Photographing wild whitetail bucks requires as much skill as hunting them.

It was one of those great nights a few tears ago when the deer started moving early on a west wind, and continued filtering through my area until after dark. It presented me with a dilemma.

Should I shoot a buck with my compound bow or with a camera? The new Canon camera with a 300mm lens seemed to beckon hard and long for my use, and because it is newer than the bow, I left the bow in its case at home.

The first deer came along the edge of a funnel between two tag alder thickets. It was an adult doe, and lacking anything better to do, I watched her come for 200 yards. She stopped once, looked back, and hauled butt toward me and she was weaving in and out of the tags.

Knowing where to set up for taking good photos works just as well when hunting.

Her body language told me all I needed to know. She was trying to stay ahead of a trailing buck, and she squirted out in front of me. She stopped just out into the field, stood momentarily, and kept moving.

Two minutes later, as silent as a shadow, came the 8-point. He had five-inch brow tines, and had all the makings of a good buck with one more year on him. I clicked off several photos as he stepped out of the snowy alders where she had run out, and he trotted head-down to the place where she had stopped 15 yards from me, and came to a broadside halt.

I got another photo as he came to a stop, and he apparently didn't hear the camera shutter clunk, but off he went in hot pursuit. Then minutes later two does and four button bucks and doe fawns passed, and they too were looking over their shoulder. I clicked a few photos of them passing by, and then all was silent and still for several minutes.

The wind was switching from southwest to west to northwest, and back again. My stand was perfect for the wind, and it gave me a good view of the funnel these deer were using. They often would step out into the field rather than cross the two-track trail in heavy cover.

There's not a lot of traffic down this trail, and my stand was 150 yards from it. The deer seem to favor a more open view of the area rather than to be caught in heavy cover with a car coming. I found it a bit odd, but it seemed to be a local quirk of these animals.

A knowledge of deer habits is very important when shooting photographs.

A half-hour passed, and I could see a few deer across a wide-open field, and those animals were heading elsewhere. They weren't heading in my direction.

Fifteen minutes before shooting time ended, a small doe was seen being chased by a spike, and she came busting down through the funnel, jumped out of the tag alders and never slowed down near me. The spike had twin six-inch daggers growing out of his head, and it's possible the doe was more concerned about rough stuff with those spikes than being bred by him.

A minute later a pair of year-and-a-half-old bucks, one a 7-point and his buddy had 8 points, walked past my stand just inside the brush. I snapped some photos of them, and they were on their way.

A friend was coming to pick me up, and I stayed in my stand to await his arrival. His vehicle would spook away any deer, and it would help me avoid scaring off any deer within sight of my stand.

Having a friend walk or drive in to pick you up works great. They will be gone before you can get down.

Shooting light came and went, and I stowed my camera and sat quietly with binoculars in my hands. Two antlerless deer were seen 200 yards away, moving south and away from me, and as I sat waiting patiently, a buck slipped out of the brush and paused, 15 yards away.

I could see white atop his head, and what appeared to be a goodly amount of it. This buck came from out of nowhere, and he wasn't seen until he was spotted standing there. He was upwind of me, and where he paused was where the doe had stopped.

He sniffed around, sorted out the odors of the doe, the other bucks and fawns, and headed into the tag alder funnel and disappeared from sight. He may have went north or south, but it was too dark to tell.

My buddy soon arrived, picked me up, and we discussed what photo ops each of had had. He had seen more deer than me, and he didn't have a bow with him either.

Perhaps, another evening will be a bow night. I'm not terribly picky, but I'm always looking for something great. I may have to settle for an antlerless deer or two this year, but I don't care. I've taken too many smaller bucks, and I'd just as soon take a doe as a small rack.

I'm not a trophy hunter. I'm a realist, and would rather see those small bucks grow into big bucks. A doe eats as well or better than a buck, and in the meantime, I can always shoot photos.

This big buck, framed between two maples, was patterned right.

A few of my friends have bet me with a friendly verbal wager that they would shoot a buck that night. I'd prod them a bit, and ask just how certain they are that a good buck would fall to their well-placed arrow.

Those who were staunch in their opinion said they could feel it in their bones. Now me, feeling something in my bones usually means a touch of arthritis is flaring up.

They continued to plunge on saying the wind was right, they were planning to hunt such and such a ground blind or tree stand. They had this dream formed in their mind, and I wasn't about to try swaying their thoughts.

Wishing for and planning to shoot a buck are two different things.

Their big buck, framed between hope and desire in their day-dreams, was due to show up that day at 20 yards, while accompanied by a wagon-load of luck.

Off they would go, a big sillygrin of anticipation on their face. Over many years of hunting whitetail bucks, more often than not, a hunter with such a no-fail plan would be the first to fold Double Bull tent blind when the deer decided to go elsewhere.

It's my nature to let them natter on and on, and if they ask for my opinion, I offer it for what it is worth. Some pay attention, and others just fritter away an evening of hunting without ever being within 100 yards of any kind of a buck.

Deer operate on instincts, and getting too hyped up in advance can make a hunter careless.  In their rush to get settled into the stand, something falls out of their pocket and is left laying on the ground where every nearby deer will see or smell it.

Their giddy mood often makes them a bit antsy. The beat goes on, running through their brain, and in breathless anticipation of the shot they simply know is coming, their toes are tapping the stand in time with the music playing in their head.

A buck stands back in the brush, hears a faint sound, and eventually the animal locates it high in a cedar, pine or oak tree, and heads off to visit his girlfriend 300 yards away.

Bucks may show up on schedule but they are usually young ones.

Or, our hero sits in the tree, looking a bit southwest with binoculars to his eyes, scanning the terrain for a buck. Every so often, sunlight will glint off the lens and sends a flash of light on its way. A deer that looks up just in time to see the flash of light will be suspicious and approach that area with extreme caution, if at all.

Sometimes the buck does show, and after hours of dreaming of a close and deadly shot, the bow hunter becomes all fumble-fingered, and creates too much movement as he prepares for a shot. Or, he turns slightly in the stand for a close shot, and something falls out of his pocket and goes clattering across the stand.

It could be a wallet or anything. The bow limb could rub against the tree, and some bark or pine needles could go drifting to the ground. A sharp-eyed buck will spot the falling stuff, wonder why he'd never seen it happen in that spot before, and before we know it, the buck is two fields away and still running, scared plumb out of his wits.

These things happen. I've learned never to predict a buck at the end of my hunting day. First of all, I'd have to see one I wanted to shoot, and that never happens on a regular basis.

Optimism is a great quality but keep such thoughts realistic.

I do believe in being optimistic. Feeling confident is much different than almost bragging about a buck that may not come within two miles of the hunter.

Respect for the animals we hunt is important. It's far more important than bragging about an animal that as yet has not been seen or shot. It may be time for some hunters to critically analyze the reasons why they hunt, and those who have true convictions, hunt for the sake of hunting. A buck or doe is only a bonus.

Killing a buck or doe proves very little other than the hunter was in the right place at the right time, and made a good shot. It rarely proves anything else.

The chasing phase of the rut can make bucks do odd things. This one hit a fence post.

The ground-level box blind was warm and comfortable, and the predicted snow that was supposed to fall, had not materialized. However, a deer did an odd thing and that provides the basis for tonight’s story.

A spindly 8-point buck had just moved down the trail, traveling upwind of my stand, and 100 yards behind him was a button-buck fawn. The young buck ambled along but knew his place in the pecking order of his life, and he was on the bottom rung. Little bucks don’t tick off big bucks, and fare well in the outcome.

The little guy, like small children or small deer, are curious. Who knows why or when something will capture their interest, and hasten their need to investigate. I was 18 yards off a heavily used trail that meandered through the browned bracken ferns of early November.

Watching some of the antics of small deer is more fun for me than shooting.

The wee buck fawn stopped as he came even with my blind, and turn to look at me. The inside of the coop had been painted black, and I was dressed in camo clothing with brown gloves on my hands and a camo face mask. He couldn’t see or smell me.

He looked, bobbed his head up and down in the head fake that fawns soon learn from their mother, and tried to get the box blind to move. It was anchored securely to the ground and wouldn’t budge, but the little buck tried it two or three times without success.

Finally, tiring of the head fake, the button buck started my way. Slowly, mind you, with frequent pauses to check out this odd structure that he hadn’t seen before. Closer he came, inching in the last few feet, and stuck his head in the shooting window.

His nose was three feet from my knee, and he took a deep whiff, found nothing that appeared to be objectionable. I sat still, wondering what he would do next, and he stood still for about 15 seconds, walked back to the trail and followed the buck out of sight. The Scent-Lok suit worked,

Eye-to-eye with a wild deer at three feet is a really neat experience.

I’ve had curious does and fawns walk close but have never had one stick his head in the shooting window of my hunting coop. This was a first for me, and a real treat for someone who loves seeing deer do weird things.

One time, while sitting on a stump just the perfect height off the ground and with my feet stretched out in front of me, a doe fawn and her mother came walking by. The doe stopped to eyeball me, and that didn’t satisfy the curious fawn.

She came walking right up to me, stepped over my legs, and began sniffing my rubber boots. There must have been something there that she liked, and she licked my boots for nearly a minute before tiring of that activity. She walked off down the trail with her month, and I found that if you don’t move, odd things can happen.

Great tasting rubber hunting books after being sprayed to remove odor.

Several years ago while bow hunting the rut just before the firearm season opener, I watched a love-crazed buck do a really stupid thing. He had been chasing a doe all over a green field, back into the swamp, around my tree stand, and the mature doe was just barely keeping ahead of the amorous buck.

He was grunting every step of the way, and sounded much like a barnyard oinker, and occasionally he would let her get farther away and then put on a burst of speed. She was about three steps ahead of the randy buck, and had his nose to the ground like a bird dog on a hot pheasant track.

She was going full out, throwing a few zigs and zags into her run, and the buck never lifted his head to see where he was going. She kicked it into another gear, came to a fence, and cleared it with a fine jump that was a thing of beauty. The clueless buck wasn’t quite as graceful and pretty.

He was so intent on staying with the soon-to-be-bred doe that he never looked up. He ran slam into a wood fence post with his head, and fell backwards on his rump. He staggered to his feet, wobbled around for a minute, visibly trying to figure out what happened, and once the cobwebs cleared away from what had to be an aching head, off he went at a high lope after the doe.

I’ve studied deer for more than a half-century, and have seen them do some pretty strange things. Some of what they do may stagger your imagination, but for me, nothing a whitetail does surprises me anymore.

Even when they stick their head in my shooting window. How cool is that?

Take quartering-away shots at bucks like this.

Killing a nice buck with a bow is easy. Don't believe me, just ask any hunter who has done it several times.

It's a bit like your first kiss, first love, first child or the first of anything. Doing it the first time is most difficult, and each time after that it gets a bit easier.

Much of shooting a good buck is how the hunter sets everything up. Stand positioning in relationship to buck travel is part of it. Knowing when to draw on a buck is part of it, as is knowing your personal limitations. A big part of shooting a buck involves planning ahead.

Know where & when bucks travel to meet the does.

Deer move through certain areas, and follow special patterns. Bucks, in particular, are used to going wherever they want and doing what they please. Bucks often are bullies, the swaggering dude on the beach, and they are used to everyone giving way except a larger buck.

Bucks are accustomed to does and fawns, and lesser bucks, getting out of their way. If the does are found in certain areas, regardless of whether it is a pre-rut, rut or post-rut situation, the bucks won't be far away and somewhere en route to the girls is the best spot to be.

If hunters can control their scent, have safe and noiseless stands, and know when to draw, shooting one of these egotistical bucks can be very easy. But planning ahead is part of the key.

Learn long before the season opens where the bucks will go to meet up with the girls. Does are the main attraction after Oct. 20, and hunters who know those locations are a leg up on other hunters.

Bucks occasionally come together with does before they enter the feeding areas. The does and fawns then head out, and bucks often move back and forth through heavy cover 50 to 100 yards from the feeding areas, and then when they are so inclined, the bucks move out.

Studying any interaction between bucks and does now can pay off later as the rut phases change. Right now we're on the cusp of the full rut as the chasing phases slows down.

Bucks know where does are now, and you should too. That’s where bucks will be.

Bucks often follow their own routes out to the fields where the does are found, but sometimes they move off the trail as they follow along behind the does. Sometimes bucks will use the same trail used by does and fawns.

The secret is to find where they stage before moving out, and set up a stand downwind. Sometimes, in these key locations, it may be wise to have stands set for the primary wind direction and another for the secondary wind direction.

Choose your own poison but my preference is for a cedar or pine tree within 20 yards of the trail the bucks use to approach this staging area. Most hunters want to see the buck coming for a long distance, but it makes no sense to set up that way. If you can see a buck or doe coming for a long distance, those animals can see you as well.

My preference is for the deer to pass me on my left side (I'm right-handed), and approach from behind me. I'm tucked back into the shadows, regardless of the time of day, and since I know where the deer will come from, I am well camouflaged. I've wearing my Scent-Lok clothing, have sprayed my rubber boots with a scent eliminating spray, and know the wisdom of being still and quiet.

By having the deer come from behind me, and on my left side, I can often hear their approach, and can be at full draw before they get even with my position. I time my shot when they are quartering-away, and aim to hit the off-side shoulder blade with my two-blade broadhead.

Pass-through shots are OK but I want my broadhead inside & cutting the buck.

Don't holler at me about pass-through shots. I've seen too many pass-through hit miss all the vitals. I want my arrow to stay inside the deer, and with every running step the animal makes, it continues to cut. I seldom have a buck go past 70 yards with the arrow inside him.

Pre-planning is an important thing. If your plan is perfect, and you execute all facets of the hunt properly, the deer will offer an easy shot and arrowing the animal is a given.

Don't believe me, give it a try. Your set-up for a shot often is the one factor that controls the success or failure of your hunt.

It's difficult to do many things that require skill unless one has the proper attitude and dedication. One thing I find about some hunters is they lack any drive or motivation, and this usually comes from not having an attitude.

There are good attitudes and bad 'tudes, and a bad one isn't conducive to being an effective deer hunter. Hunters with a bad 'tude are constantly griping about the weather, the lack of deer, too many does, too many hunters, and on and on.

Can't remember the name of the guy but years ago he held classes that praised the power of positive thinking. He believed that thinking in a positive way made a major difference, and I completely agree.

Putting a positive attitude on your deer hunt gives one confidence.

Think of deer hunting the same way. You climb into a tree stand or ground blind, feeling good about yourself and your ability to sit still and shoot straight. You know you can shoot that buck if it comes your way, and offers a high percentage shot.

This positive thinking attitude doesn't work every time. If it did, we would all soon tire of deer hunting, rolling a 300 game while bowling, or clobbering two home runs in the local softball game.

What this positive thinking does do is allows a hunter to do everything else right. A buck starts heading your way, and you spot it immediately. You sit still and don't wiggle around, and you've got the wind in your favor at all times.

This positive attitude allows hunters to scout more efficiently, pinpoint key buck areas, and to be in the right spot at the right time. This occurs because they believe in themselves.

Hunting means you must believe in yourself, your abilities and hunting skills. If you think negatively, chances are good you'll be daydreaming about the boss you intensely dislike, and a buck will sneak past and be out of range or back in thick cover before it is seen. You've blown perhaps the best chance of the season!

Daydream long enough, and a buck will slip in behind you, squire a doe, and she will lead him past your stand too fast for a shot. You won't shoot because your bow was not in your hand where it should have been, and you were ill prepared to take a shot.

Pay attention, stay alert & don’t daydream.

Turn this whole scenario around, and you head into the woods with hope in your heart, and a good feeling about hunting. There is a feeling that you sense more than feel, that today will be a day when a nice buck will offer a shot. You can sense that buck, and you sit tight with bow in hand, and when he shows up, you are fully capable and prepared to shoot it.

The power of positive thinking is something that many people rarely think about. They might be thinking about a beer after the hunt, and be thinking of that brew when they should be thinking about a buck that just slipped by without a shot being taken.

This is a mental concept that is very difficult to explain, and in all honesty, hunters must have a few bucks under their belt to make it work. They must know their way around the deer woods, and must learn to think like a deer. If I was a deer, where would I enter this area from and why? You study the terrain, figure it out, and sure enough, on many occasions the deer will travel the trails you've puzzled out.

Hunters with a positive attitude have their game face on whenever they enter a stand. They are out there to hunt, not just spend time outdoors, and they are constantly running the angles through their brain. They are, without knowing it, trying to will a buck to them.

That is a bit of a stretch, and although I'm not saying a person can will a deer to them, I believe the hunter with the right attitude will do more things right than hunters with an indifferent mind-set.

Make your own luck by working harder than the next guy.

Hunters often refer to those people who always shoot a nice buck as being "lucky." They are not lucky in the normal sense of the word; instead, by having the proper attitude, and the willingness to think things through and do everything right, they make their own luck.

I can't teach you or anyone else how to develop the proper deer-hunting attitude. You either have it or you don't, and those that do, know what I'm talking about.

Those that don't will never know unless they put this column aside and read it every day before they go hunting. Then, maybe with a tiny bit of common sense and the right attitude, a buck may walk within range of a hunter who is mentally and physically prepared to shoot it.

Many years ago several of us adopted a basic bow-shooting philosophy, and it is every bit as important to us today as it was back then. We called it the Shoot Once, Shoot Straight And Don't Miss philosophy.

It is a philosophy to aspire to, and we've taught it to thousands of bow hunters over the years. The philosophy is easily understood, simply stated, and if archers follow it beginning a little over three weeks when the bow-deer season opens, there would be fewer wounded deer.

Here is the whole philosophy pulled together as concisely as possible.

*Shoot Once -- How can there be any misunderstanding about this one? Bow hunting is vastly different than hunting with a firearm where one or more shots can be easily taken.

A bow hunter, 99 percent of the time, will have only one shot at a deer. A miss or a wounded animal will send the deer in hasty retreat. About the only time a second shot might be taken is to finish off a mortally wounded animal.

*Shoot Straight -- This and the next basic tenet of this philosophy are most important. Shooting with accuracy only comes from consistent and perfect practice. If the practice is faulty, the shot will be faulty as well.

This means controlling your breathing and nerves, drawing when the buck is unaware of your presence, hold your head up with both eyes fixed on the proper spot for a killing shot, aiming properly once you've achieved a firm and consistent anchor point, making a smooth release, and holding your bow steady without moving it (follow through) until the arrow hits your aiming point.

There is little excuse for error unless the arrow hits an unseen twig, but it's up to the hunter to know that twig is there and to take a clean broadside or quartering-away shot. All other shots are low-percentage opportunities, and should never be taken. If you don't have a high-percentage shot, wait for another opportunity. Don't trust to luck.

Work up a step-by-step checklist of all the things to do before shooting.

*Develop a mental checklist, and run through it in order before releasing  the arrow. If you plan to hunt from a tree, practice shooting from an elevated position.

*Know your limitations. If you can't consistently hit the kill zone on a deer at 25 yards, but can hit it at 20 yards, a 20-yard shot is your maximum effective shooting distance. Know what you can and cannot do, and never exceed your limitations. A miss, or even worse a wounded deer, can be the only two plausible results of exceeding your effective shooting range.

Shooting a deer is easy if you do everything right in sequential order.

*Don't Miss -- This is the culmination of all of these facets of this hunting philosophy. If the above two facets are followed to the letter, and you never exceed your limitations, and always achieve a firm anchor point and aim properly (and don't drop your bow arm at the shot), you will hit and kill that deer.

This simple philosophy is easy to write about but a bit more difficult to put into practice. It requires total hunter concentration, complete focus on all of the minute details, and it means knowing your bow and at what distance is your limit of accurate shooting.

Follow these simple rules -- Shoot Once, Shoot Straight & Don't Miss -- and you'll be eating venison this fall and admiring the antlers of a nice buck. You can bet on it.

*Stay away from your blind, and remain silent when in the woods. Climbing into a tree stand or clumping around trying to pull together enough cover to build a ground blind leaves human scent in the area and helps alert the deer.

Blinds should have been built long before now. If the weather is mild, set out in a tree stand or find a toppled tree downwind of an active trail and sit with your back to the root wad. It breaks up your silhouette, and anything placed in front of you should be sparse. If it's too thick, it becomes difficult to shoot through and requires too much movement.

Trying to anticipate what a rutting buck will do is much like listening to a politician's promise. Both can be a risky venture.

Frankly, the only predictable thing about a rutting buck is his unpredictability. They do things that make absolutely no sense to the bow hunter, but apparently, their actions make complete sense to them.

Bucks can act completely addled, and once they begin chasing does, some bucks dart across roads only to get themselves killed in a deer-vehicle collision. I've watched bucks run head-long into a fence post even though the doe jumped the fence.

Rutting bucks never lose their fear of humans

The oddities of rutting bucks have been well documented. What is seldom stressed is how their mood swings influence their actions, but seldom will a buck become totally clueless. They do not lose their inherent fear of humans, and a buck that hears, sees or smells a hunter, will waste little time getting out of Dodge.

This means that hunters can take no liberties with being downwind of known travel routes. We also must sit still, don't move and take only high-percentage shots. Another thing to note is that bucks are seldom still during the rut, and hunters must be prepared for a quick and accurate shot on a moment's notice. Keep your bow in your hands at all times. Reaching for a bow hanging from a nearby branch often is a waste of time.

The most predictable thing about a rutting buck is he is never far from his latest squeeze. Of course, as soon as he's had his way with her, he is off on a continuing search for other estrus does to breed. For the larger and older bucks, breeding does is a never-ending process in which a mature buck will lose 25-30 percent of his body weight.

Find the does and you'll find the bucks

Remember, a buck will always be near the does. He may hang back in heavy cover near a food source, but once she moves, the buck cuts her trail again. It's one reason why hunters often set up a stand in the heaviest cover near a food source and near a field corner.

A buck will cruise back and forth as the doe feeds, and will check other nearby does to determine how close they are to estrus, but he keeps a close watch on his latest lady friend.

Bucks will often be seen crossing open fields as they course a doe. He will go where she goes, and if she is almost in estrus, he will be even closer. If she goes left or right, he will cut her off, and if she head-fakes him into going one way while she goes the other, he will soon catch up with the wayward doe.

Hunting these animals can be great fun, and almost every hunter will say; "So close and yet so far away" at one time or another. The bucks and does often move just out of bow range, and it's not a deliberate thing on their part. The hunter has simply made a mistake by setting up just out of effective bow range.

Hunt near field corners with thick cover

It's difficult to go wrong by hunting fairly close to fields where does will feed. Choose one of the corners, and especially the field-edge corner with the heaviest nearby cover. That is where bucks will hang out to watch the does, and they often pace back and forth like an expectant father. Their reason for pacing is the driving need to breed when she enters estrus.

None of this means the buck won't enter a feeding field, and often by luck or design, a doe will lead an amorous buck past a ground blind or tree stand, but it's not something to bet the homestead on.

Tending bucks often are vocal bucks, and one about to breed a doe will be grunting with almost every step it takes. This tending grunt is low and guttural, and sometimes can be heard for 100 yards while at other times the buck may only be 20 yards away when the sound is heard. In some cases the sound is much like a ventriloquist "throwing" his voice; it's almost impossible to tell where the sound comes from during a heavy fog or a misty rain.

Bucks will sometimes still check ground scrapes, but once the rut really kicks offs, they stop opening up and freshening scrapes. They have used those scrapes over the past two or three weeks to locate estrus and soon-to-be-ready does, and every buck in the area knows which does will soon be bred. The earliest does to breed often are among the oldest does in the area.

This also is when young bucks try to mount the does while the big buck is busy elsewhere, but most does will not stand for a younger deer unless big boy gets killed. Few 1 1/2-year-old bucks do any breeding. Their day will come in two or three years unless they get shot by a hunter.

Hunting the rut is entirely different than hunting bucks at other times. Hunters must start thinking like a buck, and once they figure out where the does are, and where the thickest cover is (where much of the breeding will take place), it becomes a bit easier... but not by much.

It's easy to make an obvious error in judgment in retrospect, and hunters who know the land they hunt like the back of their hand will usually know from past experience where the bucks and does head during the rut. They can arrange to be there at the right time.

Two tips to remember about hunting rutting bucks

Two last tips on rutting deer is this:

• Bucks often rest up a bit after daybreak but begin cruising in search of estrus bucks between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. This four-hour period during mid-day can be a hot time to be on stand. Few hunters are out at that time of day but the bucks are often moving.
• The same holds true with hunting just before a bad weather front moves through. Check the weather, and hunt just before bad weather hits your area, especially if it features a substantial drop in temperature and either rain or snow.

Rut hunting is never easy, but hunting it properly and knowing a few of these tricks will stimulate your brain and make hunters think each daily situation out thoroughly. And that usually is a good thing to do at this time of year.

It's become something of a habit for me. Once the fall hunting season heads into its second month, there's a good chance that once a day I'll remember another hunt from the past where a big buck was taken or an opportunity was lost for one reason or another.

It's this ability to recall past hunts, successful or not, that allow us to wallow through nine months of not hunting deer with a bow. It's rather easy to look at one of the big bucks on my wall, relax, kick back, and dredge up a fond memory or two to help me through the day.

There was a big buck running around my hunting area several years ago, and he was as regular as a dish of prunes. The problem was he was back in thick cover, and would eventually leave it. Each time he stepped out, he was in a slightly different location than days before.

 Hunting a very good buck

All too often he was just a bit too far away for a clean shot, and shooting that 10-pointer wouldn't have been easy. My decision to wait until he exited the tag alders within 20 yards was an easy one to make because I couldn't and wouldn't take a bad shot.

Day after day I'd see him. Sometimes he was close but 10 feet back in the tags, and the next day he would be 65 yards away. I believe he bedded in those alders, and moved around a bit  each day. Deer don't always bed down in the same location, and this guy championed the art of bedding and exiting tags in a different spot from day to day.

This buck was a tempting rascal but I'd hunt other blinds to avoid becoming patterned at this nearby spot. I was always downwind of him, but it was always just before shooting time ended when he stepped out. I felt he occasionally would make his move a little earlier, and it was a matter of being there when he did. Hopefully, his move would let him step out, and take several steps that may put him within range.

Once I saw his high and wide rack, all glistening white, coming through the tag alders. If he stayed his course, he would come out only 18 yards away and in a perfect location for a good shot.

Looking for a shot

His head swiveled  back and forth as he tested the wind, studied the nearby terrain that day, and his ears were cocking forward and to each side in hopes of getting an early warning of possible danger. He was 4 1/2 years old, and had had many opportunities to practice his moves before coming out to feed.

He kept coming at a very slow pace. There was no hurry-up in this guy. Each move was a well managed lesson in tactical survival. He'd take a step, stop, stand motionless for a minute or two, and then take another cautious step or two.

The buck would hold his head high, lower it to change the angle of his gaze, and move again. He had all the patience of a stalking alley cat, and moved as if he was ready to bolt at any second. Bolting wasn't what I wanted him to do, but sometimes these things happen.

Suddenly he stopped, and gazed hard at something nearby. A big mature doe had walked out of the brush on the other side of my stand, and was standing there, watching the buck. Live decoys like this doe that had appeared out of nowhere can be a good thing. As long as she doesn't spook, he may come closer.

The buck was upwind of me and the doe, and she wasn't going to walk over and introduce herself, so the only course of action was for the buck to move toward her. He made a slow approach, and my arrow was nocked on the bow string, and my Gator Jaw release was attached.

She turned as if to leave, and the buck moved quickly to intercept her. The buck popped out of the tags like a jack-in-the-box, and after many sightings, there he was 20 yards away.

The moment of truth

I let him move slightly, and offer a quartering-away shot. My sight was nestled low behind his front shoulder, and as that leg moved forward for another step, I laid my finger on the release trigger.

The buck moved right at that instant, turning away, and such low percentage shots seldom produce. I waited for him to turn and offer a quartering-away shot, but the doe walked over to him and they walked away like two old lovers walking side-bt-side down the street. It had been a close call, but the buck had won another round.

There is a great deal of satisfaction in hunting one specific buck, and having everything eventually work out or fall apart because of a doe's action. I've hunted numerous bucks where great planning just didn't work, and that is why they call this hunting, not killing.

If we were to succeed every time we hunted, bow hunting would soon cease to hold any appeal. The challenge of hunting one buck to the exclusion of all others is what works for me, even if an entire season passes without a shot.

((tag: Dave Richey, Michigan, Outdoors, alders, appeal, bow, buck, doe, kill, memories, past hunts, release))

Positive thinking can take anglers and hunters farther down the road to success than negative thoughts. I'm going walleye fishing later this week, and I'm already feel confident and positive about catching fish.

One thing I've noticed over many years in this fishing and hunting business, and writing about trips and photographing them during my freelance career and my 23+ years as the staff outdoor writer for The Detroit News, is that negative thinking is a downer. People who also plan to go fishing tonight are probably asking themselves: "I wonder if we'll hit the walleye bite tonight? I hope we catch some fish."

Think positively at all times

Not me. I know we will hit the bite, know we are going to catch some fish, and feel good about our prospects. I'd be a liar if I didn't admit to being wrong on occasion, but none of us bat 1,000 percent. I find myself being successful far more often than not wit this attitude.

For me, my glass is always half-full while pessimists believe their glass is half empty. I am the eternal optimist. I try to see the upside about everything I do, and although that doesn't work all the time, thinking positive thoughts are important to personal success.

I've used this analogy before. A red-white Dardevle has always worked for me when casting or trolling for northern pike. There is something special about the spoon's wobble and paint job that turns on big pike.

So, do you suppose I'd make a pike fishing trip here in Michigan or in Ontario without carting along 10 pounds of Dardevles of various colors and sizes? It's not very likely I would trust a day or week of my fishing time without bringing along lures that have always proved themselves as being superb fish-catchers.

Positive thinking leads to making better decisions

Positive thinking can make any fisherman or hunter better at these pastimes. Looking on the bright side of things is like carrying a lucky rabbit's foot in your pocket. It gives you a mental edge, and often, that's all it takes to become productive on the water or in the woods.

One of the key things about positive thinking is it has a tendency to point your brain in the proper direction, and that allows the human mind to filter out extraneous stuff and narrow our focus onto things that will help.

There isn't a night I hunt deer that I don't believe an opportunity will present itself. That I turn down many opportunities to shoot a buck or doe, or once or twice a year, hunt without seeing a single animal, is beside the point. It doesn't dampen my enthusiasm or cause me to second-guess my reasons for being afield.

You see, I believe in myself and my personal abilities. I know what to do, when to do it, and am confident that my tactics will work. If they don't, regardless of the reason, I still continue to believe in myself and that makes me much more confident when fishing or hunting.

Seek out opportunities & make ‘em work for you

Looking into the crystal ball doesn't show me doom and gloom. It shows me a vast number of opportunities to succeed, to catch fish, shoot deer, and to do all of the other things that I write about.

It allows me to believe in myself. A personal belief that the fish will hit, the deer will move, the roosters will flush in front of the pointer, are deeply held beliefs. These thoughts bring hope to my heart, and with such positive thoughts, it makes me a better angler and hunter.

When and if something goes wrong, and the fish don't bite or the game doesn't move, it's not my fault. There are days when such things do not happen, and it's somewhat easier to chalk it up to how nature works. But, even though I get skunked on the lakes and streams at times, it's not because I wasn't thinking positively.

My beliefs are simple: I believe in my personal fishing and hunting abilities. I believe that I can catch fish and shoot a buck if I wish, and even though I pass up deer every year, the opportunities for success are there whether I choose to shoot or not. I believe my thoughts on fishing and hunting are positive in my mind, and that those thoughts and this whole concept is what makes me successful.

For me, believing in myself is very important. Anglers and hunters who strive to be optimistic rather than pessimistic are generally the most successful sportsmen of all.