THE KEY TO HOLIDAY BUCKS

When and Where to Take the Shot

EDITOR'S NOTE: Christmas and New Year's Day, times for family gatherings across the nation, are also times of high hunting pressure in areas where hunting season is still in, as it is in parts of the South. There families will assemble and hunt together according to southern tradition. This week we'll take a look at what hunters need to do to have the most-productive opportunities while hunting during the holidays.

Another reason Rick Nelms is so successful as a deer hunter and has been able to take 10 bucks in 30 days of hunting during the Christmas holidays before is because he knows when to take a shot. "I believe that often hunters get too anxious to shoot or believe the deer will get away if they don't shoot," Nelms says. "These hunters may take poor shots and either miss or wound the deer. But I've learned if I wait for a good shot, more than likely it will appear. If I don't get that good shot, I'll come back to the area and hunt again the next day. I even may move my stand closer to where I think the deer will show up. Rushing the shot or taking a poor shot always results in bagging no deer. After I've spent 12 to 18 hours in a tree and scouted for one, two or three days, I'm not going to blow that hard work by messing up an area and not get the buck I've been hunting. I'll wait on my shot."

Alternate Hunt Sites a Must: After spending several days looking for a place to hunt, getting in the woods two hours before daylight, stalking to his stand and sitting in that stand from dawn to dark, Nelms is ready to take a deer, and he expects to bag a buck. However, he also realizes that if he bags a deer he must have another place to hunt the following day or he will be wasting valuable hunting time.

"Before I start hunting, I'll have two or three spots picked out where I can hunt," Nelms mentions. "If I kill a deer the first day I'm hunting, or if I miss the deer, then I have another region to hunt the next day. A hunter must have more than one site he feels confident enough of to spend all day in a tree stand. Another factor that makes having more than one place to hunt from essential is the wind. If you have your hunt plan mapped out, you get up in the morning, and the wind is wrong to hunt from that spot, then you either can hunt with a bad wind and know you probably won't take any deer or hunt another area. I always have backup places to hunt.

"If you want to hunt over the Christmas holidays and spend most of that time hunting deer and not scouting for them, then on the weekends prior to the holidays, scout all you can. Select three or four hotspots where you feel you can hunt and take deer, which will concentrate most of your time hunting and not scouting."

To learn more about how master deer hunters bag their deer each year, go to www.nighthawkpublications.com's home page, and click on books. To order with a credit card, call (800) 627-4295. You'll find information for ordering with a check or money order at the site.

TOMORROW: TAKE CARE OF YOUR HUNTING HOTSPOT