Home on the Range #044 – Early Season Archery Prep
Adam Scepaniak 07.02.23
We have only made it into the 2nd day of July so most people would be naturally thinking of our Independence Day. Its the most patriotic day of the year for us Americans to safely enjoy fireworks, good food with family, and hopefully tie some rest in there between all of the festivities. If you are like me though, you are thinking of all the things you should be doing to prep for archery season so you can put some venison in the freezer this fall. While its difficult to pull your mind away from boating and other fun summer activities, if you put in a little extra pre-season archery prep now, it will pay huge dividends once the season starts. Let’s walk through some of the simple things that I do this time of year to get ready for archery season.
“Home on the Range” Series Coverage on AllOutdoor
- Home on the Range #043 – When Should You Hang your Treestand?…
- Home on the Range #042 – Pros and Cons of Free-Range Chickens
- Home on the Range #041 – Cooking Pheasant Back Mushrooms
- Home on the Range #040 – Pheasant Back Mushrooms (Dryad’s Saddle)
- Home on the Range #039 – Turkey Slate Call Competition with a Neighbor
Welcome to our reoccurring series of “Home on the Range.” Here, we would like to share all of our experiences for those who may be homesteading, living off the land, hunting, farming, ranching, and truly investing in nature and the great outdoors. The ability to provide for yourself and your family can be tremendously rewarding and simultaneously difficult at times. So, in “Home on the Range” we want to share our different exploits so you can learn and hopefully we can receive your feedback along the way as well.
Early Season Archery Prep – Scouting
One of the most important things you can do this summer to prepare for the upcoming archery season – or any hunting season for that matter – is to scout. There are tons of clichés like if you fail to plan you plan to fail or luck is when opportunity and preparation meet, you get the idea. By scouting earlier in the year, you can start to recognize patterns for whitetail deer. You can identify where they are bedding at night or during the middle of the day, their most common “highways” or trail between sleep and food, and you can take an inventory of all the animals that might be in your area. If you know a bruiser 10-point buck is in the forest, don’t shoot a small 6-pointer on opening day. Be patient; your time will come.
A lot of this archery prep can be accomplished with a simple trail camera. Whether it is cellular (beams photos/videos straight to your phone) or an older style that you manually check in the field, that can be a great way to document the habits of deer around you plus create an inventory of what whitetails you might like to harvest.
Early Season Archery Prep – Gear
An additional element worth considering is the gear that you will be deploying. Everything from your bow to arrows to boots and a backpack. You want to shake the dust off of everything, fine-tune your equipment, and make sure it is in a good functioning condition for when you finally trek out into the woods to fill a tag. This also includes practicing with your bow for a few months before the season if you are not a year-round archer. This will lead us into our next point because it is not only important to have a sharp field-dressing knife, a safe treestand, and everything else accounted for, but you also need to be a proficient shooter when you take aim.
Early Season Archery Prep – Practice
Some people relish and enjoy their practice while others dread it, but it is a vitally important component to hunting. Here at AllOutdoor we always preach that you should be good stewards of the animals and the land that we walk on. This means respecting animals whether it is livestock, your hunting dog, or a game animal you are going to shoot. Being an accurate archer is showing respect to the game animal so they may experience a swift and humane death if you choose to harvest them. We never want to injure animals or have them suffer.
So, that brings us back to practice. Make it fun for yourself. Shoot in the early morning or late evening to experience different lighting conditions. Shoot with some friends. Go for a short jog and then shoot so you have an elevated heart rate. Do a fun, local 3-D target shoot for variety. Archery practice shouldn’t be boring a regrettable activity. The better your archery prep is this summer the more inherently successful your season will soon be. As always, let us know all of your thoughts in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.
Photography
All of the quality photography for this article was completed by Savannah Pierson of Savvy Photage. She is an expert in her field and her assistance in creating engaging photography and content is greatly appreciated.
