Once you fire an arrow and draw blood, it is your ethical duty to work until you find that buck or doe. Do whatever it takes, for however long it takes: five minutes or five hours or longer. Follow this advice and there's a good chance the red trail will end, happily, at your animal. See Deer Run After the thwack of the arrow, watch the deer run as far as you can see him. In thick woods, look for flashes of white as he darts through the trees. In open country, follow him with your binoculars. At the spot where you lose the buck, pick a marker—big tree, rock, fence post, etc. Climb down from your stand, walk to [...]

1) An elevated ridge that situated 100 yards or so from a field of corn, soybeans or alfalfa is one of my favorite spots for the pre-rut. Like most early-season setups, it is killer for the afternoons. But if access is good and the wind allows it, you might be able to sneak in and hunt the stand one morning too. If you have a flat of oak trees on your property that runs up a ridge from an ag field, jackpot. Does will come from back in the cover and move through in the afternoon on their way to the field. Some bucks will come and stage on the ridge in late afternoon before moving out to the crops [...]

When bowhunting large cut corn or alfalfa fields, I often have a buddy drive a truck or ATV through the field and drop me off as close as possible to my tree stand. On morning hunts, we drive in an hour before sunup; for evening sits, we drive in around 2 p.m. , and I have him pick me up after dark . If deer are out in the field or close by in the surrounding woods, they run off a ways, just as they would when a rancher or farmer drove in any normal day of the week. They are used to farm vehicles. I have my driver (either truck or quad) park and idle there until I slip [...]