Start Your Training For The Big Game Hunt Likely To Be Successful, Enjoyable If You’re In Shape
With fall approaching, it’s not too early to begin working out, practicing and scouting to get ready for deer season.
“Getting in shape? I’m doing it as we talk. I’m doing it on a treadmill,” said Jackie Bushman, chief executive officer of Buckmasters, a national deer hunters’ association. “If you’re going out West, or going into ridges or stuff like that, you’ve got to get the top of the legs or the back of the legs in shape, or they’ll give out.”
Practice doesn’t have to be a lonely trek to the range or the woods, he said. Shoot during the evening when it’s cooler. Take the family and make it a picnic.
“Let the kids shoot some skeet, or a pellet gun or .22. It’s a great chance to interact with them,” said Bushman.
Scouting should be done with an eye toward conditions as they will be this fall, not as they are now.
But all the scouting and practice will be less useful if the hunter isn’t in shape to put that knowledge and skill to use, Bushman said.
“You can never emphasize conditioning too much,” the former professional tennis player said. “There were times when I didn’t do it before hunting in Idaho with a guide. We’d make it look like we were stopping and glassing (looking over an area with field glasses), but we really were stopping to catch our breath.
“When you’re not in condition, you don’t have the concentration you have when you are in condition,” he said. “There’s an old rule of thumb, that big buck gives you four seconds to see him, make sure of your target and make the shot. If you’re not concentrating, you’ve missed him.”
An archer as well as a firearms hunter, Bushman uses free weights to work his back, biceps, shoulder and chest muscles. He’ll practice with his bow set considerably lower than he plans to shoot while hunting.
“That way I can shoot a lot of arrows and work on trigger release and other things,” he said. “As soon as you feel pretty strong, you need to be practicing at full pull and with broadheads” because that’s what you’ll be using to hunt.
When you practice, whether its with pistol, rifle or bow, make sure you’re using the same equipment and ammunition you will use to hunt.
When scouting, look for three essentials: a bedding area, food sources and transition routes between them.
“You need to find those before you even think about selecting a site for a stand,” Bushman said.
Find out in advance what whitetails eat in the area you hunt and when they eat. Then find those foods in your hunting area, knowing that what deer are eating in September won’t be their diet in November.
Pick several sites for stands and plot various routes to them to match different wind conditions. Approaching crosswind can tip your hunting spot to a buck who would be upwind at the stand itself.
Just remember, Bushman said, “when you’re out in the woods, you’re out in the woods studying. You’re only as good as the time you put in. I believe you can never learn enough about a whitetail.”
xxxx READY TO HUNT Read the latest Inland Northwest prospects for big game, bird and waterfowl seasons in a special hunting tabloid section of The Spokesman-Review on Thursday.
DEER HERD MAKES COMEBACK Despite a below average harvest last fall, the deer herd in northeastern Washington is showing signs of a remarkable comeback from a deadly winter in 1992. Deer surveys conducted this summer by Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologists found ratios of 34 bucks per 100 does - the best showing of bucks in six years. “We’ve had nothing over 30 bucks per 100 does since 1992,” said Steve Zender, biologist in Chewelah. “I think we had more bucks in the field last year than the harvest numbers indicated, but weather conditions didn’t make for good hunting.” This year’s ratio of 34 per 100 does compares to last year’s ratio of 21/100. The average ratio from 1993 through 1995 is 27/100. “This year, we’re 26 percent above the recent average,” Zender said. “Things are looking pretty good.” Rich Landers