John's Journal...

Jerry Simmons and Dr. Robert Sheppard Tell Why Bowhunting the Old Way and the New Way – Both Produce Deer

Day 5: Dr. Robert Sheppard Tells Us How the New Way Also Works Successfully When Hunting Deer

Editor’s Note: If I had to pick two bowhunters and bet on them to take bucks anywhere in two days of hunting, I’d select Jerry Simmons of Jasper, Alabama, and Dr. Robert Sheppard of Tuscaloosa, Ala., for their consistency. During one deer season in one 38-day stretch, Simmons bagged 36 deer, in a time of more-liberal deer seasons. Sheppard regularly takes all the deer he wants to clean and eat or give away every season. Here’s a look at these two men’s styles of hunting to aid us in learning how to take more deer this season.

Click for Larger ViewOnce Dr. Robert Sheppard has all the information he’s mentioned (see Day 4), he then stores the information he’s gathered on his home computer and sets-up fields to enable him to search-for and find the information. Sheppard’s search criteria include items like wind direction, time of year, time of day (morning or afternoon), date of when he’s hunted there last, number of deer seen, number of bucks seen, shots taken, etc. Each morning or afternoon when Sheppard gets ready to hunt, he checks TV’s Weather Channel to learn the prevailing wind for that day in his hunting region. If the wind comes from the northwest, Click for Larger ViewSheppard will ask his computer to pull up all the stands that face north or west and/or northwest. Next, he’ll put-in the date and tell his computer to select from that list the stands where he’s previously seen deer. He then will narrow his list by asking the computer to pick the stands he’s never hunted from as well as the stands he hasn’t hunted from in four weeks.

Once Sheppard has his possible stand-site list narrowed-down with this system, he’ll pick from the remaining stand possibilities the stand that he’ll hunt from that morning or afternoon. He’ll usually take a printout of the possible stand sites for that with him into the woods. Then if he encounters another hunter in the region he plans to hunt, spooks a deer at that stand site or finds that the conditions have changed that make that stand site a good choice for hunting that day, he will have three or four other stand sites chosen where he can go. Because Sheppard numbers or names each of his stand sites, he can pull-up the name or number of the stand site he wants to go to on his GPS receiver and know which direction to walk and how far he must travel to reach each stand site on his list. Each day Sheppard hunts, he logs the information that he has learned that day from that stand site. Click for Larger ViewOver the course of several years, Sheppard has built a tremendous history of each piece of property that he hunts. Because of this history and his home computer’s ability to sort that information and come-up with the best stand site, Sheppard consistently sees and often arrows a deer almost every day he hunts. “Using this system, I am 99 percent sure I will see deer every day I hunt,” Sheppard emphasizes. “I’m about 50 percent sure that I will see a buck, based on the data I’ve gathered over the years.”

Sheppard has learned that his dogmatic and constant information-gathering process leads to his bowhunting success. Each day Sheppard hunts, he searches for deer and also for new and better data on the spot as he hunts it. Click for Larger ViewSheppard has proved that when you have more and better information, then you more accurately can predict deer movement on any given day you hunt. Although Sheppard’s technique may seem laborious, he becomes just as excited about getting new information each day he hunts, as he does about seeing and taking deer. Sheppard never has a non-productive day of bowhunting for deer. Every day he learns more about where, how and when to hunt each piece of property. Dr. Robert Sheppard and Jerry Simmons consistently produce deer with their bows each day they hunt. Both men have success afield bowhunting the old way and the new way, because they always hunt into the wind and scout intensively.


Check back each day this week for more about "Jerry Simmons and Dr. Robert Sheppard Tell Why Bowhunting the Old Way and the New Way – Both Produce Deer "

Day 1: The Old Way Still Works – Jerry Simmons and His Longbow
Day 2: Jerry Simmons Tells Us the Importance of Learning the Land You Hunt to Successfully Bowhunt Deer
Day 3: Longbow Hunter Jerry Simmons Says Food Will Lead You to Deer
Day 4: Avid Bowhunter Dr. Robert Sheppard Tells Us Why He Uses Numerous Tree Stand Sites
Day 5: Dr. Robert Sheppard Tells Us How the New Way Also Works Successfully When Hunting Deer

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Entry 635, Day 5