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发帖数: 401 | 1 http://www.gameandfishmag.com/2010/09/28/hunting_bowhunting-hun
By P.J. Reilly
One more tree to clear and he’s mine, I told myself as a magnificent 10-
pointer approached to within 20 yards of my tree stand. When the buck stuck
his head out from behind a maple sapling, I felt a tingle on the back of my
neck. The swirling wind had reversed direction, and it blew my scent right
to the deer.
Like a shot, the buck’s head was up and his coal-black eyes glared at me.
He tipped his head back so that his polished rack nearly scratched his rump,
and his upper lip curled toward his nose. After trapping my scent in his
nostrils, the buck wheeled, waved his white flag and headed down the ridge
before I even got the chance to draw my bow.
“How high was your stand?” a buddy asked me the next day when I told him
about my misfortune.
“About 12 feet,” I replied.
“You should have climbed higher,” he said. “Climb up at least 25 feet and
they’ll never wind you.”
That’s how I was introduced many years ago to “extreme heights”
bowhunting, one of my most consistently effective bowhunting strategies.
EVERYBODY GET HIGH!
With the booming popularity of bowhunting from tree stands, deer are
learning to watch for danger from above. Even so, most of the archers I know
seldom place their stands above 15 feet, but I like to add another 10 to 15
feet in order to beat a deer’s keen senses of smell and sight.
By climbing to 25 feet and higher, the bowhunter is getting up high enough
that no matter which way the wind is blowing, his scent will likely never
reach a deer’s nose. That extra height also places the hunter above a deer
’s normal line of sight.
Extreme heights mean extreme shot angles, so be prepared to practice
shooting in difficult positions at small targets. Photo by P.J. Reilly
WHY HIGHER WORKS BETTER
The first deer I bagged with a bow while hunting at extreme heights was a
small button buck that caught me daydreaming on a warm October afternoon. I
never saw the deer until it was standing 15 yards from my tree. The season
was winding down, so I decided to take the buck and put some meat in the
freezer.
As the deer fed on acorns within spitting distance of my perch 30 feet off
the ground, I stood up, grabbed my bow off a hook that was fastened to the
tree, drew back and released an errant shot that skidded into the leaves
under the buck’s belly.
The deer kicked up its legs and hopped about 10 yards away. Not knowing
where the danger came from, the buck froze and nervously scanned the woods.
I nocked a second arrow, drew back, released and scored a perfect hit. There
’s no way all that movement would have gone undetected, even by a yearling
deer, had my climbing stand been placed 12 to 15 feet off the ground.
GETTING HIGH . . . SAFELY!
Standing on a 2×2 platform 30 feet in the air takes some trustworthy
equipment . . . and some getting used to. Regardless of the height at which
you’re hunting, your safety is your first responsibility. Always follow the
stand manufacturer’s guidelines for safe operation of your tree stand, and
never hunt out of a tree without a serviceable and properly worn safety
harness or belt.
For example, I always wear a full body harness that looks like something a
parachute jumper would wear. It has a belt that goes around my waist, straps
that go over both shoulders and cross each other in the back, and straps
that wrap around each of my thighs. A tether attached to the back of the
harness hooks to a rope that’s secured to the tree. If I were to fall while
wearing this harness, I would simply hang, head up, with my weight evenly
distributed throughout the harness.
While belts that simply wrap around your waist and are then tethered to the
tree are better than nothing, they can cut off your airflow if you fall out
of your stand. If you choose to wear a waist belt, stay away from the kind
that cinch tight when you pull on them. These will act like a noose if you
fall.
CHOOSING A STAND
For mobility, a good climbing stand is hard to beat. Choose one that’s
light, sturdy and has a sizable platform – 20 inches wide by 35 inches long
suits me. For stability, I like a climber that features a seat that folds
up from the platform and locks against the tree. These stands usually
include a rope or strap attached to the seat that wraps around the tree and
can be cinched tight to prevent slipping. For maximum safety while scaling a
tree with a climbing stand, wear your safety harness or belt on the way up
and down. It takes a little extra time to slide the belt up and down the
tree as you go, but the safety benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.
Not all of our favorite deer woods are filled with the telephone-pole
candidates needed when using a climbing stand. Hang-on stands allow you to
hunt from trees that are rife with branches. They also give you a perch that
you can leave in the woods throughout the season (assuming that’s legal in
your state). Use a hanging stand that fastens to a tree with a webbed nylon
strap. They cinch tighter than those that employ chains. And the tighter
you can fasten that stand, the less it’ll move. When you’re 30 feet up,
you don’t want to stand on a wobbly platform.
The safest way to climb high to hang one of these stands is to use a strap-
on climbing ladder. Many tree stand manufacturers today market these ladders
. I haven’t seen any that are 30 feet long, though, so you’ll probably
have to use some strap-on steps as well. Where it’s legal, you can also
screw individual steps into a tree to get you up to your stand. (Be sure to
check your state’s hunting rules to see if it’s legal to use screw-in
steps before you take them into the woods. In many states, they’re allowed
on private property with permission from the landowner, but not on public
hunting grounds.)
Whether you use a climbing stand or a hang-on stand, be sure to place your
stand in the fattest tree possible. If a breeze kicks up during your hunt, a
fat tree will sway far less than a skinny tree. When you’re 30 feet up,
you want solid, stable footing, and saplings just don’t get it!
DON’T FORGET THE ROPE
You’ll need a generous amount of rope to haul your bow and arrows up to
your stand. Thirty feet of rope can be pretty bulky, so it’s best to find a
material that’s thin but strong. Parachute cord is perfect. It has a small
diameter but it doesn’t get tangled as easily as cotton string. You can
find parachute cord in most places that sell a variety of r
opes and cords. My rope is 35 feet long with knots tied in it to mark off 25
and 30 feet. This system helps me gauge exactly how high I’ve climbed.
In my daypack, I also carry a limb saw to clear any obstructing branches
within reach once I’m situated – with my safety harness on, of course. The
balance of my gear includes small hooks for hanging my bow, binoculars, a
grunt tube, a flashlight, a knife, a deer drag, cover scents and lures, a
water bottle and a pen for filling out my tag.
GETTING THE RANGE
Now that you’re seated in your stand waiting for a deer to show, it’s time
to do some range estimation. Looking down at the ground from 25 feet up,
objects seem farther away than they really are. Remember, the yardage you’
re interested in is measured on a level plane from the base of the tree to
the deer.
To help me figure out that distance before a deer shows up, I like to look
straight out in front of me and find trees that are about 20, 30 and 40
yards away. When a deer walks near those trees, I have a reference point to
fine-tune my range estimation.
Or you can carry a laser range-finder. These fancy gadgets will tell you
exactly how far away a deer is. Even if you have a range-finder, it’s best
to determine how far away certain landmarks are before any deer show up,
because you might not have time to use the range-finder on the deer.
Once you’ve picked your reference points, you have something else to
consider: Extreme-height bowhunters have to account for the downward angle
at which they shoot. When you’re shooting from an elevated stand, expect
your arrows to hit targets higher at known distances than if you were
shooting those same targets from the ground. Generally, I’ll subtract five
yards from my range estimations to account for the steep angle. For example,
if a deer is standing 20 yards away, I’ll hold my 20-yard sight pin low,
as if I were shooting a target that’s 15 yards out. Practice will teach you
what works for you and your equipment.
To hit the vital heart-lung area on a deer when shooting from extreme
heights, think about where the arrow will exit the deer rather than where it
enters.
We all know the heart-lung area is right behind a deer’s shoulder. If you
shoot a deer there while standing on the ground, the arrow will likely pass
through both lungs or the heart, a perfect shot.
But if you were 30 feet up in your stand and shot a deer in the same spot as
you would while standing on the ground, your arrow would penetrate only a
sliver of the deer’s body cavity and exit straight into the ground.
To score a deadly hit from extreme heights, you have to rotate your aiming
point up toward the deer’s spine. A hit there will send the arrow through
the heart of the deer’s body cavity. That’s where you want it.
One of my favorite archery shots, which is offered quite frequently when you
’re hunting from extreme heights, is straight down. There’s virtually no
way a buck will catch you drawing your bow if he’s standing directly
beneath your stand. Whitetail experts say deer can see 270 degrees around
them. Their blind spot is a small cone that extends from directly overhead
to straight down the center of their backs.
I like the vertical shot because it’s the only responsible shot that offers
the spine as a target. If you can hit the spine, tracking the deer won’t
be a problem. And if you don’t hit the spine, you’ll likely pierce the
heart, one lung or the liver. All of these are lethal.
At such close range, your arrow is likely to pass completely through the
deer, leaving the exit hole on the deer’s underside. The blood from such a
hit will drain out the hole and spill directly on the ground. Deer that are
hit with conventional broadside shots hold some blood inside the chest
cavity, and the hair often stems the outside blood flow before it drips to
the ground.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Practicing the vertical shot is essential. Until you’ve tried it, you can’
t imagine how contorted your body is when you aim a bow straight down. Take
some time to practice in the woods, from your stand, with a 3-D deer target
before the season to learn this shot. And when you’re practicing that shot,
think about the situation you’re preparing for. When you hunted 12 to 15
feet off the ground, how many times did a deer pass directly beneath your
stand, one to three yards away from the tree you were perched in? While
bowhunting from extreme heights, I’ve often had deer pass this close to me,
and the closer I can get to my target the better I feel my chances are of
filling my tag.
WHAT ABOUT SCENT?
Just because you’re above a deer’s normal line of sight and smell doesn’t
mean you can do a jig in your stand while smelling like a defensive lineman
at the end of a football game. You still have to try to be as scent-free as
possible and move as slowly and deliberately as you can. Extreme-heights
bowhunting gives you an extra edge over a deer’s senses, but it doesn’t
eliminate them.
For example, during the 2001 archery deer season, bowhunting from an extreme
height was the main reason I managed to place my tag on a fat 5-point buck.
The end of the season was three days away, and I had already spent many,
many hours in my stand without success. Quite frankly, the hunting was
getting boring. I was in my stand for about four hours on this mildly cool
morning, and I hadn’t seen a tail.
“That’s it,” I said to myself. “I’ve had enough. I’m going home and I
’m just going to wait for gun season before I try again.”
With that, I grabbed my bow off its hook and tied my rope to the top limb. I
lowered the bow to the ground and then removed my trigger release from my
wrist and my arm guard from my forearm. I had just turned around in my stand
and faced the tree to prepare for my descent when I heard a shotgun blast
and some beagles baying across the road.
In my mind, the thought Hey, maybe they’ll scare a deer my way was still in
the processing phase when I spied movement at the edge of the woods about
80 yards downhill from me. When the deer stepped from behind some brush, I
immediately saw a rack. There was only one way I was going to get a crack at
this buck, and I had to act fast.
I turned around, sat down and hauled up my bow as fast as I could. I knew
there was a chance the buck might see the bow hurtling upward, but I had no
choice. When I got the bow in my hand, I turned back around to see what the
buck was doing. He was walking at a steady pace, and he was coming straight
toward me.
I hurriedly untied my rope, nocked an arrow and laid the bow across my lap.
With my heart racing a mile a minute, I fumbled around in my pocket, trying
to get hold of my release. I finally grabbed it, pulled it out and slapped
it on my wrist. The buck was now 30 yards out and closing fast.
There was no time to strap on my arm guard, so I just stood up and turned to
my right to face the buck. There was nothing but open wood
s between the deer and me. There’s no doubt in my mind the buck would have
spotted me had I been hunting from 15 feet up rather than 30 feet.
As it was, the buck had no idea I was around, and he walked to within five
paces of my tree, where he stopped to check his back trail. I drew back my
bow, centered my pin on the buck’s spine and squeezed the trigger. The buck
fell in his tracks.
Today, that buck’s rack sits on my wall next to several others that serve
as shining examples of the rewards of extreme-heights bowhunting. Now it’s
your turn to give extreme-heights bowhunting a try!
Read more: http://www.gameandfishmag.com/2010/09/28/hunting_bowhunting-hunting_gf_aa076302a/#ixzz2O6RoVo8b | c*******r
发帖数: 1243 | 2 文章太长了，没看完。
还是那句话，不同地貌环境，打猎的手法要跟着变换。我们这里少有高大笔直的大树，
所以就是上树或者独立三脚架stand都很难上得很高，有时候需要在柏树丛里刨个洞，
人就坐在地上。
所以，我们这里重点放在辨别风向，尽量做下风口，同时，除去或者掩盖自身的味道。
我的体味比较淡，所以大多数时候鹿对我的味道不敏感。我经常有鹿在我脚下（我在8-
10尺高）跑来跑去而不发现我，有几次它们能离我4-5码而没能辨别出我的存在。这么
近的距离鹿对人的存在有感觉，它们会盯着我看好半天，不过只要我能控制住情绪和呼
吸，不和鹿对视，在20-30秒后鹿就会将注意力转移到其他方向。我遇到的另一位猎人
更神，他坐在树丛中伏击鹿，后来从他侧后方突然出现头鹿，竟然过来啃食他迷彩衣服
上的树叶图案。 |
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