By Keanan Shannon
“Bum bum… Bum bum….Bum bum…. Thwack!” It is the sound of the arrow being released out of a whisker biscuit and taking the life of a deer. This is exactly what Cole Wilkins is hoping to hear at some point this fall. Cole has always been an avid hunter but this year he has picked up a new form of hunting. Cole is learning to bow hunt which is more of challenge than what he is used to.

Cole was introduced to hunting at the young age of 7 years old . He is now 16 which means he has nine years of hunting experience under his belt. This should help him pick up bow hunting faster than others.

Cole’s father, Michael Wilkins, introduced him to hunting, along with his dad’s best man and his son. “At Thanksgiving all of the guys in the family would go squirrel hunting and it was finally time for me to go. I was only 7, but I was excited as could be as it showed with the first squirrel I shot at it I missed and shot through it’s ear,” said Cole. This was their only family tradition but Cole and his father hunt many other times as well.

The very first year Cole carried a gun during first season shotgun which is the very first weekend in December. Cole carried his Mossberg 500 series shotgun. Using this gun he was able to bag himself a nice eight point buck.

Cole’s father Michael is a very successful hunter, himself having bagged many different species of animals including whitetail deer, mule deer, antelope, and turkey. Michael travels to Nebraska almost every year and hunts with some of his friends. Cole has a reputation to live up to, as Michael has set the bar high.
Cole went bow hunting for the first time this past Saturday, October 6th. During his first sit he saw a lot of deer but none of them were worthy of taking of those that came into shooting range. “I love just going out and sitting in nature and observing how the animals act when they don’t know that you are watching. That combined with watching the sun go down on a beautiful day can make for a great evening,” Cole said.

Cole is picking up bow hunting with the help of my father and myself. They are allowing him to tag along and hunt on the property they have permission to hunt on. Doug said, “I love seeing young people have interest in hunting, which is why I feel I am more willing than most to allow kids to join my hunting group. Cole will have many opportunities throughout this hunting season at taking a deer.” Cole said he does not shoot doe’s unless it is nearing the end of the season and he has not filled his tag with a buck yet. Luckily for Cole we have a lot of bucks on the property that we hunt and some of them are of nice size.

Bow hunting can be very boring at some points, compared to gun hunting. With bow hunting you have to be quiet and you have to wait for a deer to come within a certain distance in order to shoot. With shotgun hunting it can be very fast pace, and you don’t have to be quiet all the time because during this season the deer don’t really care as they are just running for their lives. If you do not have patience then bow hunting is most likely not for you, although shotgun hunting may be.
Bow season is open from October 1, until the very first weekend in December and then is closed until after the the third weekend in December due to second season shotgun. It is then open until Jan. 15.

Bow hunting is generally done from a tree stand which ranges anywhere from fifteen to thirty feet in the air. Cole prefers to hunt from the ground and not a tree stand. This can prove to be a challenge for him as he is going to have to adapt to hunting from a tree. Hunting from a stand is also more dangerous as you can easily fall out of the stand if you are not careful. They make a safety harness which is used by strapping a rope to the tree and then the rope attaches to a vest that you have on which will then catch if you end up falling.

Cole is hoping to get his chance at a big buck during what is referred to as the rut. This is when the whitetail deer go into their mating season and the bucks testosterone is high and they are ready to fight anything and their intelligence drops dramatically. This makes it easier for hunters to get their chance at a big buck as they will respond to calls. The rut usually takes place in the 2nd week of November but this year it was early due to the early harvest.  This will either be an advantage or an even greater disadvantage. Due to the weather temperature, or he may not be as free as he is going to be during the other week. It also can depend on when all of the local crops are harvested, because the deer tend to stay in the corn until they are forced out.