TURKEY HUNT FOR BUCKS WITH DON SHIPP

Stand Placement and Observation

EDITOR'S NOTE: Don Shipp of Clinton, Arkansas, an accomplished turkey hunter who won the World Turkey Calling Championship in 1997, 1998 and 1999, also enjoys hunting deer. This week Shipp tells us his secrets for using turkey-hunting tactics to hunt big bucks.

QUESTION: What's the third most-important thing to being successful at taking a deer or taking a turkey?
ANSWER: Stand placement and observation are very important -- especially if you're hunting in a location where you can see a lot of open country. Stay hidden in your cover and watch where the deer are entering and exiting the fields or how they're using brushy draws and funnels. Finding a promising location for your stand to take a deer is just as important as choosing a spot to set up on a gobbler.

QUESTION: With 90% of the turkeys you kill, you spend more time trying to get them in the right place to take a shot than you do hunting them, don't you?
ANSWER: Yes.

QUESTION: And with a deer, if you spend as much time looking for the place to put your stand instead of trying to sit in a stand all that time, you'd take more deer, wouldn't you?
ANSWER: Definitely. In any kind of hunting situation, you've got to depend on your woodsmanship skills and learn about the animal you're hunting. Putting yourself in the right place at the right time and studying trails and deer sign mean more than anything else for successfully hunting deer.

TOMORROW: HOW AND WHEN TO CALL