You have to plan ahead. When you find a good spot in heavy cover, pick the tree you want to put your stand in and then go to the trail where you expect to see a buck. Look from that spot back toward your tree and cut any branches that might block your arrow. Remember, you’ll be hunting from an elevated position, so don’t worry about clearing away ground-level brush. You want a clear flight path for your arrow from your stand to the trail.

Don’t overdo it. I have a friend who located a stand site in a beautiful thicket of mountain laurel where we always saw deer. When he put up his stand, he cut down 80 percent of the laurel branches around his tree. Guess what? We don’t see deer in that nonexistent thicket anymore. Choose two or three shooting lanes around your stand to clear and leave the rest of the cover alone.

The reason there’s so much deer traffic in that area most likely is that the deer feel secure there. If you clear cut the thicket, you’re eliminating the very reason the deer are drawn to it.

Something else you might want to consider is using a ground blind in heavy cover. It’s not unusual to find an area where you have plenty of brush to shoot through if you’re up in a tree, but the foliage is much thinner at ground level. Hunting a stand of pines is a perfect example. Don’t be afraid to go eye-to-eye with deer if that will give you the best chance for success. Just make sure you’re always downwind of the area where you most expect to encounter a buck.

WINDY CONDITIONS
Few conditions rattle me more while I’m bowhunting than wind. It’s loud. It tosses branches and brush around, which makes it tough to pick out deer movement. And it can even move me around if the tree I’m hunting in is swaying.

If you’re going bowhunting on a windy day, plan to put your stand in the fattest tree the stand can handle. It takes more wind to move a fat tree than a skinny one. And when you do hunt from such a tree, shoot from a seated position. You’ll feel much more stable as you take aim than you will if you’re standing up in a swaying tree.

For this reason, windy days are perfect for hunting from the ground. When it’s extremely windy, the air typically is very predictable, which means you can easily figure out where you need to set up to be downwind from a hot trail. Also, if all the brush around you is moving because of the wind, it’s going to be harder for a deer to peg you as you draw your bow. It will also be harder for that deer to hear you.

A common mistake bowhunters make when hunting in high winds is to think they have to adjust their aiming point to account for the wind. If the wind is blowing right to left, they think they have to aim to the right of where they would under normal conditions, because they believe the wind will blow their arrow to the left. If you were shooting 60 to 70 yards, this would be the case. But under normal bowhunting conditions, where shots are typically less than 30 yards, this is not necessary. Always aim dead on. The wind will not affect your point of impact.

There’s no doubt bowhunting is a sport that can present archers with some very difficult shooting situations. With a little practice, a little forethought, and even a little luck, eventually you’ll find yourself making some impossible shots.