Like many of you, I enjoy watching whitetail bowhunting content on YouTube. Even though I’ve been pursuing whitetails with stick and string for 45 years, I often learn something new, either from the show’s host, or from deer behavior captured on video.

Sadly, many YouTube hunters often demonstrate a “shoot at any costs” attitude when a whitetail — a shooter! — walks within bow range. And while I’m not influenced by their poor choices, I cringe when watching it because I know that many viewers look up to these hosts as experts. These new hunters will likely make the same poor decisions in the field because they don’t know any better.

Specifically I’m referencing bowhunters who attempt anything other than slam dunks or chip shots (choose whichever sports analogy works for you). When a host says anything similar to the statements below, I shake my head and wish he or she would’ve passed on the opportunity:

• The buck slipped in behind me, so I took the best shot he gave me.
• The buck didn’t stop in my shooting lane, and I had to sneak one through a tiny opening.
• The buck was broadside but looking right at me. I think he jumped the string. I hit him high.
• I had to thread one through the brush. He was so close!
• The buck was going to run if I waited any longer. I had to shoot him even though he was facing me.
• The buck circled beyond my decoy, so it was farther than I’d planned. I didn’t have time to range him. I think he was about 35 yards. 
• I bleated at him, but he wouldn’t stop. I had to shoot him walking. I hit him low and too far back.

You get the idea. In all cases, the hunter offers a reason or excuse as to why this or that happened, as well as why they “had to shoot.”

Really, they HAD to shoot? Why?

I don’t know the standard-of-living situations of these bowhunters with YouTube channels, but I’m confident they aren’t starving, and neither are their dependents. I doubt a single one of them MUST kill a deer at that moment or they’ll go hungry in the days, weeks and months ahead. I offer this insight based on the fact most of them are using the latest-and-greatest gear. Add up the retail price of all their hunting equipment in the tree (including apparel) and it’s likely north of $2,000. Tack on camera gear and it’s probably more than $3,000.

If you’re new to bowhunting, my No. 1 bit of advice is shoot only when the situation is perfect. Actually, that’s my advice to any bowhunter, regardless of experience. I’ll explain what I mean by “perfect” in a moment.

Of course, the downside to adhering to my recommendation is you might have to eat tag soup at the end of archery season. To that I say, “So what?” Don’t get sucked into the trap of thinking you must post pics of a mature buck year after year on Instagram or Facebook or your “friends” will think less of you as a hunter. Why you hunt and what you shoot is your decision. Don’t let the social media mob influence you.

Whitetails aren’t targets; they aren’t made of paper or self-healing foam. Attempting to kill an animal is serious business and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

In the food plot scenario above, the author has cleared one shooting lane; you can clearly see it in the left one-third of the photo. If a deer is feeding anywhere else in the field, there’s no shot because the chance of hitting an obstruction (weed top, etc.) is too high. And size of deer is irrelevant. No shooting lane = no shot.

So, what do I define as a perfect shooting opportunity? Here’s my checklist before releasing an arrow:

Deer is unaware of my presence.

Don’t fool yourself; a deer can jump the string (crouch low to begin running) from any distance. If two deer jump the string the moment your bow fires, the one that’s farthest away will move the most, but a deer can move significantly at even point-blank bow range. If a deer has busted me and appears ready to flee, then I don’t shoot. And buck size is irrelevant.

During early November 2021 in South Dakota, I passed a 30-yard broadside shot on the biggest buck I’ve seen in many years — a heavy 5x5 with a 5-inch drop tine that scored 161 when killed by a gun hunter a week later (photo below). Why? Because he was staring at me as I hid in a natural ground blind. I didn’t even attempt to draw my compound. I figured the chance of him jumping the string was at least 90 percent. I didn’t want to risk wounding him. He won that round, and I let him walk away.

FYI: Six hours later, I had the same buck at only 17 yards from the same ground blind. He was following a hot doe. Again, he stared right at me, this time from a quartering-toward angle. I didn’t attempt to shoot. He knew I was there, so he won. Again. And I’m okay with that outcome.

The author passed on this South Dakota drop-tine bruiser because he thought the chance of the buck jumping the string was high. It was killed a week later by a gun hunter.

Shooting lane is clear.

Depending on terrain, you can sometimes get away with taking a shot at a deer that slips in from an unexpected direction. Most of the time, however, attempting a shot at a deer that isn’t standing or walking slowly through a planned shooting lane is a recipe for disaster. Don’t try to slip an arrow through a tiny hole in branches. Don’t think that tall grass won’t affect arrow flight. No matter how close a deer is, and no matter how hard you’ve hunted up to this point in the season, and no matter how many days of hunting you have left, you shouldn’t force a shot through cover. The shooting lane must be clear — not mostly clear, it must be totally clear.

If your arrow deflects and you make a marginal hit on a deer, then instead of a deer living less than 1 minute after a perfect double lung shot, it’ll live 8, 12 or 24 hours. Maybe even more. Sure, you might eventually find the hit deer and the meat might still be good, assuming it’s cold enough, but why risk it? We owe it to our quarry to make quick killing shots.

One more note regarding clear shooting lanes: Many YouTube hunting shows today focus on public land and a technique called “hang and hunt,” which often requires the use of a saddle. It means you hike in, find a spot that perhaps you’ve scouted only via a hunting app, climb a tree and then wait on a whitetail. This can be a deadly system, but one major downside is the lack of clear shooting lanes. It’s illegal to trim shooting lanes on many public lands, and even if it were legal, these highly mobile bowhunters aren’t carrying a pole trimmer. Unfortunately, these hunters are often faced with poor shooting lanes at best, and the result is a much higher percentage of deflected arrows. Not good. These hunters must be supremely disciplined to avoid making marginal shots on whitetails.

Deer is stopped or walking slowly at very close range.

I’ve killed plenty of deer after making them stop with a bleat, and plenty more as they walked slowly passed me at 5 to 15 yards. Every situation is different, and I make the split-second decision on whether to make a bleat to stop a deer based on the deer’s behavior. What I will never do — and have never done — is attempt a shot on a walking deer at distances of 20 yards or more. Why? The chance of hitting the deer too far back goes up dramatically as you increase distance.

It’s irrelevant that you can put 10 arrows in a row into a poker chip at 20 yards, or hit a softball-sized bull’s-eye every time at 60 yards — or 100. You can’t practice shooting a walking animal at 30 or 40 yards. And even if you somehow rigged a 3-D deer target on wheels with pulleys and such to mimic a walking whitetail, there’s no guarantee the real deer will continue its steady and slow pace; it might stop at the very moment you release the arrow, or speed up slightly. It’s not worth the risk. If a big buck is walking passed me at 25 yards and doesn’t stop when I bleat, then I don’t shoot. He wins.

Acceptable shot angle.

Note that I didn’t say a deer had to be broadside or slightly quartering away, although these are certainly the best shot angles. I’ve killed deer with head-on and quartering-toward shots, but only from the ground at very close range (12 yards and less). The reason is when arrow penetration combines one lung with liver, which is the result when I’m on the ground, a deer will die very quickly.

Attempting quartering-toward shots from a treestand often result in single-lung-only hits, which aren’t always fatal. A bowhunter shooting heavy poundage, a heavy arrow, and using a super-sharp cut-on-contact broadhead can send an arrow through a deer’s shoulder or front leg bone, but it won’t matter if you don’t hit both lungs, or hit the heart. In my opinion, the margin for error is too small to attempt this shot. Wait for a better angle, and if it doesn’t happen, then let the deer walk. You don’t have to shoot.

In the woodland scenario below, the author has cleared two shooting lanes. The doe has entered the right lane and is walking toward the left lane. Note: The photo was taken while the author was sitting; when he stands, the shooting lane is perfectly clear.

The South Dakota buck I killed in 2021 (top photo) wasn’t the biggest buck I had within 25 yards this archery season. In fact, he doesn’t even make the top five. But those bigger bucks never gave me a perfect shot opportunity, so I kept hunting — kept grinding — and waited for a better opportunity. Finally my patience was rewarded with a broadside shot at a standing 5x5 at only 8 yards, and he didn’t have a clue I was in the county.

For me, bowhunting is about seeing how close I can seal the deal, not how far. Nothing is guaranteed in bowhunting, but I like my odds of making a quick, clean kill on a stationary or slowly walking, relaxed whitetail at very close range through a wide-open shooting lane. Settle for nothing less and your percentage of double lung hits will skyrocket.