes and things go south in a hurry. Making any of these seven blunders and hunts are over before they start.
