One of the attractions of hunting white-tailed deer with a bow and arrow is the opportunity to discover new ways to mess up.

No matter how much time you’ve spent in the woods, no matter how many animals you’ve killed, you are virtually guaranteed to have a deer make a fool of you.

To kill a deer with an arrow, the typical bowhunter must have the animal come within 20-30 yards. A few hunters can kill deer at greater distances, but they shoot their bows year-round and have the confidence, as well as the ability, to make the shot.

Deer can smell, hear and see extremely well, so getting one to come close to your tree-stand without noticing you isn’t easy. As veteran hunter Pierre LeBlanc of Delray Beach noted at a bowhunting seminar earlier this month at the Fort Lauderdale Archers range, movement does in more bowhunters than probably anything else.

You know how you’ll be sitting in your tree-stand and a deer just suddenly appears in front of you without a sound? Imagine what happens as that deer silently heads your way, only to see you squirm in your stand or scratch your ear: It leaves just as quietly and you’ll never know how close you came to having venison for dinner.

“I believe you see only a third of the game that’s around you,” LeBlanc said. “Scent is not that important. Movement gets you all the time. When they’re close, when they’re within bow range, it’s movement.

“You know why you don’t read anything about that in (hunting) magazines? Because they can’t sell you anything that’ll make you stay still.”

Another thing that gets you is not being prepared. I was hunting in the Big Cypress on a beautiful September morning. I climbed into my tree-stand, which I’d set up the previous afternoon, but instead of pulling my bow up into the stand, I stretched my arms, worked the kinks out of my neck and then looked at the trail 20 yards in front of me — where a young buck, unaware of my presence, stood broadside.

With my bow dangling from a rope at the base of the tree, I slowly and quietly tried to pull it up, but some palmettos did me in. The deer didn’t spook too badly when he heard the bow rustle the vegetation, but he did wander down the trail. By the time I got my bow in hand, he was 50 yards away and came no closer.

Ever since that experience, my bow comes into the stand immediately after I do. Naturally, I haven’t had any deer offer me a gimme shot, but if one ever does, I’ll be ready.

Another tip I learned the hard way is to put on my release before I head to my stand. A release is worn around your hand or wrist and is used to pull back your bowstring. Mine helps me draw and release my bowstring the same way every shot.

I used to keep my release in my fanny pack, until the time I walked into the Big Cypress with Dennis Wallace. I left the trail to go to my stand while Dennis continued walking to his stand. Next thing I knew, a buck, apparently spooked by Dennis, bounded out of the woods and stopped, broadside, less than 20 yards from me.

My choices were to nock an arrow and try to draw with my bare fingers or try to put on my release and then nock an arrow. I chose the latter, but I didn’t even get the release fully fastened before the buck walked off into a thick swamp, never to be seen by me again.