Cheryl not only spends as much time as she can in tree stands on their property during hunting season, but she is out there year ‘round. Time she spends afield both before and after hunting seasons helps her keep tabs on what’s happening with the local herd. She enjoys watching other wildlife besides deer, and she does some sketching while in tree stands, too.

Cheryl is an elementary school art teacher and artist. On days she sketches while occupying stands, she concentrates on that during the early afternoon when deer are less likely to be active. She normally puts her artwork away before it’s time for whitetails to start moving.

She received her introduction to hunting from her mother’s side of the family. Her grandfather took her small-game hunting and she would run through corn fields to flush pheasants for him. It was “Uncle Bub” who took her on her first deer hunts. She shot her first buck in 1988 while hunting with a girlfriend on property her father owned. The yearling 8-pointer appeared at a distance of 35 yards early in the morning, and Cheryl dropped it in its tracks with a double-barreled 12 gauge.

“I thought deer hunting was easy after getting that buck,” Cheryl said. “But it was five years before I got another one. During that time, I found out my original assessment wasn’t accurate.”

Besides managing the 63 acres for deer that the Westbrooks own, Tim has put in a number of ground blinds and tree stands that Cheryl hunts from. Several of them border the sanctuary. Cheryl hasn’t shot any bucks in their food plots. She prefers to hunt from stands along trails leading to them.

A key element of Westbrook’s success is being familiar with family groups of deer on their property. By knowing where individual does spend most of their time, she knows where bucks are most likely to be when the rut is on.

“To learn deer behavior, I needed to keep track of the does, so I named them,” Cheryl said. “They aren’t all brown. Old Frosty, who has been on the property for years, has a white spot on her nose and a graying face. Jane, also known as Jane Doe, has no white markings on her face. She’s incredibly wary and picks me out most days, but has grown accustomed to me. She had two doe fawns that will have fawns of their own this spring. I keep track of four families. The largest family has eight members. If one of my girls is missing during the rut, I’d better be hunting where I know she will want to be. I keep a daily hunting journal in which I record every detail from my observations.”

Based on her observations, Cheryl said the breeding dates of does she keeps track of is staggered, sometimes being as much as a week apart. One doe in particular tends to consistently breed late in November toward the end of gun season. During bow season, she monitors the does that she knows will be coming into heat during that time.

Cheryl has arrowed most of her biggest bucks during late October and early November when the rut is starting to kick into high gear. That’s prime time for any bowhunter to be afield in our state.

Cheryl is as scent conscious as any bowhunter, but she has a secret cover scent most archers don’t have access to. The Westbrooks own a donkey and chickens. Cheryl stomps her feet in donkey “poo” as a cover scent. Local deer are familiar with the donkey, and when they smell where Cheryl walks, they think the donkey has been there. Perhaps droppings from cows and horses would serve a similar purpose in areas they frequent.