Hunting deer with a bow is like a puzzle. When the season starts, the whitetails are in their summer mode, with all sorts of easily available food. As the weeks go on, the pattern changes along with their feeding habits. Throw in the phases of the moon and their effect on the time when game animals feed, and it becomes a challenge.

The bowhunter after a big buck sets stands in different locations in hopes of having the buck pass by within shooting range. If they push their luck too far, a wily buck will simply move to another area. More often than not, experienced bowhunters end up with one chance at a good buck for the whole season -- if they are lucky.

To the bowhunter, knowledge is power. With the season a scant two weeks away, many archers have already taken to the woods, setting out their treestands and scouting out new hunting locations.

Actually, this is a good time of the year to get into the woods. The bugs are dying out because of the cool nights, but the leaves are still on the trees for the most part. It's still possible to pick out runways and trails that deer are using as they move to and from feeding areas.

Scouting efforts are generally a little better at midday. The deer will be bedded, and it is possible to move through the transition areas and feeding areas without disturbing them.

Hunters returning to areas they know can go about the business of setting up their stands, and scouting along as they do so. This type of scouting is like fine tuning. It usually involves the search for just the right tree to put a stand in. Usually, while there is a good idea of the right general area for a stand, it is a matter of finding the specifics.

There is an art to picking the right tree for a stand. We all know it's important to consider the prevailing wind direction to prevent deer from getting our scent. We must also take sight into consideration. The tree must afford some degree of concealment, too. Deer have developed the habit of looking up, and will quickly locate a poorly placed treestand.

One of the best things to look for is some sort of funnel. Funnels are areas where a number of different deer trails converge in a narrow area. Usually it is some sort of obstruction that is part of the topography like a saddle along a ridge, or a narrow strip of land that joins to larger pieces of cover. Funnels are the high percentage choice for a stand in terms of producing sightings.

Funnels can often be located on topographic maps and aerial photographs. Any area between the cover the deer use for bedding and their feeding areas that will push several different deer trails together because of an obstruction in the terrain is worth checking out.

As always, technology has been integrated into our lives, including bowhunting. I have a friend who lives in Schoharie County who provided me with some snapshots recently. One photo shows a nice buck in velvet, and was taken with a trail camera. Trail cameras are produced by a couple of manufacturers, and they use an infrared heat detection device that triggers the camera to take a photo. In the case of my friend's photos, the buck in the picture had not been seen by anyone all summer. He appears to be about three and a half years old, and has a nice eight point rack.

In spite of all our efforts to find the right stand by getting into the woods early, or to use the high-tech short cuts, the odds are still in favor of the deer. Most bowhunters will go home without venison. To the serious archer, though, that is not even a concern. The magic of bowhunting is in the game of strategy that it becomes once opening day arrives.