Tony C. Zappia       Focus on the Outdoors

With bow season fast approaching, are you fully prepared for the opener? How are you at judging distances? What about your shooting form and shape of your equipment?

For the most part, bowhunting is a low-percentage sport. If you are simply out to put meat in your freezer, maybe you should take up another form of hunting. Bowhunters choose this form of hunting for a number of salient reasons. To choose such a difficult sport, hunters must do everything they can to tip the scales in their favor. And it all begins in preparation.

Why prepare? Ask any experienced and successful bowhunter. It is one thing to fling a few arrows in your backyard on a warm sunny day while standing on level ground. It's another to make a pinpoint shot on a big-game animal from an elevated tree stand during a cold, crisp fall day when your muscles are tense and nerves frazzled, or shooting down into a steep canyon.

According to my good friend, Lon E. Lauber, author of "Bowhunter's Guide to Accurate Shooting," preparation is directly related to success in the field. Lauber says many bowhunters are like electricity: "They take the path of least resistance."

"Rarely is this easy route the best conduit for success, but preseason preparation is," Lauber says.

The first step in preparation focuses on bow and arrow setup and equipment selection. Lauber speaks highly of keeping your hunting bows as simple as possible. He believes the less gizmos on a bow, the fewer problems you will experience in the field. Lauber is a big fan of bows with a brace height between 7 to 8 inches. Brace height is a crucial consideration when choosing a forgiving bow for hunting. Lauber explains a short-brace-height bow —less than 7 inches — is more critical to shoot accurately, similar to shooting a short-barreled handgun.

According to Lauber, perhaps the single most effective way to improve accuracy for those using a release aid and compound bow is using the D-loop. A D-loop positions the arrow between the loop knots while the release is attached to the center of the "D" and not below the arrow like a direct string hookup. This, according to Lauber, puts all of the bow's forward thrust directly behind the nock/arrow. This translates into cleaner arrow flight, easier tuning and improved broadhead flight. If you don't have a D-loop, visit your local bow shop and have one installed.

Lauber says regardless of whether you are shooting a new rig or your trusty old bow, it is important to make certain your arrow flight is tuned. The next step is to sight-in your bow and if you are a tree stand hunter-like most northern zone bowhunters, practicing from an elevated stand is critical.

Lauber likes to practice in elevated tree stands prior to deer season by setting a stand 18 feet high and scattering several targets around between 10 and 30 yards away. He uses plastic, gallon milk jugs partially filled with sand for this. He then dons his favorite clothes, straps on his safety harness and practices from his stand, simulating a real bow hunt. He picks a target, slowly reaches for his bow, draws, aims and shoots. Lauber will practice this until he feels absolutely comfortable in his shot. He said this forces you to go through your mental pre-shot checklist. Most quirks, such as string slap on your coat sleeve or a bow limb clanking on the tree stand, should become apparent during this type of practice.

So what do you think is the most common reason bowhunters miss their quarry? If you guessed misjudging the distance to the target animal, you are correct. Lauber says there are several tricks a bowhunter can use to improve his or her range-estimation skills. First, rehearse yardage estimation just like shooting practice — with diligence. "Start out by calibrating your eye at the practice range with known distances," Lauber explains. He said to really study the ground distance between you and the 20-yard target, then the 30-yard target, etc. Next, practice pacing off the distance to the backstops to gauge your step to 1-yard strides. Once you've learned to walk with incremental paces, Lauber says you can practice range estimation just about anywhere. Even better is verifying your range estimation with the reading of a quality laser range finder.

When walking down the street, Lauber says, you can sharpen your range judgment by looking at an object like a lamppost and guessing how far away it is. Then pace off the distance to see how close you guessed. Continually doing this will sharpen your distance-judging abilities.

If you frequently hunt from a tree stand, Lauber suggests either stop off yardage to likely shooting lanes or employ a laser range finder. He said you can either use descented flagging material or sticks-turned-yardage-markers poked into the ground at known distances. Of the two, Lauber prefers using natural objects instead of flagging.

Lauber has been an outdoor author and still photographer for 18 years. His work has been published by National Geographic and Audubon, and most outdoor magazines, including Bow & Arrow, Bowhunter, Bowhunting World, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Petersen's Hunting and Sports Afield. Lauber is a nine-time Alaska state archery champion. He has bagged 39 official Pope and Young-class trophies and resides in Spokane, Wash.

His most recent hard-covered book (128 pages), "Bowhunter's Guide to Accurate Shooting," can be purchased by sending a check for $28 plus shipping and handling to Lon E. Lauber, 2712 West Decatur Ave., Spokane, Wash., 99205. Please state if you wish Lauber to autograph your book.