The cool weather and shorter days can only mean one thing to an outdoorsman and that is the fall hunting season is about to take place.

I am an early riser and I find that the sunrise often brings interesting things for me to observe, namely wildlife that is on the move.

Yesterday I was sitting at the kitchen table thinking about my day when I observed a buck walking down the middle of our country lane. Not that this is so unusual for our area, but the fact that he was soon joined by a caravan of other deer sauntering by my window was unusual for this time of year.

Bucks, does and yearlings all went by; I lost count around 10 or 12 deer, at least. I don’t know if coyotes or dogs had herded them up or if the local apple trees had their interest for too long.

That reminded me that I needed to hit the range and practice my shots with bow, muzzleloader and finally my center fire rifles.

One of the smartest guys that I know is my friend Sim. He can figure out mechanical problems and how to get things to work better than a lot of people I know.

Well, I had a problem with my scope on my cross bow and I could not get it to adjust correctly. Up and down was on, but the left-right adjustment was not doing its job correctly.

The first thing we did was correct the cocking rope for the bow. If you have never pulled back the draw string of a cross bow, you are in for a treat.

Once we had the rope adjusted, the job went much easier, but you better have a strong back and arms. They make winding cranks that go right on the stock of the bows, but I think they add too much more weight to an already heavy item.

Sim set up a target and I was anxious to try out my new carbon arrows. The general rule is to start out at 10 yards and work your way out to 40-50 yards.

We are men and we know that rules are stupid, so we set up at 40 yards to try out the bow’s accuracy. I took a shot and the bolt flew at 320 fps right past the target and buried it into his lush landscape. We looked for the arrow to no avail but it didn’t deter us one bit — we had another bolt to try.

Sim wanted to try, so he lined up and tried the same distance as I had previously with, unfortunately, the same results.

He looked at me and said, “I’m sorry about that … Don’t feel bad, I have at least six of them buried out in the yard too!”

I knew he was clever about fixing stuff but I didn’t know he was an arrow loser!

When all else fails, follow the directions, so I headed home and cracked out my target. I marked off 10 yards and guess what, I hit the target.

I was shooting to the left and no matter what we did to adjust the scope, it would not change the bolt placement. The scope was a factory accessory and I had no idea of the quality or reliability.

My brother-in-law is a good shot and he had the same results. We tightened every mount screw and base plate screw, which quieted down the bow, but no change in the bolt placement. e then aimed for the far left of the center of the target and it hit center.

I had a lemon of a scope from what I could see and would have to try out another.

Scopes are not cheap and they can run just as much as a rifle scope. I wasn’t prepared for that, but finally settled on a Nikon scope that had a $50 dollar rebate reducing its price tag.

Without some great bonus deals, that scope could have run me close to $200. Even with bargains, you don’t always get a bargain and I strongly suggest that you get a knowledgeable dealer or experienced friend to help you out when making decisions. What I know this week is light years ahead of my thoughts from last week.

Archery season opens in a few weeks and I have a lot of work to do to be ready. Practice on the targets is essential, scouting hunting areas and having the right equipment for a successful hunt.

No matter if you go compound bow, long bow, recurve bow or cross bow, the rules still apply — know your equipment, be accurate and be safe!