Dave Richey Outdoors

Michigan Fishing & Hunting

Shoot lower draw weights

An accurate shot with a lower-poundage bow can be deadly.

Even big bucks can be killed with sharp broadheads and low draw weight. Doubt that? Well, don't bet big money against it.

I've seen it thousands of times over the past 30 years as more hunters are drawn to bow hunting. The strongest looking guy on a 3-D course has muscles in his spit, and he delights in telling others how he pulls 92 pounds or some such thing.

He tells others he is dead-on at 60 yards, and his arrow speed is well over 340 feet-per-second. He usually insults other hunters by asking them how much weight they draw, as if it's any of his business.

Be more comfortable and accurate: shoot lower draw weight.

If they answer 55 pounds, 60 pounds or 65 pounds, he criticizes them for not shooting more poundage. Such jokers attend one or two 3-D shoots, and then wonder why no one wants to shoot with him. Such people can become intimidating bores. Shooting high draw weights can be dangerous to your health.

Other than because of a personal belief, there is very little need why any sane person should be pulling 90 pounds or more. It's not needed, and drawing so much weight doesn't make most people a better archer.

In fact, one could argue the case that too much draw weight can make them a worse shot. How so?

It's easy. Anyone who draws that much weight is an accident waiting for a place to happen. There used to be a guy I knew, and he had to retune his bow after every four or five shots. The vibration of the shot was so violent his bow would go out of tune. Watching it explore made some people want to take up croquet.

Once, the bow blew up when he shot an arrow much too light for his draw weight. The bow disintegrated in his hand, and only through sheer good fortune, did he escape serious injury. He was cut up some when things started flying off his bow.

Trust me -- shooting too much draw weight can be hazardous to your health.

A month later, as he cranked his bow up another two pounds, he drew it back with visible difficulty, and shot one arrow. It was on the second shot that he blew out a couple of shoulder muscles, and the last thing I knew he was pulling 55 pounds. His he-man days had painfully ended.

Heavy draw weight can cause lasting damage to back and shoulders.

He no longer razzs other hunters about their meek draw weight. He learned a lesson he'll never forget. Too much draw weight can cause long-lasting injuries.

The one thing such macho guys believe is that pulling heavy-duty weight helps them. Another guy I once knew cranked his bow up to 85 pounds, and he knew he was teetering on the ragged edge of too much draw weight. He gritted his teeth, and when he shot, he would miss the kill zone by a foot or more. He wounded too many dee that couldn't be recovered, and also wound up hurting himself. He no longer hunts with a bow.

Most of the deer shot in Michigan and other states are taken at 20 yards or less. It doesn't take a heavy draw weight to shoot a razor-sharp broadhead through a deer with 35-40 pounds.

One woman I know is extremely accurate. She has good eyes, good form, and has shot over 300 chipmunks and red squirrels around her home using a bow and arrow. She rarely misses, and if she draws on either one of the small rodents, it was dead but doesn't know it yet.

She gradually built up her strength to draw 40 pounds, and she shoots deer every year. She shoots arrows clean through the deer with a two-blade broadhead, and that points out the two things any bow hunter needs to be effective in the deer woods. They need to be able to be accurate, and must shoot arrows tipped with razor-like broadheads.

Shooting accurately with razor-sharp broadheads is important.

It's hard to over-emphasize what sharp broadheads mean.

Most factory broadheads are not razor sharp. If you shoot a replaceable blade broadhead, choose one with the sharpest possible blades. If you choose a fixed-blade broadhead, choose a two-blade head than can be sharpened by hand.

We use a flat file to get the broadhead reasonably sharp, and then we put the finishing touches on with a stone. The tiny burrs on the edge are removed on a leather strop like the ones barbers once used to shave with.

It doesn't require he-man strength to shoot a deer. It does require accurate shot placement, and very sharp broadheads. A bow shooting an arrow at 180 feet-per-second or faster, and an arrow tipped with a very sharp broadhead, is far more effective than a bad hit from an arrow traveling 300 feet-per-second. Too much draw weight can lead to target panic and flinching.

It's a matter of concentration and skill rather than one of brawn and bluster. A cool hand, under pressure, can place an arrow accurately, and the sharp broadhead does the rest.

Which of these two scenario do you think works the best?

Get your vision checked yearly

Dave Richey and his two bad eyes. Have yours examined yearly.

Operations do not scare me. They never have and probably never will.

There have been so many eye surgeries: nine on my right eye, the only one that works, and 10 on the left.

It's been a 30-year slugfest against glaucoma. My left eye is sightless. Obviously, there is great concern for any more right-eye surgeries or vision loss but that thought doesn't rule my life.

Skip this blog if you wish, but be aware of the possible consequences.

This blog is written in hopes that readers will have their vision tested at least once each year after turning 40 years old, and be checked for glaucoma. You may see well right now, but most people take their vision for granted, which was hammered home years ago after undergoing my first eye surgery.

Before glaucoma came visiting, no one in the Richey family ever had glaucoma ... until me. We really didn't know that it is the greatest sight robber of all. My father developed glaucoma late in life, and my twin brother was on the bubble for glaucoma when he died in 2003.

My vision was never great, and never was 20-20 corrected vision found in our family. My brother began wearing glasses in kindergarden, and thick glasses covered my face, so it's been glasses or contact lens from that day forward. Now my life became one of eye drops and eye surgeries.

It was after my first glaucoma surgery more than 20 years ago that the idea of looking and seeing, and paying attention to things unseen earlier in my life, became so important. My glaucoma came on suddenly with headaches, blurred vision and preliminary tests were done.

And then came even more complicated tests as doctors determined that my intraocular (inner eye) pressure was four times higher than normal.

Glaucoma pressure at a higher-than-normal rate causes pinching of the optic nerve. The more the nerve is pinched, the more vision loss is noted. By the time they determined that glaucoma had settled in, some of my vision had already been lost. My depth perception began to go, and stumbling over things became a problem, and peripheral vision was soon lost as more and more open doors suddenly jumped out at me.

Vision loss is slow at first but can speed up without notice.

The early surgeries helped, but vision loss kept disappearing like a mirage. Outdoor walks, hunts and fishing trips with friends became more meaningful, and stopping to study the spring flowers and smell the roses, became much more important as time went on.

Soon those spawning salmon and steelhead that had been easy to spot, were now very difficult to see, even with polarized sunglasses. More than once an improper step found me plunging into river bank holes, and on more than one occasion, my wader-clad boots would trip over a submerged log and we'd come splashing ashore through cold water.

My companions thought it was funny, and we laughed at my apparent clumsiness, but it wasn't a case of being clumsy. It was caused by poor vision. No longer was the river bottom in an assumed location.

There have been 19 eye surgeries.

The times spent outdoors have become more dear in recent years. It's easy now to marvel at glowing sunrises and sunset, and although grouse hunting was always a passion, there were more missed birds than before. If they scoot out the sides, my peripheral vision misses them. Once every 10 flushes a bird may be seen somewhat clearly, but that doesn't necessarily translate into a hefty bird in my game bag.

It's still possible to hunt deer, and many folks ask why my bow range for bucks is 15 yards or less, and the answer is the animals can't be seen clearly enough at 20-25 yards to make an accurate shot. Knowing my limitations, and hunting within them is my key to success. Give me a rifle with a quality scope, and there are no missed shots. The magnification allows me to place the bullet accurately, but one can't always walk around with a scope to his eye.

Living in denial doesn't work. Accept the problem but keep working.

It's become necessary to adapt to this problem. My lack of vision and my life has changed and my thought is to ask my valued readers to learn from my situation. Get your eyes checked once a year after the age of 40. Glaucoma damage to an eye is irreversible.

Hunting and fishing has been my life, and now it is slowly changing, and this points out that life holds no guarantees for any of us. My operations have helped save my right-eye vision. My life could be much worse.

Much of my time is still spent outdoors. Winter days are spent tracking bunnies and squirrels around the house or wherever life takes me, and hours are spent watching birds from my kitchen window. It's easy to drink up the outdoor sights like a 21-year-old chugging their first brew. Ice fishing has become a special pleasure for me.

My thought is to store up outdoor memories, to place pictures in my mind of things seen and done, and places visited in the past, and if my surgeries don't do the job, there are memories stored for the future.

Don't feel sorry for me, nor shed a tear on my behalf, and please don't pity me. My life has been one wonderful adventure after another. Day after day, week after week, and year after year for over 40 years, the outdoors has been my private banquet table where one could feast heartily on all sorts of wonderful and exciting fishing and hunting experiences.

Any upcoming surgeries will be just another adventure. Each new day is another adventure as time is spent looking forward to another new experience. Time will tell, but one way or the other, any surgeries needed will happen. So, until then, my vast warehouse of memories continues to grow.

You may have noticed a brief absence of stories lately. That occurred because of computer glitches. Sometimes I can see them and other times I can't, so just bear with me. It's my intention to bring more fishing and hunting stories your way, so stay tune.

Never take your vision for granted, and live each day to its fullest, and suck up all outdoor memories like a new kitchen sponge. One day we may need them to flow vividly through our mind's eye.

Tips on bow-shooting bucks


The above title may be misleading to some hunters. Everyone who owns a bow, and who hunts for deer, thinks they have it figured out.

Well, some do and some don’t. It’s not quite as easy as some people would make you thing. The December archery season starts in about a week on Dec. 1, and there is still some time left to help a beginning bow hunter develop some skills.

Without a word of bragging, very few people have shot as many bucks as I have, and learning to shoot them consistently means doing several things right and in the proper sequence.

I’ve hunted deer with a bow since 1955.


Practice is very important but perfect practice means doing everything right, every time. Without an exception.

Shooting a buck with a bow is more difficult than simply drawing back and sending an arrow shaft and broadhead downrange toward the animal. A great deal of concentration is required, and it’s advisable to have total concentration when aiming and taking a shot, but telling you this can't make it happen. You must do it.

Total concentration only comes from many, many hours of practice and countless hours in the field studying whitetail bucks at bow range. Hitting a paper target consistently is quite easy because it doesn’t breathe and it isn't moving. Nor is it alive and study everything around it for danger.

A buck often has his head up or down, is moving or standing still, is listening intently for anything that may represent danger, but deer are basket cases of raw and seemingly exposed nerve endings. They are flighty, suspicious even of birds flying overhead, and require far more skill to arrow than a paper target. They are living, breathing and cautious animals. Scratch your nose at the wrong time and it’s all over, and you’ve possibly missed your only chance of the season.

All good bow hunters develop their own particular shooting style, and it works well for them. Some people have a step-by-step procedure they follow, time after time, and it will produce bucks for them. Each person must develop their own method that works.

Develop a personal checklist, and do everything right, every time.


I know a woman who uses a step-by-step mental checklist. Here is what works for her: Keep both eyes on the buck, wait until the deer offers the best broadside or quartering away shot, know the exact yardage to the animal, watch the buck with both eyes open, come to full draw, center the sight on a specific hair behind the front shoulder, double-check that a firm anchor point has been attained, take a deep breath, let it out, double-check the aiming point and anchor point, and touch the release trigger.

These specific steps come into her mind as Step 1, Step 2, etc. She has shot more than 125 bucks, and still she follows her step-by-step procedure … every time. It ensures that she doesn't miss a step, and the mechanics of doing so enables her to calm her nerves before making a killing shot.

I know many hunters who have a similar procedure when it comes time to shoot. One piece of advice is that once you establish the deer is a buck, and once you decide to shoot, forget about the antlers on its head and concentrate on where the arrow must hit the animal for a certain killing shot.

All too often, a hunter spots a big buck, gasps at the size of the antlers, and hurriedly rips the bow back to full draw and whistles an arrow toward the deer. If they have been awed by the mass of antlers, it's very possible that they will shoot at the antlers.

Establish that the deer is a buck, and then forget about the antlers.


Forget the head gear, and aim for a killing shot. I've never seen a hunter kill a buck by shooting it in the antlers, but have seen bucks that were hit in the antlers run off, unhurt but much wiser.

Mechanical skills are exceedingly important, but so too is the art of total concentration. Let everything in your mind drift away, and concentrate on making a smooth and deliberate draw. Keep the head up with both eyes open, and concentrate only on the target area. Don't lose your focus, and don't lift your head when you shoot to see where the arrow hits. Lift your head and you’ll miss the animal.

More deer are missed because the hunter lifts his/her head at the shot to see if they hit the deer. I know I hit the deer when I see the vanes disappear into the buck's chest and hear that fluttering sound as the wounded animal takes out my Game Tracker string.

Properly done with the required amount of shooting skills and mental concentration, shooting a buck is fairly easy. Hunters with a one-track mind, and the ability to focus on the job at hand, are the ones who arrow a buck every year.

Those who get caught up in the moment, and allow their mind to wander while aiming and shooting, are those who require more practice and must acquire a higher level of patience. Never take a hurry-up shot, and never lose your concentration.

Practice, and keep all of these little things in mind, and shooting a buck will become much easier.

Hunt the rut’s mid-day hours


Not much of a bow shot here. Wait him out & hope for a better angle.


I've written about it lately, and yet many people are missing out on some of the best mid-day deer hunting action of all.

The mid-day hours during the rut can generate some very exciting action. And, the best thing about it is you'll have little competition.

The early daylight hours from 30 minutes before sunrise can be a good hunting time, as can be the 30 minutes after sundown, but those hours between  10 a.m. and 2 p.m. are often overlooked by hunters. Bucks often are on their feet and moving during this period, and other than some snow showers today, visibility is usually good at that time.

Hunt the mid-day hours during the rut.


Most people are not hunting during mid-day. Many are working, but those who aren't working are seldom sitting in a ground blind or tree stand to take advantage of this great time for deer movement..

I learned about this particular phenomenon many years ago while hunting ruffed grouse. I boosted the same buck out of the same covert at about the same time two days in a row.. I went back to hunt that area for the buck, and was fortunate enough to set up on him and to get a very good shot at 20 yards.

Hunters, even on state land, should try hunting the mid-day hours if possible. The hours between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. are ideal. Few hunters are afield then, the swamps and woods are silent, and many of the bucks are up and moving around. We hunted tonight, and of the five people who hunted, two saw bucks and three didn't see a thing.

The odds are not dramatically different, but using the above example where two hunters saw a buck while three did notm that means hunters could have a 40 percent chance of seeing a deer, and those odds are greater that a hunter will see a buck. And sometimes, with those bucks that are mostly nocturnal, it can be an exceptional time to see a really good buck. Deer just aren't accustomed to seeing hunters in the woods at that time of day. Often, this is when a hunter will see a buck he’s never seen before because it has suddenly followed a doe into a new location.

I saw a young buck and let him pass, and one of the other hunters had a buck walk quickly past his ground blind at 10 feet. It was a husky 10-pointer, but it was by him before he had a chance to grab his bow, draw, aim and shoot.

Be alert, and ready to shoot. Rutting bucks seldom offer second chances.


Another hunter in another area miles away sat in a ground blind as well, and saw two 8-pointers. One had a rack with seven-inch G2s and a 22-inch spread. The other buck was a smaller animal, and the big guy chased the smaller buck around an open field for 15 minutes without offering a shot. He also saw a few does and fawns,400 yards away right at the end of shooting time.

Make no mistake about it. The same rules apply at this time of day as applies at dawn and dusk. Be ready for a shot at any time, and people who hang their bow from a nearby tree limb, often do not have time to grab it and shoot before the buck is gone. These bucks are sniffing the ground, and if they happen on a hot doe trail, they can be gone within a second or two/

It's difficult for hunters to get out at mid-day during the work week, but I've known some guys to hunt their one-hour lunch period and score on a buck. It's certainly worth a try, and it's can be a time period when some of the largest bucks are on the prowl.

Hunting the mid-day hours during the rut is one of deer hunting's best-kept secrets.

Learn from the deer ...


Whitetails can keep a hunter honest.

This doesn’t mean that my valued readers are dishonest. It simply means that deer have the ability to make hunters think and learn.

They also can make hunters pretty humble when sportsmen start thinking they know everything about deer hunting. Hunters who feel superior about their hunting skills often get humble pie to eat.

Be quiet and pay attention around good hunters and you’ll learn.

One thing I’ve learned over many years is to watch hunters. It doesn’t take long to determine who are the great sportsmen, and who are braggarts. I’ve hunted in many camps over the past 44 years, and the loudest and most aggressive hunters are usually the ones who make the dumbest mistakes.

An old saying goes like this: it’s better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. The best rule is to keep the mouth closed and pay attention, and you’ll learn more.

Picking people’s brains, and learning what they know, is fun and can provide valuable information. Savvy hunters never venture an opinion unless they know what they are talking about. That is especially true when talking about hunting whitetail deer.

Southern folk have some great sayings. They’ve been distilled from years of hard work and minding their manners. One saying that has a whole bunch of learning in it is “My momma didn’t raise no fools.”

Folks who gather around savvy hunters should keep that thought in mind. That means less talking and much more listening.

Experience is a great teacher. Asking questions can help.

Last year a man took his son hunting. The boy met the other hunters, made a dumb remark about deer hunting while several of us planned our evening hunts. We were tossing around ideas, and discussing where everyone would sit, and checking the prevailing wind direction.

The boy kept nattering on and on. He was taking up precious planning time by constantly interrupting with foolish statements.

One of the guys eventually spoke up rather bluntly and loudly, and said: “Boy, you better learn more about deer hunting before speaking your mind. You want to learn about deer hunting, sit down, shut up and listen. You’ll learn more than you ever will by talking nonsense about a topic you know nothing about.”

The kid didn’t follow directions well.

The boy sat and listened for a minute, spoke up, and one man looked pointedly at him, and the kid went running out the door. His daddy had money, and it’s almost certain that no one had every talked that way to him before.

I’ve been around whitetails all my life, and spent more than 50 years hunting and studying the critters, but there are many others who know many things that I don’t know. I listen intently to them and learn.

There are countless ways to learn things but in-the-field experience is the best teacher when it comes to learning about whitetails. Hunting the animals, and studying them as you hunt and during the off-season, is the best way to accumulate knowledge. Reading about it, and absorbing that knowledge and putting it to good use, is another. What is most important is the hunter must learn to convert that knowledge into an action plan that works in the woods.

Experience will put a fine point on your acquired knowledge. Some of my early deer-hunting knowledge came from talking to old-time hunters and guides, and using some of that information on my hunts.

The more days spent afield will continue to add to a solid footing, and one day after learning a great deal about deer hunting, you’ll know you’ve come a long ways in your gathering of deer-hunting knowledge.

That will be the day when you can honestly look yourself in the morning mirror, and confess: “I don’t know as much about deer hunting as I thought I did.” And then you go out and learn some more.

Rain & cooler weather can make deer move


It could be felt in the air. The air felt cold and heavy with moisture this morning while retrieving the local newspaper, and I muttered to myself that it was soon going to rain.

Birds and animals feel a falling barometric pressure better than most humans, but those who have suffered broken bones, nerve damage, and assorted and sundry little problem as we slip and slide through life will usually be able to predict such weather changes.

I awoke today, and it felt as if Ringling Brother or Barnum & Bailey's circus elephants had used my spine as s place to practice their soft-shoe routine as I tried to sleep. I broke my back 40 years ago, had surgery to fuse two vertebrae together and repair a severely damaged sciatic nerve in my left leg.

Three months after surgery, and during my recovery period, I fell and broke the vertebrae above the first two breaks. The surgery, and the second break, set me up for four decades of back and leg pain.

An autumn storm with a falling barometer and rain in the air always seems to settle in my low back. It throbs and my left leg hurts. Neuropathy om both feet now makes long walks painful.

Watching the local weather has becomes more of an issue with me. I rarely watch the Weather Channel because its forecasts cover too broad of an area. A few minutes outside will often tell me more about what I need to know.

If birds are perched on the power lines, it forecasts a low pressure center that will often spin the wind and may bring rain. For me, that is not a good enough excuse to not go hunting.

Of primary importance is a steady or reasonably steady wind direction. Swirling winds make hunting difficult unless you are in an elevated or ground-level coop with closed windows.

For me, a soft rain like we experienced a week ago is perfect for deer hunting providing the wind doesn't get squirrelly. Of course, we had two or three periods today when it looked like rain but it never materialized.  We may bet some needed rainfall tonight. Anyone sitting outside in it, even with good rainwear, might get wet but that's part of hunting.

There is something about a low-pressure center that puts some deer on the prod, especially if the present weather is being chased by something much more severe. I look for those days each fall when a storm is predicted late in the afternoon, and I try to get out two hours earlier than normal so I'll be on hand when the animals move ahead of the upcoming storm.

If the weather appears it often will settle in with high winds and buckets of rain about noon, unless the weatherman calls for clearing skies in the late afternoon or early evening as the storm pushes through. I may set out the morning hunt or crawl into an elevated coop to look for those few deer that always seems to move in nasty weather.

Predicting deer movements during rainy weather is fraught with problems. Often the storm starts and ends at an inconvenient time, and sometimes the animals move well after a storm blows through and sometimes they do not. A key factor to look for is a temperature drop.

I've sat out in rain storms, and hunted in rainy weather, for over 50 years. What has all those years taught me?

The only thing I can swear to is that hunting in the rain can be productive on some days and unproductive on others. It also has taught me that an achy-breaky back is my signal to find a spot, crawl into it and set out and hope for the best.

Sitting out doesn't give my sore back any relief, but on some occasions, a nice buck at the beginning of a dramatic temperature change will walk within bow range and for 10 or 15 minutes as I watch the animal, it takes my mind off my aches and pains.

I let the buck walk most of the time, and in some small way that makes me feel better. It means I've fooled the animal, could have made a killing shot, and chose not to. That's what makes me feel really good.
It could be felt in the air. The air felt cold and heavy with moisture this morning while retrieving the local newspaper, and I muttered to myself that it was soon going to rain.

Birds and animals feel a falling barometric pressure better than most humans, but those who have suffered broken bones, nerve damage, and assorted and sundry little problem as we slip and slide through life will usually be able to predict such weather changes.

I awoke today, and it felt as if Ringling Brother or Barnum & Bailey's circus elephants had used my spine as s place to practice their soft-shoe routine as I tried to sleep. I broke my back 40 years ago, had surgery to fuse two vertebrae together and repair a severely damaged sciatic nerve in my left leg.

Old bone injuries help in forecasting weather changes.

Three months after surgery, and during my recovery period, I fell and broke the vertebrae above the first two breaks. The surgery, and the second break, set me up for four decades of back and leg pain.

An autumn storm with a falling barometer and rain in the air always seems to settle in my low back. It throbs and my left leg hurts. Neuropathy om both feet now makes long walks painful.

Watching the local weather has becomes more of an issue with me. I rarely watch the Weather Channel because its forecasts cover too broad of an area. A few minutes outside will often tell me more about what I need to know.

If birds are perched on the power lines, it forecasts a low pressure center that will often spin the wind and may bring rain. For me, that is not a good enough excuse to not go hunting.

Of primary importance is a steady or reasonably steady wind direction. Swirling winds make hunting difficult unless you are in an elevated or ground-level coop with closed windows.

For me, a soft rain like we experienced a week or 10 days ago is perfect for deer hunting providing the wind doesn't get squirrelly. Of course, we had two or three periods today when it looked like rain but it never materialized.  We may bet some needed rainfall tonight. Anyone sitting outside in it, even with good rainwear, might get wet but that's part of hunting.

We won’t melt in rain but pick sites along trails leading to food or bedding cover.

There is something about a low-pressure center that puts some deer on the prod, especially if the present weather is being chased by something much more severe. I look for those days each fall when a storm is predicted late in the afternoon, and I try to get out two hours earlier than normal so I'll be on hand when the animals move ahead of the upcoming storm.

If the weather appears it often will settle in with high winds and buckets of rain about noon, unless the weatherman calls for clearing skies in the late afternoon or early evening as the storm pushes through. I may set out the morning hunt or crawl into an elevated coop to look for those few deer that always seems to move in nasty weather.

Predicting deer movements during rainy weather is fraught with problems. Often the storm starts and ends at an inconvenient time, and sometimes the animals move well after a storm blows through and sometimes they do not. A key factor to look for is a temperature drop.

I've sat out in rain storms, and hunted in rainy weather, for over 50 years. What has all those years taught me?

It’s hard to shoot deer while sitting out a rainstorm indoors.

The only thing I can swear to is that hunting in the rain can be productive on some days and unproductive on others. It also has taught me that an achy-breaky back is my signal to find a spot, crawl into it and set out and hope for the best.

Sitting out doesn't give my sore back any relief, but on some occasions, a nice buck at the beginning of a dramatic temperature change will walk within bow range and for 10 or 15 minutes as I watch the animal, it takes my mind off my aches and pains.

I let the buck walk most of the time, and in some small way that makes me feel better. It means I've fooled the animal, could have made a killing shot, and chose not to. That's what makes me feel really good.