Larry Zach, of Ankeny, Iowa, is a nationally known artist who is famous for his paintings of whitetail deer and turkeys. Zach’s accomplishments as an artist once overshadowed his bowhunting successes, but as Larry has continued to pile up trophy bucks each season, that is starting to change. Larry has more than 30 years of experience and is the originator of some original tactics that have proven successful on trophy bucks. His approach will have you questioning bowhunting’s conventional wisdom - and that’s the first step toward becoming a better bowhunter. “After sitting on stand for about two hours, I started having second thoughts about the location,” Larry said. “I’ve learned to follow my instincts, so I climbed down and headed for a stand a little deeper into the woods. Just as I got there I spotted a small eight-pointer about 100 yards away, and

when I was halfway up the tree I saw another buck on a brushy ridge. I was starting to think I’d made the right decision in moving.
     “After quickly getting settled, I looked u to see that both bucks were moving my way and were less than 20 yards away. From a bedding area on a ridge to the west I caught a glimpse of more movement. A big-bodied, heavy-antlered 10-pointer was dropping off the end of the point heading toward my stand and the other two bucks. His hair was standing straight out and his ears were back. He was acting like he owned the woods - I suppose he did.
     “I had blocked several trails just out of range of my stand with downed trees, which ensured that if the buck kept coming he would have to pass close enough for a shot. He stopped and rubbed a big tree and was still posturing and walking stiff-legged as he walked past at six yards. The shot was an easy one.”

     OFFBEAT TIP: When Larry shot the big 10-pointer, which grossed 169 inches, it was the first time he’d hunted that stand. “The first time you hunt a stand is usually your best opportunity,” he said. “It’s important to have enough stands so you don’t over-hunt any one of them. Also, save your best stands for the rut.”
     To increase the number of deer that come within bow range, Larry clears the trails he wants deer to use and blocks the trails he doesn’t want them to take (with landowner permission, of course) with brush and fallen trees. Larry does this long before the season to give deer a chance to adjust their patterns. Larry’s own travel routes come under scrutiny as well.
     “I had a couple run-ins with a big eight-pointer during a recent season,” he said. “The buck was finally killed during the firearms season by a neighbor and had a net score of 160 inches. The first time I saw the buck was in early November, but he caught my scent on the ground where I’d walked in to my stand, and he spooked.”
     Larry saw the same buck a second time during an afternoon hunt three days later from the same stand. “He showed up just after sunset,” Larry said. “When he reached the edge of the food plot, I grabbed my rattling antlers and I gave a quick sequence. Instantly he came running straight in and stopped broadside at 15 yards. Unfortunately, I then short right over his back.”

     OFFBEAT TIP: Learning from the first encounter, Larry had driven his four-wheeler all the way to a parking spot 100 yards downwind of his stand, where he hid it in the brush. This eliminated any human ground scent that the buck could pick up when he came in to the stand.
     Larry’s primary hunting area is an open ridge top with cover on both sides. It is hard to keep the deer from patterning entry and exit routes in such a situation, and since he has permission to manipulate the landscape, Larry has begun planting cover along the ridge that he can hide behind while traveling. Eventually, he hopes to have a row of cedar trees to hid his entry and exit, but until the cedars get big enough he plants forage sorghum. This plant will grow as much as eight feet tall, and six rows are enough to conceal a walking hunter.
     Last season, Larry took a great old buck that grosses in the 170’s by doing something most bowhunters would be afraid to try. Larry was hunting from a ground blind when he saw the deer bed nearby. Rather than hoping it would come to him Larry decided to go to it. Larry stalked within bow range and made a marginal hit that he quickly followed up with a fatal hit to the vitals. That buck is an example of an important strategy that every bowhunter should consider.
     During the rut (the buck was taken on November 10), bucks are not on a pattern. They can blow in and out of your hunting area like the wind. It’s unlikely that you will se a fully mature buck more that once during the rut. You have to do everything you can to get him when he’s right there in front of you.

     OFFBEAT TIP: Larry didn’t get bogged down in what he was supposed to do, but rather he focused on what he knew about mature buck behavior (they are very hard to see more than once) and what might work.
     Taking advantage of the situation that permitted an effective stalk, he did something most bowhunters would be afraid to even try: He took the hunt to the deer.
     Larry isn’t afraid to think outside the box and has the drive to make his offbeat whitetail strategies produce. Hopefully, his tricks have gotten you thinking about new tactics you can use this fall.

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