With a compound bow hunting is a much more thrilling experience than hunting with a gun. You can get more engaged because of the shorter range. Additionally, you must work on your endurance, patience, and skill.
Success during the hunting season depends significantly on your ability to hit a well-placed shot. You can easily nail it with regular practice and the ability to narrow the margin of error.
You can start your season in the early fall or late fall. The best decision is to utilize both ends of the fall season. For this, we have provided a great list of beginner bow hunting tips.
Table of Contents
1. Work on the Accuracy
Every bow comes in with different effectiveness. The relative quietness, speed, and smoothness of various compound bows are to name a few. There are differences in strength in shots for various broadheads. It’s a topic of endless debate among archers.
But nothing matters if you fail to hit what you are shooting at. You can find some amazing tips at www.bow-guide.com/. Then you will know that the equipment itself is not enough for a hunt. Your stance, technique and ability to judge the situation determine the accuracy.
So, your accuracy is the most important element here. In general, beginners and occasional shooters require a bow that is more suitable for narrowing down random errors. Your bow should not be too light, and easy to keep a sneaky eye on the target.
The trick is choosing a bow you can master in a shorter time, keeping accuracy in mind.
2. The Noise
You will get and rattle more deer or rabbits into the hunting range if you keep in mind these three things –
- Start blind calling quietly in case a deer or a rabbit is nearby. But call frequently and loudly after that. Long periodic silences are useless if you can’t tell the target is approaching your line of sight.
- Take notes of the body language of the animal you are targeting. Stop immediately If your target hears you but turns away or tucks its tail. Keep calling if it has raised its head and trying to listen. Get in action the moment it faces you or tilt its ear behind. Controlling your aggression is the key to success here.
- Snort-wheeze, grunt, or bleat at it. It might not work, but occasionally can transform your target into a delicious burger. You should always make a call before it starts to leave.
3. Speed
A bow can be configured to increase accuracy or speed. Choosing precision is always preferred unless you are skilled enough to sacrifice it for speed. Sometimes, having the wrong bow can cut your speed and accuracy. You should get the right bow for your hunt.
But if you still want to focus on speed, you can do a few things.
- You can improve arrow speed by increasing or adjusting your bow’s draw weight. However, if you are confident enough to hunt with lower draw weight, do so. But do try to change before going for a hunt.
- Some people suggest taking a long draw length not to lose the speed. It’s a wrong decision for beginners. Keeping the string too close to your face and for a long time can make you lose the anchor point.
4. The Value of First Shot
To improve your form, repetitive practice is advised. However, money can’t buy you a second shot or another chance at your target. Practice is your answer. Start your morning by practicing. Target and release five arrows with a broadhead tip. Do this for a week before going for a hunt.
Your first shot is the game changer. Determine a shooting distance, picture a hunting situation, and release it! You can use target papers or dummies as well. Take another week of practice to make the first shot sharper and more accurate. Do not forget to shadow practice before going to bed.
5. Wind
Some seasoned hunters believe that properly managing your smell can literally make you invisible in the animal kingdom. You will never need to worry about wind again. Being scent-free in the woods can seem impossible, but you can do it quite easily.
Imagine a scenario for a conceptual hunting purpose. A constant string of wind is blowing on your face near your camp, giving you a great view of your target. This is a good set-up for a hunt because of the wind’s direction as it’s coming towards you from the target.
However, staying in the same position on a night when the wind is hitting your back can jeopardize the whole process. Your cover will be blown immediately. For this reason, knowing the direction of the wind is important while hunting.
6. Hunt in a Team
You can go solo, but it’s a lot better if you keep a buddy alongside if you are a beginner. While hunting bucks, you may hear the sound of tusks rubbing through trees and branches. It means the buck is somewhere near. If you have buddy hunters, place them somewhere left and right so that they can scare the buck towards you.
Team members can help trap your target with great success. They can work as callers, flaggers, and trappers. They can be a decoy or act as a fake threat to lure your target into the trap. Make sure your members are using climbing sticks for a better view. Even though it’s a bit time-consuming, it can significantly improve the flagger’s range.
Conclusion
Hunting with a bow is fun and thrilling. It’s comparatively a bit more technical than gun hunting, but you can get a primitive experience with it. Now that you have read some amazing bow hunting tips in this article, your success rate will surely increase. Best of luck!
