With the changing of the seasons excitement is brewing around TAHS. Archery season is in and hunters are excited about a new opportunity to bag their trophy buck. However, many hunters struggle to see deer in early archery season because of the warmer weather and deer moving at night. Here are 10 tips that might help you improve your odds of harvesting your trophy buck this October:

• Hunt the wind. Many hunter forget that deer have a keen sense of smell. If you want to get your trophy buck you need to make sure the wind is not blowing to his nose. You want the wind to hit you in the face when you are in your stand.
• Use descented clothing, shower wash, and deodorant. I recommend Dead Down Wind scent eliminator but basically almost every brand does a good job. This will help you become less detectable in the tree.
• Do not hunt your best stands all the time. So make sure you change stands. Big mature whitetail bucks are smart. If you hunt the same stand all the time your scent could overpower that area and the buck will change his travel routes around your setup. Change stands to keep this from happening.
• Don’t rush your shot. If you see your trophy deer don’t rush and make a bad shot. Pick your punches and wait till he shows up again. Don’t rush a bad shot and scare him off permanently.
• Make sure your stand is on the deer’s food pattern. This time of year you want to hunt on food sources. The deer are not rutting and most activity is nocturnal. You want to set up between their bedding area and food source. Try and wait until the deer moves at daylight.
• Be patient. Hunt late and hunt early. Put the time in because most likely that giant buck will only move during daylight once or twice a season. If you put the time in you have a better chance to be successful.
• Don’t over call. This time of year you really don’t want to be calling or rattling. Wait until November or late October to start trying to call a buck in.
• Have fun. If you don’t have a good attitude it is hard to hunt all the time. Keep a positive attitude and keep hunting hard.
• Make a checklist. Most hunters forget important items that you need to be successful. I find that if you make a checklist your odds of forgetting something greatly decreases.
• Wear your safety harness. This is the last and most important tip I can give. Hundreds of people die each year from falling out of a tree stand or become paralyzed and unable to hunt or even function normally again. This is a huge issue in the outdoor world today. Hunters need to return home safely and families need to know that their hunter is safe. Make sure you wear a safety harness at all time so you can go on many more hunts in your lifetime.

Archery season is a great time to bag your trophy buck. The hardest part is to make sure you don’t spook or educate a giant buck. I hope these tips help you and remember be safe when you are hunting this year.