I've never put a ton of effort into bow hunting because I wasn't consistently able to get myself within range. This year, I've had deer close almost every hunt, which has been great and exciting. I've missed a couple times, but have been busted a good bit too. Once I'm pretty sure I was skylighted, which obviously wasn't by plan, but the doe came in from a direction I didn't expect. I'm using a lock on and getting as high as I can with 4 LW steps. This evening I got busted once again and don't know if I was skylighted again or if she saw the light on my bow sight. What has your experience been with sight lights and alerting deer?

Can y'all give some advice in terms of not being skylighted or at least blending into the tree better? The wider the tree the better? Say you except a deer to be in a certain spot, would you would to be facing directly toward that location so that you'd be in line with the trunk of the tree? Or set up around the back side of the tree and try to sneak a shot around the tree?

I'm not camo gloves or face mask so maybe that's a problem too?

I'm going to pop one this year with a bow one way or another!

I’d get a ghilley suit and be ocd obsessive about scent control. Or build a natural ground blind good luck

Sorry for your loss. A face cover is for sure your friend. We are not like the hunting shows on tv. Good luck with your quest to get a bow kill don’t give up and it will all come together. Also I will add that this has been the worst bow hunting weather I’ve experienced and I’ve been bow hunting deer since 1984. I hunted 3 mornings total all year. Good luck

Wide tree with lots of limbs for natural cover. Cedar trees, live oaks, water oaks, magnolias are one of my favorites. That’s the one true benefit of a sticks & lock-on setup over a climber.

It is hard, hard, hard, to foo a deer in AL when bow hunting. If it's quiet out there it is even harder. keep at it. work the wind and use scent control. If you have to over work or strain to pull your bow back that can cause more movement and noise than you want to project as well. Good luck and keep at it!

Just have some cover branches around...ive killed all my deer without face mask n gloves and plenty from the ground...sometimes if i don't have enough cover ill take a leafy branch and hold it with my bow to break up my figure...if u move when they can see u your prob gonna get busted, wait till they turn to draw if u havnt drawn already

Sometimes going high is not ideal. When bowhunting I find I end up at 15 to 20 feet at absolute maximum and am looking for a tree that has some limb cover near it. Early bow season I like to have a tree small tree with leaves right out on front of me with a couple of windows to shoot through and some more open spots to both sides. This can be tough to do when hunting public land as much of the old growth timber that gets burned is wide friggin open and sometimes a pine with nothing around it is all you got, but that's certainly not an ideal set up. Getting lower in elevation will allow you to find more oaks with limbs and "thicker" cover. A pine next to a oak or oak sapling with a few limbs is not hard to find towards the bottoms. Since your using sticks you can also climb those limby oaks themselves.

For background cover, also consider the forest floor and tree background if you climbing in hilly areas. A deer coming up hill towards you won't notice you if your outline blends into the forest floor and tree tops. Good luck, even with the ideal set up bowhunting is not easy.

Also be sure your not being busted because of your scent. Remember in the evenings your scent is going to fall and follow the decreasing elevation. I find this time of year it's pretty rare that a deer busts you out of a tree unless you are moving a whole lot or your set up is really obvious That's one of the appeals of early bow season is that the deer aren't nervous yet and don't tend to look up into every tree.

Few things Joe.

You say 4 lone wolf sticks. That puts you at what? 15-16’? That’s not high enough unless you’re in real good cover and completely motionless. Any deer can pick you off at that height, even if you aren’t moving. In the Midwest, no big deal. In AL big deal. Go higher.

Are you sitting or standing? This is very important. While bow hunting I stand as much as my body will allow me to. I do not want to get caught sitting. You have so many more steps to complete from a sitting position than from a standing position, especially if you have to reposition, stand or turn before drawing. I do not hardly ever face my stand in the direction I expect deer to travel or feed. I position my stand around the opposite side of the tree so I can gently lean out, draw and shoot. My silhouette is completely covered by the tree, whether it be 9” or 29”. Facing the direction deer are expected to be while bow hunting is just asking to get picked off. Bow hunting is a close right game, and you’ve got to treat them like the enemy. You do not want to reveal your location to the enemy. In this case, thankfully, they can’t fire back, but they will certainly pick you off and remember it.

Don’t worry about covering your face. Get concealed. Hide your face from any approaching deer by holding your bow in from of your face, while peaking over your cam. Do wear gloves. ALWAYS. When you draw they’ll pick off a light colored object making that much movement. Get very thin light gloves or I like to use gloves made for turkey hunting with the index finger and thumb cut out.

Hang in there. Bow hunting is tough. I’ve already had several deer hear me draw when joints in my shoulder or wrist pops. That’s not anything I’ve ever had to overcome before but it’s a regular occurrence now. If it’s calm they’re going to hear me draw. Just life. Had anoyher one catch me mid draw when she was looking the opposite way. Quick head turn and I was caught. It’s going to happen.

Hang in there and don’t give up. Get high and get concealed. Move as little as possible. Only draw when their attention is on something else. Something I’ve gotten used to doing is drawing when a jet from Columbus AFB is overhead. It conceals the sound of my achy joints. Lol.

If your gettin busted..dont do those things..you sound like lazy 13yo me...id sit and sit until i seen deer right up on me..then id have to try an stand up,get my bow,draw back and not get seen...i got busted all the time..i finally figured out how to not got busted..almost never. Id stand..almost the entire time,hold my bow in my hand, and above all..see the deer before they seen me..i finally learned that was the key..seein them before they seen me...that meant i proceeded to look for deer harder and listen harder and set up in ways that gave me that advantage..i almost always see them comin the ways i set up..its just somethin ive learned to do. I dont hunt particularly high either..tho i do like a lot of cover..high or low. The deer i killed the other day i was maybe 8 ft off the ground. I like to keep deer from ceossin my groundscent..or killem before they get to it...and ill almost always do everything i can to anticipate the directions i think they will come from..keep the wind off their nose, an stay the heck away from the sun without plenty of cover. I think your issue..is not bowhunting enough...experience creates efficiency..and to not get busted all the time..you gotta be proficiently efficient at your craft..daddy was a moron when it come to climbin trees..but he always said..you gotta kill deer to kill deer...meanin..you gotta figure out what you did right..and do that...repeat it...learn and perfect. Dont do the the other stuff...😁🇺🇸

Not sure of your land and set up - but a ground blind can be very effective - just hav maybe the big window of it open and everything else shut so you will not b busted

Pressure and wind is always big and if u hav multiple spots - split up your pressure while hunting the wind

I like a steady breeze - on the calm days - the wind often blows in all directions (light and variable) which makes for snort fest so I usually don’t hunt those days and they will hear you

I hav 5 gun stands set up for different winds on 250 acres - I will hunt by the wind and try to give each spot at-least A week rest after a hunt if I can

I hav a bow only lease also that is one awesome stand set up over small patch for north wind -I am only going to hunt it when the weather is awesome and the wind is right - saw 15 on my only sit on One of our few cold mornings - my point - a calm deer (Less pressure deer) is also less likely to bust you

Hang in there man - Your time will come

I forgot to throw in to hold your bow the entire time. Don’t hang it.

. I don’t wear a mask I don’t wear gloves. I’ve killed 80%-90% of the deer
I’ve ever killed with a bow sitting down..
COVER and SCENT is what I concentrate on the most.. if your right handed try to keep em on your left,
if you left handed try to keep em on your right. Put some thin carpet on the platform of your stand. Buy some
leafy limbs at flower shop...

just hunt the wind. They cant see good and are dumb. Its easy to kill a deer if the wind is in your favor

Most of my loc ons were in the 20-25’ range for wind mainly but I never got seen much at all. Learn to shoot sitting if you can, it takes more/different muscles for sure.
Good luck!

lol

Killed several straight out of work in blue jeans and street shirts.. little cover scent though

I don't disagree as have I, but thinking that because you have intensely managed land that only immediate family hunts make deer dumb and easy to kill is far fetched. A lot of people on here hunt highly educated deer and they are anything but easy and dumb.

IMO the easiest deer to kill are those in suburban settings. They are so used to human scent and noises they tend not to bolt when they get a whiff of a hunter. I've only hunted several times in those circumstances but it was like fish in a barrel. I had a professor that decided to shoot a bunch one year and ended up with around 30 bow kills in one season. I would have got tired of dragging those suckers out after about 5.

Agree with both. Pressure is a big key as well drop