Nationally-Known Outdoorsman Mark Drury on Why He Bowhunts
Day 4: Mark Drury Sets-Up a Bow for Deer Hunting
Editor’s Note:“The first bow I ever had was a PSE,” Mark Drury (www.druryoutdoors.com) explains. Today, Mark and his brother Terry are two of the industry leaders in TV production and video production. The Drurys have produced more than 200-feature-length videos in more than two decades. They’ve also produced 252-TV episodes that air on “Wildlife Obsession,” “Dream Season” and “Bow Madness” on the Outdoor Channel and “Natural Born Killers” on the Pursuit Channel.
 Question: Mark, you told us on the first day of this interview that you made a shot and took a deer at 62 yards, but when you hang your tree stand, how close do you normally want the deer to be at your stand?
Drury: Five-years ago, I would have said that I wanted to make a 20- or 25-yard shot from my tree stand, but with my new PSE bows, I’ve learned that 40 yards is the new 20 yards. I was amazed at how flat the PSE Omen Pro and the Dream Season EVO shoot out to 40 yards. I’m consistently taking deer at 40 and 50 yards. Now let me explain. I practice my fanny off, and I shoot 40, 50, 70, 80, and 100 yards all summer long and throughout the bow season while practicing. I know at 100 yards I can shoot a 5- or 6-inch group, so at 40-50 yards I can easily shoot a 2-inch group.  Although many of my shots will come at 25 and 22 yards, when you know you can shoot out to 100 yards and can group arrows within 1-2 inches at 40-50 yards, that 20- to 30-yard shot is just no big deal.
Question: When you’re shooting out at 40-50 yards, do you have any problem with the deer jumping the string (squatting before it leaves, causing the arrow to go over the deer)?
Drury: I believe that the worst distance for a deer to jump the string is at 25-30 yards. Deer can hear so well at that distance that they still have enough time to drop down before they jump. However, when a deer’s standing at 40 or 50 yards, and there’s any wind at all or any background noise, I don’t have any trouble with the deer trying to jump the string, especially since I have quiet arrow flight. The only time that I have a problem with the deer trying to jump the string at 40 or 50 yards is when the woods and the wind are dead calm.
 Question: If woods and the wind are dead calm, and you feel the deer may hear the bow fire when the deer’s at 40-50 yards, where will you aim?
Drury: If the buck’s alert because he knows I’m there or perhaps I’ve made a sound to stop him, I’ll aim for his heart. Then if he does drop-down (tries to jump the string), I still get a double-lung shot. If the buck’s calm and has his head down, I’ll aim, so that the arrow will pass-through both lungs.
Question: How is your bow sighted-in?
Drury: With the Omen Pro and the Dream Season EVO, I sight-in an inch low at 20 yards, 2-inches low at 30 yards, and 2-3-inches low at 40 and 50 yards. I do this so that I can aim dead-on.  The deer naturally will want to drop a little bit, but if I aim dead-on and the deer drops a couple of inches, I’ve still got him. If he doesn’t move, I’ve still got him.
Question: Are you only shooting one pin?
Drury: No, but I’m setting each one of my pins to shoot low instead of dead-on.
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