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In this article I’m going to give you some archery hunting tips and equipment that I currently use or have used when I hunt. For the most part I use these techniques when I bow hunt for big game. Some archery hunting tips and ideas I use also for small game. After the kill or harvest of an animal such as the White Tail deer, what do you do next or do even before the harvest? I have seen this happen many times during my bow hunting days in the field or woods. Someone new to the sport, either hunting with me, or a complete stranger I’ve met out in the woods has shot an animal and does not know how to track. Most of the time your animal has been shot as perfect as it can be done, but the animal runs off and dies in about 10 to 15 seconds. Do you know how far a white tail deer can run in just 10 seconds? Anywhere from 50 yards to 150 yards. Now how are you going to find it?

First, prior to your archery hunt, prepare yourself, have a plan 1) Have a cooling facility or locker 2) Choose a butcher, freezing and storage facility 3) Have the proper archery hunting equipment with you on the hunt A) Choose a good razor sharp knife ( I prefer a “Wyoming knife”) B) Have a piece of sturdy cord ( about 12 inches long) C) About 10 feet of ¼ inch nylon rope D) Disposable plastic gloves that go up to your elbow E) A real must is toilet paper ( for more than one reason)

After a successful archery hunt, another archery hunting tip is, the cooling facility you choose may be one away from your home town, maybe hundreds of miles away. They may require you to have the animal in this case a white tail deer to be skinned or most likely they prefer it with the hide still on. In either case be prepared. Ask how cool is there facility. It should be kept around 32 degrees to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. This will allow the meat to age or tenderize until you can transport it. If you happen to be hunting around your home and it is cool enough, just hang it in a tree or your garage or barn. You should consider covering your deer with a cheese cloth to prevent flies or debris getting onto the meat. Aging of the meat is a very important archery hunting tip. It not only tenderizes it but it also sweetens the venison and gives it good flavor. It will actually rid itself of the gamey taste that so many people think, that is just how it tastes. Not true with a little care and time, approximately one to two weeks of aging time will enhance the meat to a tasty meal. If a light mold settles in, just simply wash it with vinegar and start your butchering process.

After the meat has aged, it is ready for butchering. Another archery hunting tips is, unless you’ve had experience in butchering and have the proper equipment, I don’t advise you to learn on a deer. Venison is a much sought after delicacy. Even though I do my own butchering if you have no experience I recommend having it professionally butchered. To find a good butcher, find one who cuts the meat off the bone. An archery hunting tip and reason behind this is, when cutting through bone, the bone marrow will get pulled through the meat which can add a gamey taste. Also, have the butcher remove as much as possible, fat, tallow, gristle and membrane throughout the deer. This will eliminate much of the objectionable odors of the meat. Have your butcher label each package to the different cuts of meat and quantity that fits your needs for your family. He should then quick freeze the meat to 0 degrees or lower until you have picked it up or found a suitable locker to store the meat in. Later on, I will give you some of my favorite recipes for venison and other wild meats.

Finally, you’ve been out all day long archery hunting and you shot a deer. Need a good archery hunting tip? What to do is very important after the shot. First spot the last place you saw the deer run. In other words look for a landmark the deer was last seen before it disappeared. It all looks different when you get down on the ground and start hunting for a blood trail. But in your own mind you can picture it running past a certain tree or bush or clump of grass. Sometimes this can be of real help when tracking a blood trail. Sometimes you can remember hearing it break sticks or brush that can give a good idea where it went. Always start where you made the hit. I like to wait about a half hour before starting to track my deer. If it is getting dark, I still wait and then get down out of my tree stand and look for my arrow, which normally will pass through the deer with a good hit. I then usually try to go get help, not only to track the deer, but to help drag the deer back home or to a vehicle.

Another good archery hunting tip while tracking, either with help or by myself I find using toilet paper(small pieces ½ a square) to mark spots of blood about 10 yards apart or whenever the deer makes a turn. This way if you lose the trail you can always look back and see the direction the deer was going. Sometimes you lose your sense of direction when looking down at the ground for a long period of time. This little archery hunting tip will help you many times over when harvesting your deer while archery hunting. The toilet paper will also dissolve back into the ground and leave no waste behind.

When you finally find your deer, what to do next is a very important archery hunting tip. First make sure the animal is dead. If not, shoot it again, trying to place your shot through the lungs. This will make for a quick and painless as can be kill. Next comes the task of tagging and field dressing the animal which is one action you yourself must take.

Another archery hunting tip, don’t be in a hurry. This process is fairly easy and simple. There are many ways to do this but I’m going to tell you a few tips on how I do it. First to tag the deer. I either tie the tag around the base of the antler if a buck or I make a slit through the lower jaw bone, placing the small cord through it and tying the tag to the doe or small button buck. If you do not want to get messy, then next put on your plastic gloves and we will start to dress out the animal. Spread the hind legs and either grab up the teats if a doe or the testicles and penis if a buck and simply cut around the area and remove. The penis can be followed almost to the anus and then cut it off. Make an incision around the anus as deep as your 3 or 4 inch knife can make. Then starting at the crotch where the belly muscles start, make a cut making sure to get through the stomach muscle and not too deep as to puncture the intestines. This is where the “Wyoming” knife helps out. It has a small hook on the back side of the knife tip. Simply put the hook side up, into the cut already made and pull straight up towards the center of the rib cage. Then reach in at the rib cage and you will feel the diaphragm. Make a cut completely around the diaphragm and start pulling on the heart and lungs till you feel the windpipe. Reach up into the chest cavity and cut off the windpipe. Now start pulling on the windpipe, lungs, heart and entrails removing them from the carcass until you get down to the crotch. Now cut around the lower intestine as far back as you can toward the anus gently pulling making sure as to not break the bladder. If you break the bladder don’t worry, you can simply wash out the area and dry off with paper towels when you get back home or back at camp. Field dressing a deer on the spot or as soon as you can will allow the body to start cooling down and insure it from spoilage. Do not ignore these archery hunting tips. Use them each and every time you harvest a animal.

Now comes the hard part, unless you’re lucky like me and have two healthy young men (my sons) to drag the deer out of the woods and back to camp. First take the front legs of the deer and tie them over the top of the deer’s head, using the rest of the 10 foot of rope to pull. We like to take a sturdy stick and tie it to the end of the rope for a handle, making it easier for two people to grab and start dragging the deer back to camp.

GOOD HUNTING!
Ted Lake

About Archery and Archery Hunting. In depth information about archery target shooting and archery hunting for the beginner to the most avid archer. Tips on maintaining all your archery equipment. Also many valuable tips to help you get the most out of your hunting experiences, whether it’s small game hunting or large game hunting.