Deer hunters are as much creatures of habit as the wily bucks they pursue. We sometimes need to think outside of the box (or tree stand) to score.
Rules of firearm safety and ethics are not flexible, yet when it comes to strategy, Bob Robb offers his special take on coloring outside the lines in this post from Grandview Outdoors.
Anyone who knows me — except perhaps my late mother, who for some reason always thought I was a really good boy — will tell you that I am something of a rule breaker. For some reason my mind works this way: Someone tells me something should be a certain way “just because,” and my first thought is, “How come?” If someone says you should hunt in a specified manner, I ask, “Says who?” Some examples. A cardinal rule of treestand whitetail hunting is, after accessing your stand by a predetermined route designed to minimize the chances of a deer smelling you, to stay in your stand, no matter what. And, generally speaking, this is a solid rule of thumb. But had I not violated it one frosty October morning when I spotted a dandy buck trolling a hundred yards away with no intention of passing close, I would never have tagged him. After quickly assessing the situation, I bailed out of my stand like it was on fire, vectored down a brushy creek channel to a spot where I thought the buck might pass by, and set up quickly behind a fallen log. Indeed, the buck did walk by at 37 steps, so intent on whatever his mind was thinking he forgot to look to his left. He never suspected an arrow was on its way until it was far too late.
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