My Deer Aren't Chronically Wasted!

               It’s another brisk morning in the state of Wisconsin.  After arriving at my tree stand, loading my gun, and quietly removing the oak leaves from the platform I stand on, I sit down to rest my back momentarily before the sun will rise.  The morning is calm, dead quiet and promising.  Opening day of deer season has finally arrived and with as little disturbance as our eighty acres has seen this year, expectations of deer by the dozens to come barreling over the hill pollute my imagination.  When thinking back on my first year in 1996 or the following seven years for that matter, the memories of deer stampeding by me in numbers no lower than three at a time seemed almost unrealistic.  That very rock off to the west was the landmark of the first buck fight I had ever seen.  Not just one buck, but five of them all chasing one poor singled out doe while fighting amongst themselves.  The excitement of the instance burned deep into my memory and will last with me for as long as I live.  A memory I can only hope my own son or daughter can share in years to come.  Due to an unfortunate chain of events, I’m afraid the chances of that happening will be few and far in between.  In 2002 something happened that slowly but effectively reduced experiences like this to be had in the north woods.  The introduction of Chronic Wasting Disease.  Chronic Wasting Disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found primarily in the deer family.  Similar to Mad Cow Disease, it is infectious and spread through saliva. It was first recognized in the mule deer of Colorado in 1967 and has been well documented and researched ever since.  In 2002 the first case was diagnosed in central Wisconsin near Mt. Horeb.  Since then, the DNR has exhausted resources and put in place numerous changes in the hunting regulations allowing hunters to harvest as many deer as possible in the attempt to wipe out a disease they know not how to control.  In the fiscal year of 2005-06 Wisconsin spent 32.3 million dollars on CWD alone.   Depending on how close you where to ground zero you could be subject to what they call the Eradication Zone or the Herd Reduction Zone.  Even without any proven cases within fifty miles for twelve years strait, my land fell on the outermost edge of the Herd Reduction Zone and took a huge hit in herd numbers.  Obviously the DNR had to step in and do something right?  But, did they need to take such drastic measures to “bail out” mother nature?  I firmly believe that CWD has been around for over forty years and the DNR did not need to make such a statewide emergency out of this issue.  In fact, I believe their drastic interventions have actually dug themselves, the disease, and the sport of hunting whitetail deer into a deep unnecessary hole!

            My land as I told you, lies right on the outskirts of what they now call the CWD Unit.  The county that may hold the most controversy is Juneau County.  It is understandable that you must draw a line somewhere.   Zone 54B is a special situation being split in half.  The Southern half is in the Eradication Zone and the Northern half is in the Herd Reduction Zone.  The line designated to split these two Zones is Hwy 12.  It’s a very hard concept for anyone to stand on the road and be told by the DNR that the deer on the right side of the road will have a higher chance of being infected then the deer on theft side of the road, therefore the deer herd on the southern half of Hwy 12 must be more heavily eradicated then the deer on the northern side!  I think anyone who has ever ridden in a car will be able to tell you that deer are more than capable of crossing the road.  When an organization makes rules based on convenience how can they expect anyone to trust or honor their rules.  The DNR has been actively testing deer in Juneau County since the initial outbreak in 2002 and has just now found its first positive testing for the county.  Of course this will make the headlines as breaking news and it was difficult to research this issue without continually coming across this article.  On the DNR website you can read the headlines, First CWD-positive wild deer detected in Juneau and Portage Counties!  The article will tell you that these two separate deer were harvested by gun hunters and brought to the DNR for testing and both came back positive.  How do we know these deer were actually shot in the counties they were claiming?  Even if so, one deer tested positive in an entire county over a span of twelve years does not justify the need for mass eradication.  My grandfather along with any retired farmers from the southern half of the state will most likely have a story about shooting a deer they thought to be sickly.  It wasn’t considered a big deal.  Most of them ate the deer anyways or in some cases will tell you they left it for the coyotes.   Zone 54B, my zone, is finally starting to naturally wean its way out of the effects of this twelve year mass eradication.  Will the DNR now move the entire county out of herd reduction into full swing mass eradication over one positive testing?

  In 2002 it only took three positive testing’s to put the entire southern half of the state into mass eradication.  When the DNR reacts drastically over such small scale test results when thousands of hunters, who are in the woods every day, aren’t seeing what the DNR claims to be a wide spread problem, it tends to make hunters go vigilant and “take matters into their own hands”, so to speak.  By 2006, 5 years of testing, there were 651 deer that tested positive for CWD and 590 of those deer were found in Dane and Iowa Counties.  Although this may sound like an alarming number of infected deer, the lowest number of deer harvested in a single year for the state of Wisconsin in the last twelve years was in 2009 with a total of 329,103 deer.  The DNR’s main point of effort to try to reduce the deer population in the attempt to fight CWD is to reduce the herd.  They also claim that the main tool in this effort is now and always has been the hunters themselves.  But the hunters aren’t helping the DNR to reduce the herd.  In the year 2000, before the DNR’s recognition of CWD, the number of harvested deer in Wisconsin was 618,274, a considerably average year for the sport .  In 2005, four years into the DNR;s forced management plan, the number of deer harvested was 463,935.  In 2010 the number of deer harvested was 336,871.  So if the main ideology of stopping this disease from spreading is to shoot more deer then we were before the disease was recognized, then why has this number of deer harvested plummeted to almost half of what it used to be?

 The reason for this is that the DNR scared a lot of hunters right out of their stands.  When the news hit about the first case of CWD being found in Wisconsin, hunters that showed concern had many questions and vague or no answers given to them.  I remember being told that a disease much like mad cow disease existed in deer and was now found in our state.  I initially showed concern.  The mass media made it sound like infectious zombie deer would be at my back door by the end of the month and it was up to me to shoot as many of these deer as I can before they infect us all.    When I first started hunting, I was given one buck tag and a chance to buy what was called a bonus tag.  A bonus tag cost twelve dollars and allowed you the chance to shoot one doe for that season.  Once CWD hit the streets, I could barely fit all my kill tags in my back tag holder.  I was given a buck tag and one free doe tag and told I had to practice “earn a buck” meaning I had to shoot, tag, and register a doe before I was legally able to use my buck tag.  This in turn forced all hunters to shoot more deer.  Some hunters didn’t have room for more than one deer on the back of their vehicle let alone their freezer at home.   Sociologically a lot of traditional, older generation hunters found it to be taboo to shoot does.  That’s someone’s mother or wife they were told to kill!  A lot of hunters were out there to take on the dominant male of another species to try to prove his place on the top of the food chain and of course bring home the ritual head piece of that buck and claim it as a trophy.  That’s what traditional American hunting was about to a lot of people.  Now that they were legally forced to shoot what they see as a helpless woman, a lot of them hung up their rifles and stayed home.  With the DNR’s ideology of herd reduction with their main tool being the common hunter, how could they not foresee this concept and think that maybe for their own benefit it would be more beneficial to leave that choice up to the hunter.  So once you shoot and tag your doe you can now shoot your buck and have your two deer harvested for the season and your done, right?  Wrong!  Not only are you awarded your buck tag to fill but your given four additional doe tags for free!  Also, once you shoot your buck, as long as you shoot another doe you’re awarded another free buck tag as well!  Given the amount of light in a single day I calculated that within the three month regular bow season and the traditional nine day gun season, I was able to shoot well over three hundred deer in a single year.  How is anyone supposed to respect the DNR with those kinds of numbers!  Before CWD there was an estimated 17 deer per square mile.  We have at least two active hunters for our 80 acres.  There is no need to do the exact math because anyone can realize that the amount of tags available well exceeds the number of deer the entire state has to offer.   Most blue and white collar hunters have been left with a bad taste in their mouth because of this.  Where I hunt the average family income is less than sufficient to provide enough food for the family in a year.  When attending local bars you would come across many decent yet “rough around the edges” individuals who are not ashamed to admit poaching as many as three or four deer to fill the freezer for the winter.  In my opinion there is nothing wrong with that.  Who has the right to tell a tax paying land owner he cannot harvest as many animals as needed to provide for his family’s nourishment.   The idea of legality may have at least suppressed a few bullets from being fired in the past but now anyone with twenty-four dollars has the opportunity to wipe out every deer in a thirty mile radius.  This may seem far-fetched but where I used to see ten deer a day I now will be lucky to see ten deer in an entire season.   The numbers are down regardless of any survey taken by any organization.  Those deer that are left are being pushed onto private land owner’s acreage where they aren’t being shot at but counted by wildlife experts then reported that numbers are on the incline.  Just because there are forty deer being hand fed wonder bread in Goose Island doesn’t mean there are comparable numbers per square mile in the rest of La Crosse County.  Point being, do not believe everything you are told!

 Another concept that the DNR was slow to catch on to and that discredits their survey numbers every year is the retagging of the same doe in order to receive your buck authorization.  Many hunters and their friends would drive around with the same doe reregistering it for their friends and family so they were able to get their buck tag.  Once the DNR caught on to this concept they instructed the registration stations to slit the ear of the doe with a knife to identify it as already registered.  But what they failed to grasp is that a lot of these registration stations were local gas stations, liquor stores, and gun and pawn stores owned by local disgruntled hunters themselves!  If they weren’t upset about the quality of hunting then they were definitely mad at the drop in sales over the seasons from lack of participants.  Out of state hunters equals extra business, equals vacation money or a child’s college tuition.   At one of our registration stations, the entire tablet of buck authorization tags was always left unattended on the counter.  All you need to do is write your customer ID number on the coupon awarded to you by the register.  What was to stop me from taking one and filling it out for myself?  Needless to say, there was nothing to official about this very imperfect system.  This in turn discredits every statistic, graph, pie chart, news report, and article you read or listen to that states the number of deer shot. 

            If the DNR has one thing right in their thinking it is this.  The hunters themselves are now and will always be their number one tool in herd reduction and if they wish to know the truth, get the truth and see positive results that better the species, and sport then they had better start respecting hunters and land owners and involving them in the decision making for the future of the herd and the sport itself.  I personally have never seen a deer with the signs or symptoms of CWD.  I also have never known anyone, nor have I ever heard of anyone who has actually witnessed a deer that had Chronic Wasting Disease.  I know that it does exist.  I know it has the potential to become a problem because it has become a problem in other states.  One would think that due to the fact that this problem has been around for over forty years in multiple states, that our Department of Natural Resources would have been better prepared for the prevention of this disease to enter our state.  More so, one would think that they would have been better prepared to handle the situation when the outbreak initially occurred.   The Wisconsin DNR’s own statistics they use to try to scare us about the disease and lack of knowledge in Wisconsin’s social structure is nothing more to me then the clear cut proof that their effort in handling and controlling this disease are now as they were in the beginning overly drastic, ill conceived, and completely unnecessary.  

Brainstorm

1.)    Introduction/Thesis: 

a.      Brief history of CWD dating to the 1960’s

b.      The Impact the DNR has made on CWD in Wisconsin

2.)    Argument-Pros:

a.       Estimated number of infected deer in 2002 and now.

b.      What efforts they have made to protect our deer.

c.      What advancements in the understanding of the disease since first introduced.

3.)    Argument-Cons:

a.      Impact the media had on persuading hunters. Scared to eat the meat.

b.      Impact of eradication zones.  Too many tags. Over kill?

c.      Effects on the hunter.  License sales up or down year to year.

4.)    Conclusion:

a.      Restate thesis

b.      Site sources

Cause and Effect of Wisconsin DNR and CWD

     Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy found primarily in the deer family.  It is infectious and spread through saliva. It was first recognized in the mule deer of Colorado in 1967.  It was scientifically identified as a TSE in 1978.  In 2002 the first case was finally diagnosed in central Wisconsin in Mt. Horeb.  Since this date the DNR has exhausted resources and put in place numerous changes in the hunting regulations allowing hunters to harvest far more deer then necessary.  Chronic Wasting Disease hit the news stations at a rapid pace scaring hunters from the sport.  Depending on how close you where to ground zero you could be subject to what they call the eradication zone or the herd reduction zone.  My land fell right on the outskirts of the herd reduction zone and we felt the effects in a very negative way.

               There has never to this date been a confirmed case of CWD in a deer in the county I hunt in yet for ten years strait I was encouraged to shoot as many deer as I could to try to wipe out the herd.  The DNR treated the problem like it was a zombie apocalypse.  Before CWD, every hunter was given a buck tag and had to pay twelve dollars extra for a chance at a bonus tag, which meant I could shoot a doe.  That was it!  The result of this was a good balance of the deer herd.  As soon as this mysterious and scary disease was recognized in one small town of the state, the tags where basically limitless.   Soon, nearly state wide, hunters were forced into “earn a buck”  where you need to tag and register a doe before you are allowed to shoot a buck.  This in turn forces you to shoot more deer.  Why you ask?  The DNR doesn’t know how to cure this disease.  More so, they were sloppy with their appointed responsibilities to the state of Wisconsin and allowed a deer farmer to bring in out of state deer that carried the disease that eventually hopped a fence to spread it to our wild deer population.  So what do we do with that which we do not understand?  Wipe it out and start fresh!  That was their only plan. Kill. Kill. Kill.             

               Our land was littered with deer in my early childhood.  It was nothing for me to go onto our eighty acre chunk in the Reedsburg area and see twelve deer in just a morning stand in the woods.  Everyone saw deer, everyone shot deer, the herd was appropriately reduced, everyone had fun!  Now, with that many deer in our area and unlimited tags what do you think human nature led everyone to do?  The deer herd was dramatically decreased in just a few years.  Deer trail that used to be wore down to the dirt like cow paths are grown over and unused.    The DNR then pulls a stunt and reports statewide that according to their horribly inaccurate manipulative surveys, the deer numbers have actually increased.  This was not true.  The woods was dead.   The herds in CWD zones were down as they planned but the zones outside of CWD the herds stayed the same or grew because a lot of hunters were scared off by the disease and those that weren’t still only had a select amount of tags to fill.  So what do they do next?  Now for every deer you shoot they reward you with four more doe tags daily!  That means with earn a buck, you have to shoot a doe, register it, be awarded four more free doe tags and the ability to shoot your buck then go out a shoot five more deer in that same day.  Also, for every one of those deer I’m allowed to get four additional doe tags as well!  Needless to say, there is no need for anyone to poach in the near future.  Soon there are no deer.  Then they report surveys that the purchase of licenses is down and they use that as their justification for allowing hunters to kill so many deer.  It was a vicious circle that slaughtered the deer herd and justified their actions in doing so.

               The DNR warned people against eating deer in earlier years of this pandemic.  Many hunter hung up their guns because of the DNR’s over embellishment.  There was no proof leading to believe you could get sick from, or contract this disease from deer.  Where my family hunts many of the locals are on the poorer side of the economy.  These family’s hunt deer for meat.  They used to poach deer for meat to survive, which I am ok with, but now have no need to anymore.  With no fear of being caught or  the need to poach in general, these families certainly took advantage of the situation shooting as many deer as they needed to fill their freezers for their families of four  five to last the winter.  When their freezers are full they would shoot a deer to help out their neighbors half empty freezer.  With no regulation and a seemingly bottomless bowl of nearly free meat why would any human stop grabbing.  Some even bought into the disease as if it was their duty to help eradicate the deer.  Some shot to kill and leave.  I have heard of numerous cases where people will shoot a deer out of spite and left it lay where it died. 

               Present day, it is nothing for me to go out into the woods and not see a deer.  We plant corn, soybeans, clover, and manage our land the best we can to try and reverse what the DNR has done.  I asked a member of the DNR about seven years into this massacre how many deer that they have tested from my county tested positive for CWD.  His answer was, “As of today….zero.”  I looked him square in the eyes and asked why in the hell are we still in the herd reduction zone.  He broke eye contact from me, shrugged his shoulders and went on the next hunter in line to have their deer tested.  My deer were never infected and there was no reason for this attempted state wide annihilation.  Ask any old timer and he will have at least one story of a time he came across a sickly looking deer.  This disease has been around for a long time and did not need this drastic of measures to remedy the problem.  I just hope that there are enough hunters left to continue this tradition and learn better for next time not to let the DNR pull their strings.  Despite my completely one sided bashing I just gave to the DNR, I’m actually not entirely against them but it was their “lack there of” that put us in this mess to begin with and their ill conceived attempts to fix the problem has lead me to a bitter taste in my mouth and a lack of good hunting memories to share with my brothers and sisters of the sport.

 

Web 2.0 Comment

       Had I not chose to write my blog about hunting, a close second would have been the topic of music.  I am a guitar player/amateur recording artist by hobby.  Andrew Keen talks about his friends idea to force out the "big media" because they are the enemy that exploits the music industry.  I couldn't agree with his friend more!  Web 2.0 would allow any "Joe Shmoe" to publish their own work and slowly remove big record labels from the industry.  The author of this blog states in paragraphs 12,13,14 that a consequence of this would be narcissism, meaning the music will be too personalized and only reflect ourselves rather than the worlds around us therefore eliminating the chances for people comparable to Mozart, Van Gogh, and Hitchcock to be recognized.  I don't find any truth to this at all.  I feel that you will need to filter through alot more crap to find real talent but it will not enable talent to be found.  Over 90% of the music industry is a joke.  Like what you want from the top ten lists you hear on the radio whether its country, pop, or rock but the artists and their songs are pre-fabricated garbage.  Well over half of the music industries leading artists to not deserve to be called artists.  I encourage you all to look at the pages within the album.  My girlfriend is a big fan of Carrie Underwood.  Miss Underwood hasn't written more then 2 or 3 songs on any one of her albums.  She is just another pretty face with a great voice who was easy to exploit and make millions off of.  In that case, my cousin and at least 12 other women in the La Crosse area are just as, if not more talented then her.  I see and hear great band and artists all over the state.  I fill my cd case with their music twice as fast as I would with mainstream artists. If only their cd's were of better quality.  I think if more people supported live music and brought the appeal of music to a more local level, we would all have better music that meant more to us and for a fraction of the money.  You could pay 10 dollars to see a band near by versus paying those thieves at Ticketmaster 75 dollars then having to drive to a big city.  There isn't a single song I wish to hear off of 95.7 the Rocks radio station.  Every song is personalized to young men and women who can relate love, hate, sex, breaking up, my daddy hit me, so on and so fourth.  The worse kind of song to me is one that I can predict what is gonna happen next.  Whether its melodic or listening to the story and knowing what they are gonna sing about next.  This writer went on to talk about how Elite Hollywood studios have a knack for finding elite talent.  This world has more undiscovered talent then Hollywood or Nashville will ever care to know.  The music industry isn't about music at all.  Its about what will sell the most.  Music without sex appeal and an interesting background story behind the front man or woman of the band will not sell records.  I say let Hollywood continue their exploitation according to Marxism.  It will take a long time for Web 2.0 to catch on and when it does the "bourgeoisie" will find a way to get their dirty hands on that too.  I don't have the time to filter out all the crappy bands just to find the winners so I think for this movement to happen, a worldwide democracy in a grading system will need to rank what is published.

               

Process Analysis Final Draft

How To Shoot A Bow

                There are many steps and concepts involved in being a crack shot with your bow.  First and foremost would be to find a bow that fits your body size accordingly.  Draw Length is important to be able to properly pull back, find your anchor point and steady your arms for a shot.  If you have a draw length that is too long, the string will end up anchored behind your jaw bone, or heaven forbid your ear and surely rake the string right across your face.  Another idea to consider would be the weight of the bow in general.  If the bow feels too heavy for you then you will feel fatigue much sooner and find it hard to hold the bow steady.  Also, don’t try to act like a tough guy and wrench the poundage of the bow too high.  With a bow, pounds are rated as the weight in resistance to pull the string back.  Start off at a lower, more comfortable pound setting and raise it over time as your muscles build.

 

                Next you must decide what type of hardware you wish to add to your bow.  This hardware may include a release, release hoops, peep sight, kisser button, stabilizers, various styles of rests and pin sights.  Some shooters still prefer to pull back a bow with their fingers but the modern day hunter/archer prefers a release and a small nylon hoop to clip into. Peep sights and kisser buttons are devises that assist you in maintaining the same anchor point when aiming with your pin sights at a target on every shot.  Stabilizers promote good balance of the bow and most have shock absorbers on the ends to reduce recoil when the string is propelled forward.  Another tool I have found useful is a wrist strap.  This allows you to keep your wrist steady. 

                Every archer defines himself by his equipment and one specific way to do this is with his or her arrows.  For a compound bow you can use either aluminum or carbon arrow shafts.  Nine out of ten people use carbon because it is stronger and lighter.  Most archers I know use one hundred grain tips as well.  This is simply the weight of the field point or broad head that you screw into the tip of the arrow.  The most important thing is that all your tips are the same grain value for consistent shooting.  Last and most importantly is the fletching.  This is where you will find the most versatile selection ranging from size, shape, color, material.  Fletching can be as short as one inch all the way up to five inches.  Some archers still prefer feathers over the rubber veins.  Some archers prefer there fletching glued on at a slight angle to the shaft to promote controlled spinning of the arrow.  This in turn is said to help the arrows all fly as true and consistent as possible.  One step further, archer often add a helix to the fletching on top of the offset angle to the shaft.  To put a helix on your fletching means to glue it on the shaft not strait but to put a half moon shaped curve on the fletching.   With the fletching applied in a spiral shape, some claim this will help especially with the consistent flight of broad heads at greater distances.  Broad heads tend to fly differently then field points.  All these concepts are personal preference and as long as all your arrows are the exact same, it shouldn’t hold you back from becoming a consistent shooter.

                Now that we have the equipment under control it’s time to put you in the shoes of an archer.  For the beginner, I would recommend setting a target at 15 yards.  It’s time to break the ice and lob some arrows at the target to get your 15 yard pin sighted in.  For this exercise we will be shooting a compound bow with a release, peep sight, pin sights and a drop away rest.  First you will stand on the 15 yard line.  If you are right handed, put your left foot on the 15 yard line and point your left shoulder at the target.  Hold the bow in your left hand.  Click your arrow into the string in the designated knocking area.  This should be right between the two ends of the hoop that are tied to the string.  Make sure your arrow is located in the right place on top of the arrow rest.  Next you will clip in your release, which is already strapped to your hand, to the hoop which is attached to your bow string.  Raise the bow and point it in the direction of the target.  Keep a good shoulder width stance.  Slowly ease back the string until the bow has been full drawn back.  In a compound bow you will be able to feel the cams on the bow roll back and a great deal of tension will be let off of the string making it much easier to hold the bow back when fully drawn. 

            Now that the bow is drawn back, try to find a comfortable grip on the bows handle.  Be sure not to grip the stock too tight or twist it in your palms.  This would cause the arrow to travel in an undesirable path and direction.

                 When shooting broad heads any movement made by you will be over embellished on your shot in a negative way!  The key to a good grip is to focus any force the stock has on your hand in the direction of the target.  Some professional archers make the “ok” symbol with their hand, only gripping the handle with their thumb and pointer finger which in turn, allows the bow to tip forward upon release of the string.  The other key factor in good shooting is a consistent anchor point.  This is where the peep sight comes in handy.  The peep sight is a small plastic ring stuck inside the string as a focal point for you.  Bring the string close enough to your face so you can look through this ring and find your pin sights at the other end of your bow.  This is similar to looking into the scope of a gun.  When you have matched the pin in the center of this peep sight hole and the pin dot is on the desired area of the target, you are ready to shoot!  When you squeeze the trigger on the release, try not to flinch.  Follow through with your shot.  This means keeping your stance and the bow upright as if you were still holding back the string.  Do not break your initial pose until the arrow has connected with your target.

                  Repeat this process many times until you see a good grouping pattern with all of your shots.  There is an old saying that goes, “Move a group not an arrow!”  This means don’t adjust your sights after one shot.  Shoot multiple arrows and try to discover a pattern.  If you shoot 4 arrows at the target and all 4 arrows are shooting high and to the right, then you probably need to adjust your sights.  If this is the case, move your pin sight up and to the right to adjust the sight accordingly.  This easy process of adjusting your bow sights is called, “Following your arrow.”  Try adjusting in very small increments at a time.  Using this process and possibly having a friend critique your shooting will slowly but surely turn you into a crack shot with a bow!  

Bow Hunting vs. Gun Hunting

               

               A lot of people might think that there are not many differences between gun hunting and bow hunting deer.  There are a wide range of differences between the two.  Starting with the earlier season, bow hunting starts in Wisconsin around mid September.  Bow hunting typically last around three months where as gun hunting is only a nine day season starting on a Saturday and ending the following Sunday with thanksgiving in between.  With bow hunting you must be a different kind of hunter then when you are gun hunting.  The bow hunter needs to have a much sharper set of skills including patients, stealth, the ability to disguise oneself, the understanding of the deer’s mating seasons, being able to compose yourself at close range with these animals.  You need to remember that the woods is their home not yours.  If I was to sneak into your house and stand in the corner of your living room would you see me.  Or if I was to hide behind a curtain would you sense something out of place and grow cautious.  Better yet, if it was dark and I was a smoker and you were not, would you smell the cigarette stench in your house and realize you’re not alone.  This is what I believe happens every you are approached by a deer In the woods.  I can’t count how many times I have been picked out by a deer’s sense of smell while I was up in a tree, in full camouflage, not making a movement or a sound.

                 This doe approached me from a long distance away and when she reached the peak of the hill I was set up on she stopped at about thirty-five yards and put her tail up as a warning.  Her head was pointed ninety degrees away from me when she began to sniff.  With every sniff her nose was directed closer to me.  Finally her nose stopped her precisely on top of me when she let her eyes guide her from there to easily spot me.  A gun hunter can shoot at a deer from a great distance away.  It is much less stressful to shoot at a deer through a scope over one hundred yards away and if you don’t believe me, try it from twenty.  This is not to say that you won’t get any closer to a deer during gun hunting.  When gun hunting, the deer are being shot at non stop so they tend to be more skittish and always on the move.  Bow hunting is different.  There are no loud gun blasts echoing through the sky at first light.  You get to witness the deer in their natural habitat and you yourself need to find a way to blend in.  This usually requires more patients as well. 

               Gun hunters often form drives where you get together and drive the woods hoping to flush out a deer for a shot.  When drive aren’t happening you sit in the woods as you do during bow season but the deer tend to herd up and move a lot more due to the shooting.   The best time to witness the deer during their mating season will vary from year to year but in general, you will witness the peak of this activity in the late bow season.  For myself, what makes Bow Hunting much harder, and more rewarding then gun hunting is the level of difficulty.  It’s about trying to prove that I am the superior being.  It is not easy for a human to go back into its primal state and try to get the best of nature.  This also requires one to have the utmost respect for mother nature as well.  I feel that bow hunting is a much more respectful way to harvest  a deer.  Anyone who has played a video game can put the cross hairs on a target and squeeze a trigger.  You will feel more reward besting a deer face.  From close range a deer is able to use its weapons of sight and smell therefore the playing field is more even.  Very few people are capable of sitting out in the weather for five plus hours and remain unnoticed by the wildlife.  Even if you are not a hunter, I challenge you to sit in a secluded woods  and try to get a deer to walk past you within thirty yards.  In that thirty yards you must also find the opportunity to stand up, face that deer, raise a weapon or just your hands, and find a clear vital shot on that animal without alarming it to your presence.  The rush of adrenaline alone is paralyzing and hard to overcome.  The amount of hormones that get released makes your heart beat so hard and rapid it almost hurts.  You may even begin to shake uncontrollably which can almost make you feel moments of insecurity.  When adrenaline take over you tend to forget what has even happened because it seemed to happen so fast.  I have had a half of an hour go by and it felt like five minutes.  When you finally level off after this experience, it really makes you appreciate being able to overcome such a strong emotional and physical response.   This is a connection I feel when I bow hunt and cannot be matched by gun hunting.  

Process Analysis

                          How to be a Crack Shot with a Bow

                There are many steps and concepts involved in being a crack shot with your bow.  First and foremost would be to find a bow that fits your body size accordingly.  Draw Length is important to being able to properly pull back, find your anchor point and steady your arms for a shot.  If you have a draw length too long, the string will end up anchored behind your jaw bone or heaven forbid your ear and surely rake the string right across your face.  Another idea to consider would be the weight of the bow in general.  If the bow feels too heavy for you then you will be opt to feel fatigue much sooner and find it hard to hold the bow steady.  Also, don’t try to act like a tough guy and wrench the poundage of the bow too high.  With a bow, pounds are rated as the weight in resistance to pull the string back.  Start off at a lower, more comfortable pound setting and raise it over time as your muscles build. 

                Next you must decide what type of hardware you wish to add to your bow.  This hardware may include a release, release hoops, peep sight, kisser button, stabilizers, various styles of rests and pin sights.  Some shooters still prefer to pull back a bow with their fingers but the modern day hunter/archer prefers a release and a small nylon hoop to clip into. Peep sights and kisser buttons are devises that assist you in maintaining the same anchor point when aiming with your pin sights at a target on every shot.  Stabilizers promote good balance of the bow and most have shock absorbers on the ends to reduce recoil when the string is propelled forward.  Another tool I have found useful is a wrist strap.  This will allow you to keep your hand/wrist stable and consistent during the shot.  Arrows of course are a must but as long as you are shooting the same size weight and length arrow, they should have nothing to do with your ability to shoot.

                Now that we have the equipment under control it’s time to put you in the shoes of an archer.  For the beginner, I would recommend setting a target at 15 yards.  It’s time to pop that cherry and lob some arrows at the target to get your 15 yard pin sighted in.  For this exercise we will be shooting a compound bow with a release, peep sight, pin sights and a drop away rest.  First you will stand on the 15 yard line.  If you are right handed, put your  left foot on the 15 yard line and point your left shoulder.  Hold the bow in your left hand and you will end up pulling the string back with your right hand.  Be sure to keep a shoulder width wide stance.  Click your arrow into the string in the designated knocking area right between the two ends of the hoop that are tied to the string.  Make sure your arrow is located in the right place on top of the arrow rest.  Next you will clip your release, which is already strapped to your hand, to the hoop which is attached to your bow string.  Raise the bow and point it in the direction of the target.  Slowly ease back the string until the bow has been full drawn back.  In a compound bow you will be able to feel the cams on the bow roll back and a great deal of tension will be let off of the string making it much easier to hold the bow back when fully drawn. 

                Now that the bow is drawn back, try to find a comfortable grip on the bows handle.  Be sure not to grip the stock too tight or twist it in your palms.  This would cause the arrow to travel in an undesirable path and direction.  The key to a good grip is to focus any force the stock has on your hand in the direction of the target.  Some professional archers make the “ok” symbol with their hand, only gripping the handle with their thumb and pointer finger which in turn, allows the bow to tip forward upon release of the string.  The other key factor in good shooting is a consistent anchor point.  This is where the peep sight comes in handy.  The peep sight is a small plastic ring stuck inside the string as a focal point for you.  Bring the string close enough to your face so you can look through this ring and find your pin sights at the other end of your bow.  When you have matched the pin in the center of this peep sight hole and the pin dot is on the desired area of the target, you are ready to shoot!  When you squeeze the trigger on the release, try not to flinch.  Follow through with your shot.  This means keeping your stance and the bow upright as if you were still holding back the string.  Do not break your initial pose until the arrow has connected with your target.  Repeat this process many times until you see a good grouping pattern with all of your shots.  If you shoot 4 arrows at the target and all 4 arrows are shooting high and to the right, move your pin sight up and to the right to adjust the sight accordingly.  This easy process of adjusting your bow sights is called following your arrow.  Using this process and possibly having a friend critique your shooting will slowly but surely turn you into a crack shot.