Urban Deer-Boy

Charlotte bow-hunter Paul Cleveland pursues whitetails at small wood lots near high-population areas because big bucks live in the ‘burbs.

Paul Cleveland, a Florida native native now living in Charlotte, may be the most hard-core outdoorsman in the state.

A diver who likes to “grabble” trophy-size catfish — he keeps detailed notes about his exploits and said he yanked 6,400 blue and yellow cats at N.C. lakes from Memorial Day to July 13 — he also is deeply involved in archery deer hunting near the outskirts of communities close to the Queen City.

His basic bow-hunting tips are to learn everything he can each trip to the woods and, like a good Boy Scout, always be prepared.

“I have made a fool of myself so many times I can’t count ’em,” said Cleveland, who handles major retail accounts for ClosetMaid (wire shelving and home-storage products). “I’ve gotten busted by scent, had squeaky arrow rests and squeaky stands, let arrows fall off my arrow rest, dropped stuff out of trees, hit twigs, missed deer at easy distances and shot too soon because I let my nerves get the better of me.

“The first deer I ever shot at was near Tampa (when he lived in Florida.) This little bitty deer came walking straight toward my tree (stand). If I’d waited, he’d have walked right under me. Instead, I shot at him at 60 yards.

“My buddy later asked me, ‘What were you thinking?’ I said, ‘Well, he was within shotgun range.’

“I sucked as an early bow hunter. The passion (of the sport) really made me do some dumb stuff.”

But his passion also made him want to get better.

Good teachers help

Cleveland said he was lucky to have a couple of friends —Mike Reid and Lowe Morrison, former presidents of the Florida Bowhunters Council — who took him under their wings and showed him the ropes of archery hunting.

“They’re great bowhunters, and I learned a lot from both of them,” Cleveland said.

To this day, his Florida friends receive letters in the mail from Cleveland, sometimes with a $1 bill enclosed.

“We mail each other stories about our deer hunts,” he said. “If we mess up, we have to tell it and send a dollar each time we screw up.”

Cleveland’s mailed money amounts have dropped some since 1980, when he began first began bowhunting with a Bear compound.

Experience is a great teacher, as Cleveland said it only took him 15 or so years to figure out how to become an better bow hunter.

“I really was terrible, but I finally stopped making dumb mistakes,” the 45-year-old said. “Now I am a fairly deadly bow hunter.”

He’s put down 20-some whitetails and has a couple of mule deer to his credit, most of them taken the last 10 years.

“I could have shot a 6×6 elk in Montana for nine straight days — if I’d had a gun,” he said. “But the bulls were 120 yards from me; all I could do was look at ’em.”

As in any successful endeavor, Cleveland said he tries to cover several major areas of concern — preparation, persistence and patience, along with having good equipment — although he doesn’t subscribe to the “fastest” bow theory.

Fast can be last

He has shot a Mathews Legacy compound bow the last four years, using 400-grain carbon arrows with 100-grain Thunderhead broadheads.

His first bow, a Bear compound, fired arrows 180 feet per second. He used it during competition matches while a student at the University of South Florida.

“Back then, in the early ’80s, we shot for fun,” he said.

But Cleveland said he eventually got caught up in a quest to have the fastest bow and quickest arrows. He bought a Bear Bruin that flung arrows at 208 fps, then followed up with a Martin Cougar that shot bolts at 220 fps. He cranked his draw weight up to 80 pounds.

“I got caught up in the speed game,” he said. “That’s a mistake. Guys bought newer bows all the time that shot faster than I did. I got a bow that got up to 208 fps and guys would come out shooting 280 fps. Then things changed when (fun) shoots turned pro. It became all about ‘faster’ and not about hunting. Guys were crankin’ bows up to 80 pounds (pull) and didn’t care if it was affecting their accuracy; it was about having a faster bow than anyone else — but you can’t shoot straight if you’re shakin’. It wasn’t fun anymore, so I stopped (shooting competitively).”

Today he uses helical fletchings that slow his arrow flight but spin, allowing them to bore straight to the target. His Mathews bow draw weight is set at a modest 64 pounds.

“I try to line up the broadheads (cutting edges) with the fletchings, but I use left helicals,” he said. “The helicals make the arrows spin and drill through the air. It’s a slower arrow, but I think the helical fletchings make me more accurate in real hunting situations.”

Cleveland practices shooting year round at life-size Mackenzie targets and block targets with bullseyes.

Post-season scouting

But target shooting isn’t his first step. When hunting season ends Jan. 1 or 2 each year in North Carolina, the next day Cleveland will start checking new areas to hang his Loc-On stands.

“You can see deer trails in late winter you might not have seen (earlier) because the trees don’t have many leaves,” he said. “I just start walking once the season’s over to see what’s over the next ridge.

“A lot of times I’ll move my stands 50 to 100 yards to a hotter trail and cut two shooting lanes at each stand. I don’t think it’s a good idea to go in the woods during August, right before bow season, disturb everything by hanging stands and cutting limbs. You’ll spook deer doing that, especially bucks.”

Cleveland also said he likes to use aerial photos and satellite images taken from Google Earth.

“I use topographical maps to scout from home even before entering the woods,” he said. “This allows me to see beyond the property that I am hunting, determine funnel areas and what type of trees are in the area, etc.”

Hunting the suburbs

Cleveland doesn’t hunt big forests or public areas such as nearby Uwharrie but concentrates instead at wood lots near small towns close to Charlotte.

“I hunt 20 acres here, 40 acres there,” he said, “anywhere I have permission that I know has deer.”

Most of his bow hunting occurs north and east of Charlotte, near Concord in Cabarrus County.

This spring one of his co-workers got permission to hunt during the 2007 season at another area. The co-worker thought Cleveland a little strange when he insisted they scout during January.

“A guy working with me got (hunting permission at) a different property,” he said. “I said, ‘We gotta scout before the leaves come in because that’s when you can see game trails; you can’t wait until August to start figuring out stuff.”

Candid cameras

Another aspect of his preparation is trail cameras. Because bow hunting usually mandates short shots, usually 30 yards and closer, knowing trails that deer are actively traveling is crucial for deciding stand locations.

“Using trail cameras is fun, plus it gets my butt out of bed early, so I get used to that,” he said. “But the main advantage of trail cameras is they can tell you when deer are coming down a particular trail, so you’ll know when you need to be in your stand.”

After checking one of his cameras (he said newer digital trail cams seem to malfunction more than older-model print-film cams), Cleveland discovered eight deer passing by a particular stand at 8:15 a.m., nearly every morning.

“Look, nearly all of us work (at paying jobs) and can’t be in the woods all the time, so these (cameras) are a big help,” he said. “They help me find good stand sites for mornings and evenings. If you know deer are likely to come (down a trail) at a certain time, it gives you a morale boost and helps keep you alert; you’re expecting something to happen instead of getting bored, sleepy or careless.

“I’ve killed the same buck later whose picture I saw earlier on a trail-cam photo.”

To save expenses, Cleveland takes rolls of trail-cam film to a drugstore that makes prints. However, instead of printing the entire roll, he has the store make a $3.25 disk.

“I can pop it into a computer, crop the photos as I want and delete the ones that aren’t any good,” he said. “Then if I want prints, I can take the disk back to the store and print individual shots. But the main thing I get out of trail cams is the time printed on the (photos). I don’t care about the dates; I want to know when a particular deer walked down that trail.”

Practice makes perfect

Cleveland intensifies his practice sessions as the opening of whitetail season nears each year, but he adds a few twists.

“Anybody can shoot all day at a Mackenzie target at 20 yards, but that’s not a real hunting situation,” Cleveland said.

To prepare for mule deer and elk trips to Montana (and later N.C. whitetail hunts), he starts shooting at Mackenzie targets at 60 yards, knowing he’s likely to encounter long shots out West. But he doesn’t have to crank up the draw weight of his bow because Cleveland uses range-finders.

“Another reason guys were crankin’ up their bows to heavy draw weights was they thought it got rid of the need for judging distance,” he said. “But you can’t hold an 80-pound bow steady for long; you’ll start shaking, which will mean you’ll miss the shot, more often than not. With a range-finder and bow sights, you can hold a lighter draw weight for a long time and still be accurate.”

Cleveland also practices at long distances because he knows most real shots at game animals will be closer.

“If you can consistently hit a pie plate at 60 yards, a 25-yard shot will seem like (a deer’s) right on top of you,” he said. “You practice long to build confidence for short shots.”

Cleveland killed his mulie buck at 47 yards in Montana at a doe at 42 yards, he said.

“I also shot a bear with a blunt (arrow) at a camp in the Crazy Woman Mountains in Montana,” he said. “The bear was attacking a deer carcass I’d hung in a tree. That blunt (arrow) in the bear’s side put his tail in the wind.”

Finely focused

Experience and patience also have taught Cleveland not to pick out a general target are on a game animal’s body, but to decide on the best angle and individual hairs inside a kill zone.

“If I have a deer at 15 yards, now I ask myself where do I want my arrow to go before I ever touch the (arrow) release,” he said. “I’m afraid just shooting a Mackenzie target isn’t good enough. When I started thinking about specific small spots on a deer and the angle of the shot, it made a big difference for me.”

Cleveland’s focus on a spot helps cure “buck fever” (the shakes). He also tries to watch the green nocks on a released arrow.

“It’s a great feeling when I see that green nock go where I aim,” he said.

He also practices shooting in different weather conditions.

“I take practice shots in the rain and during low-light periods of the day, early morning and evening,” he said. “I also practice shooting on my knees, sitting on a bucket and shooting with my back to a target, like you would in a tree stand. Your back to the target really is like, a lot of times, what happens in a tree stand when you have to twist to shoot at a deer behind you.”

Don’t stink it up

Scent control also is especially important for bow hunters, who must have deer close for a killing shot. But that also means an errant breeze can send human odors wafting into a whitetail’s nostrils, the end result being a white flag disappearing in the opposite direction and often an alarm snort that clears the woods of animals for hours.

“I try to set up (stands) at travel corridors, which is about all I can hunt, downwind from the deer,” he said. “You can usually figure out that by looking at trail-cam photos; the deer’s noses will be pointing in the direction they’re headed.”

Cleveland always wears rubber knee boots when walking to his stand and doesn’t put them on — or his hunting clothes — until he exits his vehicle.

“When my stepson goes hunting with me, we put 2×2 sheets of plywood (on the ground at the truck door), stand on ’em and change clothes,” he said. “I never wash my hunting clothes with other regular clothes, but we use scent-free soap. We spray our clothes with Scent Shield, too. When we come back (to his vehicle), we change into our regular clothes, standing on the boards. My rubber boots also never touch concrete (at gas stations or restaurants). I make sure to gas up (his vehicle) the day before we go hunting.”

His hunting clothes, when not being worn, are kept in an airtight container.

“If we go into a restaurant and see other hunters in their camouflage clothes, my stepson will look at me and say, ‘Gun hunters.’ ” Cleveland said with a chuckle.

During the early season, he also uses a Thermacell to keep mosquitoes at bay. “I saw how well that worked in Florida,” he said. “You could hunt naked if you have a Thermacell.”

He puts his Gorilla Loc-On stands “about 22 to 23 feet high” in trees, setting up in a tree that’s got leaves at lower levels for camouflage.

“I stay away from screw-in steps,” said Cleveland, who prefers climbing sticks he straps to a tree trunk.

“I put out corn but mainly to keep deer in an area,” he said. “I’m at enough disadvantage, hunting with a bow and small areas, so I want to keep deer at those places. Besides, once acorns start falling, deer leave shelled corn. If I had the land, I’d do food plots.”

Mock scrapes work

During the pre-rut and rut, Cleveland said he creates “mock” scrapes.

“Just take your boot, clear out the leaves in a circle, then put a couple of bottles of deer scent in the scrape,” he said. “My buddy in Ohio calls it ‘lighting’ up a scrape. I have a trail-cam photo from last year of a 10-pointer at a mock scrape I made, but I never saw him while hunting.”

Cleveland shot his best white-tail, an eight-pointer, that had its nose in a mock scrape.

“Bowhunting is just more fun for me,” he said. “It’s so much more intense because you have to get so close to an animal to make a good, clean kill shot. It’s not easy to do it well; it takes work.

“But the rewards are worth it.”