The author practices with a box call indoors.

It's one thing to choose a spot to ambush a gobbler when he walks by.  It's still something else to make a  longbeard come to you, one or two  tentative steps at a time; its head up and looking, the roar of a  return gobble, the sight of a snowball head moving slowly through the  woods toward the hen call.

Turkey hunting is fun. Calling a gobbler to the bow or shotgun is just  about as much fun as anyone can have while hunting. Is calling hard and must we be an expert caller to succeed?

Good questions. No, one doesn't have to be an expert and calling is not extremely hard. A diaphragm call is far more difficult to learn than an aluminum, glass or slate friction call. The wood box call is perfect because it is one of the easiest calls to master, and the easiest of all to is the push-button call that produces realistic sounds. So, what’s holding you back. Practice now, but not outside.

The most difficult turkey call of all to master is the wing-bone yelper. Anyone who can run a yelping sequence on a wing-bone or trumpet is a person who has my utmost admiration. It is extremely difficult to master this call, which is why few people use them in the northern states. Their use is slightly more common, but as a general rule, wingbone call are generally used by old-time turkey hunters.

There is one important thing to remember: turkeys, like humans, have different voices. They all sound slightly different.

I've listened to world champion callers, and once spent a week deer hunting with the late Dick Kirby of Quaker Boy Calls. He was prepping for the World Championship of turkey calling, and he could make truly realistic turkey sounds that were as clear and pure as the sound of a church bell on Sunday morning.

This longbeard was photographed coming to a turkey call.

"Championship calling is different than an in-the-field situation," Kirby told me years ago. "Hunters who can cluck, cutt, purr and yelp can call birds. Championship-type calling isn't required because no two turkeys sound alike. The key is more about the cadence and rhythm of a call than the quality of the sound. The biggest secret is knowing when to call, which call to make and not to call too much. A caller who calls too often will scare more birds than he attracts."

Using certain calls requires some skill but it’s not too hard to learn.

Box calls - Hold the call lightly in the palm of the hand. Many callers hold a box call horizontally, and draw the paddle across the top of the box. Some hunters, especially in southern states, hold the box vertically and hold the striker between index and middle fingers to strike the lip of the box. Both methods work well, and what it boils down to is using whichever method that feels the most comfortable.

A turkey show was on television recently, and the host was using a box call in a horizontal position, and would then hold the call in a vertical fashion. He didn't look very comfortable with either method. Use whichever feels most comfortable, and there's no need to switch back and forth from horizontal to vertical.

Make a cluck by popping the striker (handle) against the top of the box. It is a sharp one-note sound. To cutt, ake a series of sharp clucks in rapid fashion. Yelps are made by moving the handle across the lip of the box and cover the sound chamber to accomplish the two-note call. Purring is simple and works best early in the morning when birds are roosted; move the striker lightly and slowly across the lip of the box.

Diaphragm - Kirby could make astounding sounds with a diaphragm call but mine sound like a gobbler with a ruptured voice box. However, my diaphragm calls are effective. Remember, notes need not be competition perfect. Just understand the cadence of each call, and know when to make that particular call.

To cluck exhale air across the reed(s) and say "putt." Cutt by making three or four fast clucks quickly and sharply. They can be made loud or softly, and much depends on how far away the bird is and how he responds to the call. A soft cutt often excites birds when they are within 50 yards.

Master a purr, whine and yelp, and you can call gobblers.

A yelp begins high (and can be strung out) and falls off into a lower note. Yelps can be strung together quickly or done just once but jaw, mouth and tongue movement can affect volume and tone. Experiment until it sounds good. A purr is fairly difficult to do, but I find it easier than breaking off the high end of a yelp into the low tone. My yelps sound like a bird with tonsillitis but they come to it.

Aluminum, glass or slate calls are quite easy to use but require both hands. I favor these calls when a turkey is a good distance away, and as the bird comes closer, I switch to the diaphragm call so both hands are free to handle the shotgun.

All three materials require the use of a peg or striker. Strikers are made of glass, plastic or wood. To cluck, hold the striker like a ballpoint pen but turn the tip at an angle pointing toward your body and drag it toward you in a skipping motion. Press down harder to make a louder cluck. Cutting is done by making a series or fast and irregular clucks for five to seven seconds. Cutts can be soft or loud, and long or short in duration. Yelping is done by dragging the striker with some pressure in a circular motion or a straight line. The more pressure of striker against the call, the louder the sound. Purr by lightly dragging the striker across the call. This is one of my favorite calls early in the morning because it sounds like a contented bird.

A recording of these sounds make more sense for a beginner than me trying to put down what each sound is like. Hunters also can talk to an accomplished caller and learn these basic sounds.

Some gobblers are, by nature, downright call-shy, especially if some yoyo practices his calling outdoors. Gobblers often will call from the roost, and four or five Toms gobbling back and forth sends chills down my spine. As a general rule, don't call as often as a gobbler; let him wonder where the hen is and come looking for it. I often give one or two soft tree yelps after I hear the first crow calling at dawn. If there is no response, try again five minutes later. If a gobbler responds, sit still and say nothing. Wait for the gobbler to call again, and then softly cluck or purr for five seconds and shut up.

Hunters have up to four weeks to practice before their season opens.

A big limbwalker will probably boom back a return call but let him wait again. As he gobbles, birds in other areas may respond with a gobble so wait for a few minutes after silence is restored. Try another soft purr, and if it is full light, slap a turkey wing against a tree or your pant legs to imitate a bird flying down, and give one short and soft yelp to sound like a hen on the ground.

Muffle some calls like a hen moving around on the ground, and listen for the gobbler to fly down. Give him another yelp, and if he gobbles, let him come. If the bird stops 50 yards away, purr or softly cluck and scratch in the leaves with your fingers like a hen feeding. If the bird keeps coming, stay quiet and let him come. If the gobbler stops behind a tree within range, purr or cluck softly and shoot when he steps out and lifts his head.

If a gobbler hangs up, try a trick that has worked for me many times. Use two calls at once: yelp softly with a diaphragm and with a box or slate call to imitate two hens calling for Tommie. This trick has produced many gobblers for me and my friends. Or, try creeping backwards and turn and call softly to imitate a hen moving away.

Try to set up so the bird can come into a semi-open area to look for the hen. Gobblers will move through thick cover if necessary but they like to see what lays ahead and if it appears dangerous. Calling isn't particularly difficult but it requires some practice. Do it in the car, not out in the field. The first time you call outdoors is when you have a shotgun in hand.

The above are just some of the basics of calling a wild turkey within range, and it represents some of the tricks that work. Give 'em a try when the April-May turkey season is open, and work at learning something new every day. Studying turkey behavior and their calls- will pay off.

Dave Richey looks for a specific book in his books for sale.

The late Clyde Harbin, unless you happened to be a lure collector 20 years ago, was hardly a household name. Clyde, over many years, amassed a huge collection of fishing lures and wrote several notable books about Heddon lures.

He was called "The Bassman" by all who knew him, and he was a wise investor in fishing lures. He and I knew each other fairly well, and he had a profound saying that he applied to buying and selling lures, and it's one I've never forgotten: his classic phrase was "Ain't nothin' worth nothin' 'less somebody wants it."

It also applies to the buying and selling of fishing and hunting books, which I do a good bit of, and almost anything else of value. You can't sell me your books unless you have something I want, and I can't sell my books if no one wants to buy them. Somewhere during the buying and selling process, Clyde Harbin's southern drawl and his comment always comes home to roost and it was never far from my mind.

Harbin's saying makes as much sense to a buyer as to a seller.

I have bought and sold books for over 40 years. I've missed some sales because people dislike selling books to a person they don't know, but people like me cannot buy books sight unseen. I try to tell potential sellers that I am honest, but need to see what is for sale before I spend money on it. Verbal descriptions, unless the other person is in the book business, often are not very accurate or reliable. The reason; they don't know the terminology and they don't know how to grade books.

I've had two major sales this week. The money made is hardly enough to send me joyfully on an Alaskan hunting trip. But those two people trusted my name and reputation, sent me their hard-earned money, and I sent them good books. The reverse is true: someone sends me fishing or hunting books, I look them over, determine their value, and if my offer seems fair to them, I buy them.

This should be a very simple and easy plan. Somewhere between beginning and end, the wheels occasionally fall off.

All of this began many years ago because I love to read. Reading is something that comes naturally to me. You see, I grew up reading.

Many readers know I collect books on fishing and hunting. How many of you know that I buy fishing and hunting books, and sell such books as well in my Scoop's Books portion of this website?

The days of getting ready for spring are here, and probably sooner than later, our spouses will suggest cleaning the attic, basement, barn, garage or spare room. Often, in one of these spots, will be some books. There invariably will be some Reader's Digest books, which are very common and virtually worthless, and there may be some children's books from an earlier era. In some cases there may be books on fishing and hunting, and it is those I am most interested in.

Spring cleaning is when many people run across old fishing or hunting books.

They may be common, fairly common or scarce. There are literally thousands of common fishing or hunting titles out there, which may sell for $5 or less. Some are worth more money, and a very select few are worth a hundred dollars or more.

How do you know which ones are worth good money and which are not? You ask Dave Richey.

I've bought and sold outdoor (fishing and hunting) books for more than 40 years, and also do book appraisals, especially in this genre. I've spent 20 years compiling a bibliography of fishing, hunting and natural history titles written in the English language. This book will be published when completed, but it lists values (where known) of over 30,000 different fishing or hunting titles so far, and I'm only halfway through collecting information.

Modesty aside, I am an expert on fishing and hunting book values. I know what they are worth, and pay fair prices when I buy them.

What am I looking for? I'm looking for a list of books you have that contain the:

• authors name
• book title
• publisher
• date of publication
• and whether it is a hardcover
• (with or without dust jacket)
• or paperback

I am not looking for books that have childish crayon scribbling, whiskey glass sweat rings and I do not want ex-library books with card pockets, ink stampings of a library, and I don't buy musty and mildewed books or those with covers ripped off or missing.

Buying books is much like buying a car. Neither you nor I would buy a car that won't start, is missing two tires, the windshield wiper is broken and the door handle is missing on one side. But, people with books for sale often think a book with a missing page, photo plate or cover is worth money. A first printing of the Gutenberg Bible with the front cover detached but present would be worth thousands, but such is not the case for the books I collect, buy, sell and read.

I want to buy books in good to fine or better condition. I ask you to spend 15 minutes and print out the authors name, book title, year published, and if it is hardcover or paperback. Send the list to me via email, and I will respond within two days. I am not in the market to spend time haggling (although I gladly will if someone wants to sell me a book that really turns my crank) over price. Set a price for each book, and if you are too low, I will make a higher counter-offer. If the book(s) are not what I can use, I will let you know immediately.

Some books are very common, and I am not in the market for Byron Dalrymple or Vlad Evanoff titles at any price. There are many others I don't want, but bear one thing in mind: good books have a look about them. They are well done, printed on good paper, the bindings are tight, and the book has all its pages. A book missing just one page is next door to worthless. A book with an inked owners signature is worth less than one without it unless the book was signed by the author.

A good book is worth more with a dust jacket or with a leather cover and slipcase. Paperbacks are generally worth less than a hardcover book, although there are a very few exceptions to that rule.

What am I looking for? Many things. You may not know unless you ask me.

What do I want to buy? I'm looking for:

• books about ruffed grouse or wild turkey hunting
• I need good trout fishing titles
• Some deer hunting books published before 1980 are desirable
• Some muskie fishing titles are ones that can find a home with me
• As is true with books by Robert Traver
• Books published by Amwell Press
• Safari Press
• Derrydale Press
• Premier Press
• Trophy Room Books

These are some publishers I look for, and I'm not interested in most anthologies, bass books, titles about raccoon hunting, and books that cover many different outdoor topics.

I also have books I will trade for your desirable titles. Remember one thing: outdoor books, by and large, sell for $5-10 on the used-book market. Some sell for hundreds of dollars. Not all outdoor books are scarce and worth big money; in fact, very few are. However, that doesn't mean you can't have several books that may make you a few hundred dollars, but remember that such books are scarce. Scarce means they were printed in very low numbers, and time has seen many lost to fires or landfills. A scarce book is one that may be found perhaps once or twice over several years by a busy bookseller.

Know too that booksellers (and buyers like me) must make a profit if we are to stay in business. Show me a $100 book, and depending on author and title and my needs at the time, I will offer $50-60 for it. If it is a $10 book, and I want it for a customer, I may spend $3-5 for it. Some may think this unfair, but doing business means making some money and books may not sell for one or two years. That means I have money tied up for up to two years on a hunch it will sell. This requires me to buy books at a fair but discounted price. Any honest bookseller will tell potential sellers the same thing.

If you have a $100 book, and try to sell it yourself for that price, it's very likely you'll have the book for two or more years. It's entirely possible you'll never sell it.

Books also go up and down in price according to the never-ending law of supply and demand. If the demand is high, and the book is difficult to find, people (including honest booksellers) will pay more money for it. If the book is common, and there is no demand, no one will buy it. That is why they call it doing business.

So, with these thoughts in mind, if you find some fishing and hunting books this spring while cleaning out the attic, barn, basement or garage, or if you inherit some books from a deceased relative, 15 minutes of your time may provide some extra money. If the book is scarce, and I ask to examine it, I will pay your postage for mailing it to me for a seven-day examination period plus an offer of whatever I feel the book is worth to me. When books are mailed, they should be:

• Sent by Express Mail
• Insured
• Provide delivery confirmation that the book has been delivered and received by me
• This guards you and/or me from someone saying they didn't get the book(s)

I'm running out of space. In the coming weeks, please look over your spare fishing and hunting books, and let me know what is available. I will make a fair offer for any book I decide I may buy, and will pay your shipping fee. One doesn't stay in this business long without being fair and honest, and I'd like to prove it to you. In the event you are looking for a specific book, check out Scoop's Books. If you seek a specific title, and it's not listed here, let me know what book you want and I will do a no-charge search.

I have conducted no-charge searches for many people. It's one of my services, and although there are many books that are very difficult to find, if a copy exists and it is for sale, I can often track it down.

Hope to hear from you soon, and let's share this love of books. If you are done with a fishing or hunting title, and I take an interest in it, why not sell? Bad economic times often are when books do get sold, and you owe it to yourself to deal with an honest and reputable person. E-mail me with your information and please, put books for sale in the subject line.

I will get back to you as quickly as possible, usually within one or two days.

Know how, when & where bucks travel and figure out how to outsmart them.

How about you? Are you like most bow hunters who are always looking for a shortcut. They continually wonder: what can I do to make each trip more successful?

First of all, don't expect every trip to be successful in terms of killing a deer. It won't be, and besides, if such a thing was possible, deer hunting would soon lose some of its appeal and become rather boring and tedious.

I've come today with a list of things hunters can do to increase their success rate, but I'll probably forget a few and that will make for another blog on another day.

Several tips to increasing bow hunting success.

• Practice shooting every day if possible. Learn your bow, what it will do, and practice often with it. Everything else in these tips will fall apart unless you can hit what you are shooting at.
• Hunting isn't just from October through November. It should be a year 'round activity. Of course, you can only shoot in season, but scouting is often overlooked by lazy hunters. Spend time in the field every week, and especially from mid-August through the end of September. In early spring, as the snow melts, look for those seldom-used trails that bucks often use to avoid hunters.
• Pick ground blind areas and tree stand sites with the utmost care. Know why deer move to those spots, where they come from and where they are going. Learn their bedding and feeding areas, and how to get in and out without spooking the animals.
• Don't go above 15 feet in a tree stand. The downward angles become more acute, and missing or wounding a deer become more likely for many people. Those deer shot at nose-bleed elevations on the television could have been shot from 15 feet just as effectively. This hunter in a Summit (1) tree stand prepares for a bow shot.

Become scent-free with a Scent-Lok suit.

• Learn how to be scent-free. Above all else, hunt downwind of where deer travel. If the wind switches so you are not downwind of the deer, move before they get your scent. Wear clean, tall rubber boots to hunt in, and stay away from gasoline or cooking odors. My Scent-Lok suit goes on every day, and my tall rubber boots are sprayed daily to eliminate any odors. I dress outdoors away from any odors.
• Sitting still is so crucial, and yet many hunters fidget and wiggle around, making noise and spooking deer. Learn how to focus your mind and body into silence without movement. Make a movement only when deer are feeding or looking away, and move in slow motion. Herky-jerky movements are easily spotted by nearby deer and they tend to create more noise.
• Learn to see deer. Forget about those calendar photos of a big whitetail buck. Often, bucks are first seen by a flicking tail, moving ear, sunlight off antlers, but often the first sighting is just a piece of the horizontal body outline. Look as deep into thick cover as possible, and anything that moves in-between will be seen. Learn how to pick apart the cover in search of deer.
• Learn how to get to and from a stand without scaring deer. Each stand should have at least two entrance and exit routes, and mix them up. Go in one way and out another, and try not to use the same stand two days in a row. You must pattern deer; don't let them pattern you.

A deer’s body language tells you about it so to hunt accordingly.

• Study deer at every opportunity. Watch and study their actions and body language, and get accustomed to seeing deer at close range. Buck fever is a fear of failure, and the best way to get rid of that problem is to find a place where deer can be studied at close range. The more deer seen, the less often buck fever will occur.
• Pick a spot. Good deer hunters never shoot for the center of mass; instead, they pick an exact and precise place where they wish to hit.
• Always take high-percentage shots. This means taking only broadside or quartering-away shots. Wait for the deer to give you the shot opportunity you want. Don't take the first shot a buck offers. Allow them to move and turn, and present you with the optimum shot opportunity. Shoot once, shoot straight and don’t miss.

A hunter in a Summit tree stand comes to full draw & prepares to shoot.

• Always know what other deer in the area are doing. Don't get so focused on one animal that you forget that other deer may be looking around for danger. Keep track of the deer, and know that one with its head down and feeding or looking at other deer are preoccupied. If the animal is in the proper position, aim, pick the exact spot, and don't lift your head until the arrow hits and the Game Tracker string flutters out. Always use a Game Tracker because it will help you recover a wounded deer.
• Listen to your gut instincts. If you have bad feelings about taking a shot, or worry about missing, don't shoot. Your gut instincts are always right, and if you ignore them, a wounded deer may be the result.
• Hunters have five senses. Use them all if necessary. Use your senses of hearing, seeing, and smelling. Those three senses are what a deer will be using to try to stay alive once hunting season begins.
• Believe in yourself, your bow, and your shooting ability. Confidence is an important part of hunting, and if you feel confident, you will be. If you dither over choosing a spot to hunt, forget it.

There are many other tips, but these are enough to start with. Master these, and we'll think about a graduate course in the near future.

Locating big bucks became a habit but not all fell to my arrows.

Every now and then my mind carries me back to the so-called "good old days." Everything seemed larger than life when we were kids, and first getting involved in hunting was a big deal.

I can't recall the year of my first bow hunt, but I had an old recurve that I used. It seemed as if that bow was as tall as I was, but that is the fun part of remembering things from about 60 years ago. Our mind sometimes plays tricks on us.

My thoughts take me back to an era when very few people hunted with a long or recurve bow. This was long before the first compound bow was invented, and I remember trying to find straight wooden arrow shafts. Some were as crooked as a snake.

Things were much different 50-60 years ago.

Constant practice was needed to keep muscles toned for a quick draw, an even faster aim, and a sure release. There were no tree stands in those days, and the only rubber boots we owned were four- or five-buckle Arctics that were worn during winter months.

The deer seemed much larger back then than now. Of course, I suspect that was because I was smaller, and our size difference was a result of being a teenager.

Most of the hunting in those days came during the traditional November 15-30 firearm season. Blaze or Hunter Orange clothing wasn't worn in those days for one simple reason: it hadn't been invented yet.

Most of us wore green-and-black or red-and-black checked wool coats and pants. Ours were often hand-me-downs from an older brother or friend, and sometimes we hunted in whatever clothing we had. We knew about dressing in layers, and often wore everything we owned to stay reasonably warm.

We never worried much about human scent, and seldom took any precautions about hunting the wind. Many hunters simply walked into the woods, found a stump or uprooted tree to sit on, and would watch where two or three deer trails came together. If they happened to choose a downwind position, they might shoot a deer if they could sit still and not spook the animal.

Studying deer became my No. 1 practice while hunting.

I was fascinated by whitetails in those days. I'd often go hunting. It soon dawned on me that if I was upwind of deer, I seldom got a shot. My education had begun.

One of the first things I learned was to hunt the wind. I learned that a hunter downwind of a whitetail buck was seldom winded. I learned to hunt deeper in the thick cover so I'd have a chance at a buck before the guys lined up outside of the woods would see deer. Another lesson quickly learned.

It didn't take long for me to learn that a long bow or recurve wasn't made for long-distance shots, and I found most of the bucks I shot were between 10 and 15 yards away. I became an instinctive shooter because there were few sights in those days. I drew back, aimed down the arrow shaft at the buck, and when the sight picture looked right, I made my release. After time, those shots often killed that buck.

There are memories of scouting for deer. It was easy to find the main runways, and I avoided other hunters as if they had smallpox. The more hunters in an area, the greater the chance of the accumulated noise and human scent spooking deer long before dawn arrived.

So I hunted deeper in the thick cover, planned my adventure with teenage expectations, and studied deer. I wanted to learn all I could about these animals, because deep down inside, I knew that the more a hunter knew about whitetail deer, the better success they would have.

I hunted deer at every opportunity during the open seasons.

Weekends, holidays, days off from work, all would find me in the woods. I spent countless days studying them from afar, and many of those lessons I learned as a teenager are still being practiced today.

Hunting deer is much more than a casual thing to me. It is something I happily admit to being addicted to. Spending time in the woods, studying and watching deer, is as much a part of my scouting procedures as it was 50 years ago.

Perhaps the bucks were bigger back then, and perhaps they weren't, but it makes little difference now. The good old days didn't occur six decades ago, they are here today. Lots of deer doesn't make the deer hunting better. Hunting one buck, and concentrating one's entire efforts on that single animal, is what makes hunting so much fun.

After all of these years there is nothing better than going one on one with a whitetail buck. If he makes a mistake, you'll get a shot. If you make a mistake, chances are good you'll never know he was nearby.

For me, that's what makes hunting whitetails with a bow, such a worthwhile endeavor. Outwitting a deer means either acquiring a great amount of information about the game you seek or you are carrying a luck rabbit’s foot in your pocket.

Sadly, luck never played a very important part in my bow-hunting career.

Old orchards like this hold bucks [left]. Larry Barrett with buck shot in cattails [left below].

The hunter who pays attention to deer movements will soon find some out-of-the-way spots where big bucks like to lay up. Some of those locations are easily hunted and some are not.

Some of these out-of-the-way spots are found while hunting other game species. Some of the little hidey-holes where bucks hole up are so small that one wonders if there is enough cover for a cottontail rabbit to hide. Take it from me: it doesn't take much cover to hide a big whitetail buck.

Some of my friends hunt in widely scattered locations. Many also hunt upland game birds, cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares, wild turkeys and other game. The observant ones find hard-to-hunt buck hideaways far more often than people who hunt only on place.

Always take note where a big buck is seen & where he goes.

A friend pays attention to such things, and as he walked past an overgrown apple orchard after a hard rain, he spotted a big deer track going over the fence. He'd tried to get his pointer to work into it in search of birds, and the dog refused to go.

Being a patient gent, he walked his pooch around the orchard, and found the way the buck left that orchard. He also noticed that the tracks went past a big pine tree. Two days later he scaled that tree in the late afternoon after putting the dog in the truck kennel, and took his bow with him. Thirty minutes before the end of shooting time a buck that grossed 152 points jumped the fence and walked past his tree.

He's no stranger to seeing big bucks. This one passed the tree at 22 yards, and my friend shot him. It is still his largest buck, but it points out the reasons why hunters should be more attentive to deer sign

Another guy was out chasing ruffed grouse, and walked past a sumac patch on top of a hill with a good view in all directions. The man stopped to re-tie his boot laces, and was 20 feet from the sumac patch, and out busted a big buck. He was laying up there because most people walked past the sumac without stopping, thinking the cover was much too sparse to hold a deer.

A friend tells the story of hunting ringneck pheasants near a river, many years ago. He was hunting along its edge. A rooster flushed wild at 30 yards ahead of the dog, and he swung and winged the bird.

A winged pheasant led me to a big buck one day.

It caught its balance in mid-air, cocked its wings and soared part-way across the river and landed on a tiny island of marsh grass and a few stunted trees. He checked the water depth, and it was only shin deep, and he crossed. His dog caught some scent, pointed, and as he approached the dog, a big buck jumped up and bolted across the river. He watched the buck splash across, crisscrossed the tiny island, and kicked up the pheasant and downed the bird.

He kept that oddball sighting in mind, and once the firearm deer season opened, he and a friend waded across to the island. One went to the upstream end while the other walked through, and sure enough, they jumped the buck and killed it with one shot.

Talk to some farmers, and they all have tales of bucks laying up in tall weeds along their line fences or next to a barn. They push deer out of swampy little tangles perhaps 20 feet across. These bucks hold in such tiny bits of cover because few people think to look there.

The thing is that bow hunters can dare to be different. They don't have to follow a stated doctrine everyone throws at them. They can walk through an area so small that it takes less than 10 seconds to get through, and often they find the home of a big trophy buck that no one knows about. Cattail marshes hold bucks, and I remember a nice buck that a friend shot as it came out of the cattails. He knew that buck was there, and when he shot it, the buck wheeled and dove back into the cattails and died there.

Look for thick cover. It can’t be too thick for bucks.

Don't stick with the status quo next fall when the bow season opens. Check things out. Know where the tiny patches of heavy cover are in your hunting area, look for those little nooks and crannies, and try to figure where a buck will come from or go to when leaving. That information is knowledge you can put to good use this fall.

Try it this year. It may produce a nice buck that you've probably overlooked for years.

When food gets scarce, does fight anything for food … even their fawns.

The snow is deep and few deer are moving during shooting time.

Few hunters are out after deer, and fishing in streams has been poor.

We need a break although snowmilers and cross-country skiers are happy.

Lyle Kelley of Drummond Island with a big coyote.

Coyotes are plentiful across the state except where wolves are present.

Keep cats and dogs in a kennel or inside the house at night.

Listen closely at night, and one can hear coyotes tuning up for the hunt.

Hunters seldom see good racks like this but wait for him to turn.

Deer hunting tips to live by.

It’s not needed to hunt high. Be downwind and don’t move.

Know your bow, pick a spot, and make a smooth release.

Everything is dead silent when there is no wind, and deer in such atmospheric conditions are very tough to hunt. They don't move much and are spooky. I much prefer a bit of a breeze, preferably from any direction other than the east.

The second type of wind condition is the one that swirls, first one way and then the other, and these quirky wind shifts make it difficult to determine where to sit for an evening hunt. Invariably, the wind will shift to a different direction about the time you sit down.

There are times when it's impossible to hunt properly.

Tonight's wind was of the latter variety. It began out of the east, and then it swirled to the west, tracked back to the south, and then it returned to an easterly breeze with a stiff cold wind and a 25-degree temperature.

I decided on a ground blind simply because I could get inside, close the windows, and none of my scent would be carried to the deer. If a deer came that I chose to shoot, i'd crank open the window just enough for a clean and accurate shot.

Now, my stand choice tonight was where I shot a nice buck a few years ago but tonight the deer were very hard to find. A few were seen moving through some tag alders, but only two or three antlerless deer showed themselves.

I kept watching the soft breeze, and it would then gust from my ground set to where the deer were, and then the wind would switch the other way. This back-and-forth wind movements kept the deer edgy, and as a result very few animals moved.

A friend sat in an elevated coop in a huge pine, and saw several deer but the breezes at ground level where shifting from one quarter to another. The deer were spooky everywhere.

He saw a decent buck and several does, but nothing was within bow range and none were shooters. It was as if the fickle wind was playing tricks, and he kept his shooting windows shut and sat back to watch the few deer that did move.

Another friend sat in a pit blind, and although the deer tore up the area the day before, there was very little action tonight. The hunter never saw a deer of either sex, and the only living creature spotted was a ruffed grouse pecking around in the nearby foodplot.

Such nights of swirling winds do occur periodically, and there is precious little a hunter can do about it. Hunting is something that involves an investment of time, and hunters who aren't willing to put forth the time and effort, will have poor hunting.

I don't dislike such nights of swirling winds. They are a part of our lives, both the deer and mine. They must cope with it 24 hours a day, while I deal with it for three or four hours once or twice a day.

The winds may swirl, and they may bluster, and the deer may or may not move. The best advice is to put in your time, accept the variable winds and gusty breezes, and work hard to puzzle out hunting locations that will work for most of the various wind directions.

Take a stab at hunting the various winds. Know that sometimes you will get winded, and other times the deer will pass by without catching your scent. The more a person hunts during such swirling wind conditions, the more we learn about trying to determine the best places to hunt and how to outwit a buck.

I made a wrong guess tonight, and when the wind swirls, it's easy to guess wrong. I didn't see any big whitetails, and only a small doe, but each day afield offers hunters new insights into what makes deer tick.

Once you get it figured out, and are 100 percent accurate each time you hunt, call me up and let me in on your secret. So far, guessing the swirling wind directions and how they affect deer travel has been a tough puzzle to solve

You guess right sometimes, guess wrong often, and none of it makes much sense. The one thing we know is that deer are never shot from inside a house, and we must spend time afield to stand any chance of achieving any degree of hunting success.

Did I want to shoot that buck? You know, I really can't answer that question. Undecided, I did as I often do, and came back to full draw. The tiny sight settled low behind the front shoulder, but the shot would have to be precise and I tweaked my aim a bit more.

It's too shallow of an angle, I thought. Too much margin for error. I held the bow back longer, waiting for him to turn. Finally the bow was eased down, and that buck stood in that position for several more minutes before shifting just a bit to turn directly away from me.

I continued to watch him, all the while asking myself: do you really want to shoot this buck? He is nice, but he isn't that nice. Another year of life would make this a really fine animal if someone else didn’t shoot him this fall.

The result was that my inner self talked me out of that buck until five minutes later when he turned slightly to watch another deer. I raised the bow, put the sight on the proper spot, and held it there.

That animal had no clue I was anywhere in the area. For me, much of my deer-hunting enjoyment comes from fooling the animals. I don’t need to kill a buck to have had a good hunt. But … this guy was very tempting.

If I touched the trigger of my release this would be a dead 8-point. I laid my index finger on the trigger, refined my aim just a tad and didn't pull it. Deep down, I really didn’t want to shoot this deer.

No shot and my reason

The bottom line was the buck wasn’t  exactly what I wanted. It was nice, to be sure, but not that nice. Besides, it was too early in the season for me to shoot a buck. I had time to wait for something bigger.

The buck walked away minutes later, completely unaware of how close he had come to getting shot. It was turned just right so I wasn't looking into its eye, and it wasn't fidgety. It was completely unaware of my predatory presence, and I let that buck walk.

Thirty minutes later an even larger 8-point walked down the wooded trail. This guy stood broadside, and offered an easy 17-yard shot. I aimed, held the red-dot on the vitals for 30 seconds and eased up.

Shoot or don’t shoot?

It was useless. I knew, in my heart, that I had no intention of shooting this animal that evening. He was a nice buck, but still didn't have quite what I wanted.

It occurred to me that I was having a problem identifying what it was I did want. Trophy hunting doesn't appeal to me, but after a half-century of deer hunting and shooting many basket-rack bucks and some other really nice animals, shooting what suits me is very important. Some years I don’t shoot a buck, and that is my choice. I certainly see enough antlered bucks within range that I can afford to be a bit picky with my choice.

I then agonized over trying to identify what it was I wanted, and got no further down that trail before I realized that a buck was important but it was nearly impossible to identify what unique requirements were needed to satisfy my need to release an arrow at the animal.

A lesson from the past

It reminded me of a conversation I'd had 30 years earlier with a magazine editor as we discussed his magazine’s photographic needs and how I could help him reach those goals. He said: "I don't know what I want but I'll recognize it when I see it."

My buck-shooting problem is similar to his photo problems: I probably won't recognize what it is I’m looking for until I see it, and then all of my motor skills will allow me to come to a full draw, aim with precision, and let loose a killing arrow providing the animal is within my clear and well defined shooting range.

Once, some years ago, I could see a big buck easing along the edge of an oak ridge. His position in relation to mine made it impossible to see both sides of this rack.

The buck sneaked along an overgrown fence line at the edge of the woods, and he would lift his head on occasion to look ahead for danger before lowering his head again. I heard a soft grunt coming from his direction, and I knew he was scent-trailing a hot doe.

He would come within easy bow range of my tree stand, but still the right side of his antlers wasn’t visible. He was a shooter, no doubt, if the right side was as good as the left.

Here he came, walking gently as if he was stepping through broken glass, and he paused 20 yards away. It was just a bit too far to shoot with unfailing accuracy. His head was down and out of sight, and he would be at 15 yards when both sides of his rack would be visible. Just wait, suck a bit more air, and settle down. The bottom line in all such cases is he will come closer or he won’t. Wishful thinking doesn’t work at placing deer at the preferred location.

He eventually took a few more steps toward me, stepped out into the open, and stood with his head held high. I looked at the right and left side as I drew and prepared to  aim. I soon let off on my draw, and knew I wouldn’t shoot this buck.

The right side had three antler tines broken off as a result of scrapping with another buck. His rack had been damaged in a fight, and if I am to shoot a big buck, his antlers will go on the wall. This old boy got a break on this day although another person shot him on the opening day of the firearm deer season.

A mental crossroads

My problem is I'm at some type of mental crossroads. I'm well past the point where I must shoot another buck. I'm not out looking for massive antlers although I'd probably shoot if that kind of buck walked in front of me at my preferred shooting range, but more than anything, outwitting a good buck seems much more of a personal challenge than just shooting a nice animal.

And I suspect it's one of the reasons I didn't shoot either one of those bucks. The time wasn't right, and whatever it is I seek in a whitetail buck, just wasn't there. Perhaps, both shots would have been too easy or perhaps the reason is the challenge just wasn't intense enough to excite me.

That said, the opportunity is out there. I know of a big 10-pointer in one of my hunting areas. Being there at the right time, with the right temperament, and within easy bow range might tempt me into taking a shot.

Will I take it? Only time will tell, because for me, the hunt is far more important than antler or skull size. Something must challenge my personal skills, and mental moods, and if the challenge isn’t there, neither is the need to shoot.

Many people think hunting is easy. This simply proves that for some people, hunting is far more difficult than one might believe.