Bow season is coming, so get yourself right

You may have noticed in between swatting mosquitoes and scratching where you missed that the archery deer season is just a few weeks off. Between youth seasons, antlerless-only, disease prevention et al, in many states it's possible to start hunting deer right around the middle of September. That‘s a month from now.

Now, we know that some serious archers practice shooting their bows year-round. We should do that. We also know guys who pull their bows out the day before the season, stick a half-dozen arrows into a target and proclaim their absolute preparedness. We should not do that.

Most of us who fall somewhere between those two. We want to be ready and we're willing to prepare, but some days there just isn't time to launch a couple dozen arrows. So we have to smart about maximizing our practice time. Here are a few tips for preparing wisely:

Do it now

If you noticed last fall that a string is fraying or your bow needs tuning, deal with it now, not in September. You should never wonder if your bow needs a tune-up. Take it in or if you're so inclined, do it yourself. Sometimes a bow tech will look your bow over and hand it back to you without changing a thing, and that's just fine. At least you'll know.

Even if it will require a couple weeks worth of attention, handling it now will give you a couple weeks of focused practice with your healthy bow. Putting it off will leave you at the mercy of all the last-minute guys, and we know there's never any shortage of them.

Lighten up

So you puff your chest out when you tell your buddies you draw 70 pounds. Well, bully for you. If you ever draw down on a cape buffalo in the Upper Midwest you'll be all set. And hey, if you can pull that and hold it comfortably then by all means knock yourself out.

But it's much more than you need for any of the critters that live in our part of the world. And while you struggle to draw and hold you're moving around a whole bunch, which is alerting your quarry. When your arm starts shaking it's going to cost you in accuracy. Listen to this:

"There is no reason to pull 70 pounds," said Brian Schupbach of Schupbach's Archery in Jackson, Mich. "If everyone pulled 50 pounds they would kill more deer. I'm good friends with Ted Nugent and I've seen him shoot everything under the sun at 50 pounds and he's a lot more accurate ever since he went to that combination. I was just on a bear hunt with him and he shot a 300-pound bear, that arrow shot right through it like it was nothing. The guys shooting heavy poundage missed more of their shots, probably because they couldn't handle the weight."

Set your routine

A million things can go wrong once that buck steps into view -- including a tsunami of emotion -- and anything you can do to simplify the process will help you. Tony Hansen, a GNO partner and Realtree blogger who has killed plenty of big bucks, recommends you establish a mental routine or saying that makes drawing and shooting automatic.

It's nothing fancy. Draw, anchor, aim. One, two, three.

"The best thing I can tell you to do in the summertime is to develop a shot routine, and if you do it, repetition is going to teach you what you need to know automatically," Hansen said. "When you're in the stand, a deer comes in, if you've shot enough during the summer and you have that repetition, even if you have some little saying, it's going to help you. I have a little routine that I do and if I didn't I would never shoot anything. Whether it's a doe, it doesn't matter, I get so shook up that I can't shoot. And I've missed more deer than I care to admit just because I lost my complete train of thought."

Use the saying. One, two, three. Draw, anchor, aim. One, two, three.

Go 3-D

If you have access to a 3-D archery range, use it. There's plenty to be gained by shooting at a target in your yard, but those conditions are much more controlled. On a 3-D range you have a variety of targets to shoot. They're different sizes and different distances, which will give you a much better feel for judging where to put your arrow at crunch time.

If you're fuzzy at estimating distance, the 3-D range is an excellent place to improve your skills. Bring a rangefinder (they're not allowed in competition), but before using it look at each target and estimate the distance with the naked eye. THEN get out your rangefinder and see how you did. By the time you reach the end of the course you should be much more accurate at gauging distance. And if you aren't you may be able to tell whether you habitually judge short or long.

Once you've run the course a couple of times, join a competition. The pressure will help you when it's money time and that buck walks into your shooting lane.