 THE
MASTERS’ SECRETS OF BOWHUNTING
Larry Norton
EDITOR’S NOTE: Why do some archers consistently
take deer each season with their bows while others who
spend just as much time in the woods rarely if ever
experience success? Let’s see how some of the
best bowhunters in the nation produce deer.
Larry Norton of Butler, Alabama, a longtime avid bowhunter
guides hunters for deer and turkey each year.
Follow the Squirrels to Find the Bucks:
Both squirrels and deer feed on nut trees. By noticing
which trees the squirrels are feeding on each week of
deer season, you often can find deer under those same
trees. In Alabama, red oaks and water oaks drop their
acorns first for the deer and squirrels to eat. Then
the white oaks lose their nuts, and finally the large
white oaks, known as chestnut oaks, drop their acorns.
However, water oak acorns continue to fall throughout
deer season and until the end of February.
Keep a Tree Log:
 I
also like to keep a tree log to improve my chances of
arrowing a buck. To concentrate deer close enough for
a bow shot, find the first tree of each species to drop
its nuts. Deer often will come from a great distance
to taste the first nuts of a particular type of tree.
Not only will squirrels tell you which trees drop their
nuts first, but they also will knock nuts loose from
the trees as they bounce around in the limbs, putting
more nuts on the ground for the deer. Once I pinpoint
the first nut tree of each kind in an area to drop its
nuts, I’ll record its location and the date in
a log book.
One of the most-critical keys to hunting nut trees
is to know when to leave one kind of nut tree and when
to start hunting another type of nut tree. I’ve
discovered the white oaks in my area usually begin dropping
their nuts around the first of November, two weeks after
the beginning of bow season and four to six weeks after
the red oaks and water oaks start to drop their nuts.
When the white oaks turn loose of their nuts, I can
hunt successfully around a white oak tree for five to
six days. So, you need to study nut trees in your hunting
region. Most of the white oak nuts will fall off a tree
within a day or two, remaining on the ground for only
five to seven days before the deer will eat them up.
If a rain occurs during the time when the acorns are
on the ground, the white oak acorn will sour and rot.
A white oak tree with its very-sweet nuts can concentrate
deer and cause them to leave the red oak and water oak
acorns, which are more abundant than the white oak acorns.
 Deer
remind me of children at a picnic. Even though they
may have all the food they want to eat, when the popsicle
man comes around, they’ll leave that abundance
of food to get the sweet treat that only is available
for a short time. After hunting the white oak tree,
I then hunt around chestnut oaks, which have sweet acorns
too that are larger in size. Deer don’t have to
eat as many of them as they do the water oak and red
oak acorns to be satisfied. The chestnut oak seems to
provide a banquet feast for the deer, whereas the water
oak and the red oak are more like hors d’oeuvres.
The food supply of the chestnut oak only lasts from
five to seven days—like the smaller white oak.
If you can hunt around chestnut oaks during the time
the nuts are on the ground, you drastically will increase
your odds for taking a whitetail. I’ve learned
the chestnut oak and the smaller white oak concentrate
deer better than either the red oak or the water oak.
By keeping a log of the location of the trees and what
date each tree drops its nuts, every year I accurately
can predict which white oak or chestnut oak trees I
should hunt around each week of bow season. I have enough
trees in my log to insure I always have a tree to hunt.
Remember too that not all white oaks or chestnut oaks
drop their nuts on the same day or even during the same
week or the same month each year. If you’ll pattern
the trees in your hunting area and keep a log on them,
you also can pattern deer and predict where and when
you can expect to find the bucks. After the white oaks
and the chestnut oaks have stopped producing nuts, then
I once again begin to hunt water oak acorns and shrubs
like blackberry bushes and greenbrier (smilax) later
in the season, especially if I’ve fertilized these
plants before the season.
 To
learn more about bowhunting, you can buy John E. Phillips’
books, “Jim Crumley’s Secrets of Bowhunting”,
“Masters’ Secrets of Bowhunting Deer”,
“How to take Monster Bucks – Secrets to
Finding Trophy Deer”, “The Science of Deer
Hunting” and “Masters’ Secrets of
Deer Hunting”. To learn more about these books,
go to www.nighthawkpublications.com/hunting/hunting.htm.
You can send a check or money order to Night Hawk Publications,
4112 Camp Horner Road, Birmingham, Alabama 35243, or
use PayPal address nighthawkpub@mindspring.com
.
TOMORROW: BOB FOULKROD
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