Lyndon said that leaves on low limbs will usually provide enough cover to allow a bowhunter who's 20 feet off the ground to get off a good shot.

As far as getting your equipment ready for the season opener, it's a matter of plenty of practice.

"I'll get my clothes ready, washing and airing them out, then I'll hang them outside," Smith said. "I shoot three or four times a week, year 'round. I think confidence is a big part of getting a deer with a bow. I'll shoot field points until about two months before the season, then all I'll practice with are broadheads. In fact, I keep a broadhead target with me when I go hunting, because during the season, you don't shoot a lot because you're hunting. I'll take a block target with me, and before I go into the woods, I'll take a half-dozen shots at it.

Smith hunts with fixed-blade broadheads, so he practices with broadheads. "Don't go hunting without shooting your broadheads in practice," he said. "I match my broadheads to the individual arrows. I use Thunderheads, so I'll put a broadhead on an arrow, then put in the blades and shoot.

If the arrow flies well and shoots well, I'll take out the blades, keep the head attached and put the arrow away. When I'm ready to hunt, I'll put the blades back in. I test every blade with a rubber band, dragging it down the blade, because you can have a broadhead that gets bent or dull. If it doesn't cut the rubber band, I throw it away and put in another blade. I hunt a lot; I get a lot of shots, so I keep a lot of equipment around."

Lyndon shoots mechanical broadheads and said that he doesn't need to practice with them because they shoot and fly almost identical to his field points. "I start shooting in May, three or four times a week, and I start at 20 yards.

When I get confident at 20 yards, I back up to 30, then 40," he said. "I don't practice with broadheads, because my mechanical broadheads shoot just like field points. But if I used a fixed-blade broadhead, I'd definitely practice with broadheads, because they don't shoot the same way."