The wait for bow season is finally over. The field work is finished and all that’s left is to pack gear and pick a stand location.

Bow season opens next Thursday, October, 1. If you have done everything properly, all of your stand and blind sites have been prepped and abandoned for at least a month. There are trails going into and out of all sites, which will facilitate a speedy and stealthy approach and retreat. You have been shooting your bow all summer and can hit a dime at 40 yards and have ordered and received the newest and best gear and camouflage. What could be left but go hunting? The truth is, most of the important stuff. You still have to shoot some more, get your clothes, gear, and vehicle organized, and finally, make a game plan for the first morning. And you thought it was time to hunt.

I have to say, all the hard work you do in the summer preparing stands and trails is important, but can all fall to the wayside if you don’t prepare properly. You may have shot all summer, but did you shoot with all your hunting clothes and facemask on? If you haven’t, you have made the first and biggest mistake as a bow hunter. Sometimes clothing and facemasks can hinder the shooter enough to knock the arrow off by feet. The most common reason for this is string slap on the arm. As clothing is added, the string can no longer clear the arm and ends up snagging and slapping it. This can cause you to completely miss an animal or, even worse, wound it. To prevent this, they make compression sleeves, arm guards, or you can cut the sleeve off of an old camouflage shirt and wear it over your holding arm.

Thick warm clothes and facemasks aren’t the common practicing outfit, but they should be. This isn’t true for all bow shooters, but many cannot shoot a summertime setup in the fall. I personally see quite a bit of arrow movement to the left when I wear a thick facemask and coat. If I remember right, it’s about a nine inch difference. For this reason, I practice and sight in my bow again wearing the clothes that I will hunt in. I have also chosen to use face paint over a mask because it hinders my shooting and doesn’t allow the shooter to feel the kisser button.

Not all shooters use a kisser, but I find them to make a lot of difference when hunting. Many times when you draw back and try to anchor your bow, things just won’t feel right. A kisser allows you to find the proper anchor point quickly and accurately and will help the hunter make better shots by setting up proper alignment. I highly recommend them for hunting.