It is a cold November morning, and you are in your favorite tree on a remote oak ridge. You become aware of the unmistakable sound of a deer running in the dry leaves.

Suddenly, a mature doe runs up over the side of the ridge you are perched on. You immediately notice that her tail is bowed in an unnatural manner. As you slowly begin to stand, she passes under your stand and stops about 20 yards behind you. She then turns and begins watching her back trail.

You turn just in time to see a massive non-typical trot up over the ridge, following the smelly doe’s trail. His rack is enormous! The huge whitetail turns broadside and stops. You slowly raise your rangefinder: It shows the buck to be at 33 yards. You can tell that he is not going to stand long. You must shoot now.

Quick, which sight pin do you use? The 35-yard pin . . . no, the 30-yard pin, you tell yourself. No, he's closer to 35 yards. I'll use that pin. But then, as you begin to aim, you question yourself again. Where do I place the pin on his chest? A little high? No, low. You can't think! Too late, he’s on the move again.

The huge buck turns, quartering toward you. Now you're really getting excited. As he closes the distance, you try to settle yourself down. Stay calm . . . stay calm! He's now walking by about 25 yards away. Do you shoot? Do you try to stop him? You decide to shoot. How much do I lead him? you ask yourself. Too late, he's back in cover.

Before you know it, the buck has turned broadside and is walking through a 4-foot-wide opening 17 yards away. You want to shoot, but you're still wondering, How much do I lead him? You're not sure, so you decide to try to stop him. Should I grunt or whistle? You grunt . . . but he doesn’t stop. He did not hear it! Before you can grunt louder, he again enters the cover.

You cannot hold your bow drawn any longer, so you let down. Staying in cover, the buck moves past your stand and joins the friendly doe. You are about to panic! You cannot get your eyes off his enormous rack. He is going to get away! you tell yourself as the couple start moving off.

They finally stop in a clearing. The buck stands guard as the doe starts to munch on acorns. A check through your rangefinder shows 43 yards. You ask yourself, Can I make a shot at that distance? You decide to try.

As you draw and start to aim, you realize your last pin is set for 40 yards. As you try and settle the 40-yard pin, you begin to wonder how far over the massive animal’s chest to aim. Too late, the doe has had enough of the white oak’s fruit, and both deer move off.

Well, the buck was a 230-inch non-typical: the first Boone and Crockett whitetail you have ever seen in the wild, and perhaps the last you ever will. You had several opportunities but were unable to close the deal. What happened? What went wrong?

This buck got away for the same reason many trophies escape close calls each year: The hunter was not mechanically and mentally prepared for the shot opportunities he had. The hunter had to try to reason under a lot of pressure. This cost him time he instead should have been able to use to aim and release his arrow.

Of course, we as hunters might never be faced with all these scenarios at once. However, we could be faced with any one or combination of them at any given time while bowhunting. This dilemma is what Part 2, Shot Preparation, is intended to help you with. Hopefully, after you have read this section you will know exactly what to do when confronted with any of these scenarios – without having to think the situation over when the buck is nearby. When you can do this, you are prepared for the moment of truth. While hunting, you can sit for hours and visualize how the shot opportunity will present itself.

That said, it should be noted that the shot opportunity seldom, if ever, happens the way we think or hope it will. This is why it is important to be prepared to take the shot in as many different situations as possible. In this section we will study both the mechanical and mental part of shot preparation and learn to put what we have studied in Part 1 into effective use.

Even if you hunt in a great area, chances at big bucks are too rare to squander. Being mechanically and mentally prepared to deliver the arrow on target is critical to your hopes of success.

If you are not mechanically set up to take a shot at any reasonable distance, you are not ready to bowhunt. In Chapter 3 we will look at the mechanical part of aiming, which is sight-pin setting. I believe most bowhunters know the basics of how to set the sight pins on their bow. However, I feel a large majority of them really do not understand how their sight pins should be set to give them the greatest probability of making a good shot at any given distance.

We can’t haphazardly set our pins for general even distances and think we are ready for any shot opportunity we might face. The nature of the bow demands a precise aiming system. The low velocity and high trajectory path of the arrow, caused by the law of motion and the law of gravity, make our sport what it is. Call it good or call it bad, but there is no escaping it. There is no getting around the need to aim differently at virtually any distance the intended target might be.

In this chapter, I will reveal a sight-setting and aiming system I have worked out over several years of trial and error. I believe this system is as simple as it can be with as few variables as possible, and yet it covers any shot situation you might find yourself in while bowhunting whitetails. Once you have learned and have mechanically set up this system, you will be prepared for a shot at any distance out to your predetermined maximum distance. Of course, your skill as an archer will play a major part as to what the end result of the shot then will be.

Over the years, I have missed my fair share of monster bucks. I would gladly trade the deer I have had within 20 yards and not harvested for those I have taken. These missed shots have caused me to take a hard look at why we miss.

It has been my observation that by far the majority of "chip" shots are missed high. A close examination of high misses over the years has helped me realize there are several reasons for this. As we get into this study, we will look at these reasons and see how we can correct the problem by the way we set our sight pins.

In Chapter 4, we will take a closer look at exactly where to aim on the deer’s body at a given distance. In trophy whitetail bowhunting, not only do Sir Isaac Newton’s laws enter into play, the nature of our quarry can also cause problems. When mature bucks are cruising for does, one can be standing in front of you before you know it. We must know before this happens where to aim on the deer’s body to give us the greatest margin for error. Many hunters simply place the sight pin somewhere behind the buck’s shoulder and release. This point of aim is not exact enough. In Chapter 4, we will fine-tune our point of aim on a target deer.

In this chapter, we will also consider what to do when a target deer is moving past our stand. We are many times confronted with a buck that won't stand still for us. We must have a game plan in place before this happens. In the hunt described in the introduction to Part 1, the big non-typical was walking when I shot him. I did not have to try to reason under the pressure of the moment where to aim, because I was mechanically and mentally prepared for the shot situation. I knew beforehand where to aim on a walking deer at that distance.

While hunting mature bucks during the rut, things can happen really fast. A cruising buck or a buck chasing a doe can appear out of thin air and just as quickly disappear. You must be prepared to react quickly and correctly with moving game, or the opportunity of a lifetime could be lost. Because of the slow speed of an arrow, moving game presents a need for a lot of aiming variables, depending on the distance and speed of the target. In the second part of Chapter 4 we will take a close look at what to do when confronted with walking and running deer.

Trying to arrow a big buck presents us with another problem: that dreaded brain cancer called "buck fever." By the time a hunter has recovered from his "brain-lock," in many cases the buck is gone. Worse than taking no action at all, the hunter might make the terrible mistake of spooking the buck or, far worse still, wounding him.

 Uncertainty will many times lead to panic and then to mistakes. On the other hand, being mentally and mechanically prepared for any shot situation can make all the difference in the world. It will allow the hunter to react calmly and correctly when the long-awaited moment of truth presents itself.

NOTE: "The bowhunter's woods are beset with perils, the worst of which are in his own mind. A mature buck is full of greatness and majestic confidence. It shows in his body posture and in the way he moves. Such confidence can be overpowering to the hunter, causing him to feel inadequate. This can be the final blow to already weakened knees. In seconds the deer can beat a year of practice and preparation without even knowing you were there. This, my friend, is the power of a mature whitetail."   Bobby Worthington

(from Bowhunting Trophy Whitetails, published by North American Whitetail magazine)

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