Be a good dad, husband, friend, brother, son...that stuff comes first.
Always and never are ideations that hunters should immediately toss in the trash.
Deer aren't smart in any sort of strategic or intellectual sense. Because hunting is tough for a litany of reasons, we tend to assign them smarts way beyond what they actually have. They respond to simple stimuli. They are prey animals, they are wired to survive. They don't see particularly well and their hearing isn't any better than ours. But you can't trick their nose. Don't overthink it though. I believe paranoia about spooking deer handicaps a lot of hunters to hunt in stupid places.
Related, deer snort in the woods a lot for a lot of different reasons. Your hunt isn't over by any means because you were winded and a deer snorted at you a few times.
In bowhunting, much of the conventional wisdom regarding shot distances and angles is garbage. Learn from experience, screw up a few times, learn anatomy by butchering your own deer, and develop your own criteria. Personally I tend to be a lot more aggressive with angles than conventional wisdom, but I am very conservative with distance.
Deer on alert jump the string...most of the time. Unalert deer don't...most of the time. I go to great lengths to shoot at unalert deer. Merping is a last resort.
Tracking advice....in the vast majority of circumstances, wait. If you don't have visual confirmation of a dead animal, wait at least an hour before even looking for the arrow. Any inclination or doubt whatsoever, wait. Wait a few times longer than you think you should, then wait some more.
Cyber scouting was great circa 2005. Everyone does it now. If a place looks great, it does to a lot of other people too. There simply is no replacement for eyes and boots on the ground.
For most of us this is a hobby. Remember to keep it fun and novel. Stay humble. Figure out what part of the whole hunting process is most enjoyable and personalize your experiences for max fun. Don't get caught up in external pressures.
Always and never are ideations that hunters should immediately toss in the trash.
Deer aren't smart in any sort of strategic or intellectual sense. Because hunting is tough for a litany of reasons, we tend to assign them smarts way beyond what they actually have. They respond to simple stimuli. They are prey animals, they are wired to survive. They don't see particularly well and their hearing isn't any better than ours. But you can't trick their nose. Don't overthink it though. I believe paranoia about spooking deer handicaps a lot of hunters to hunt in stupid places.
Related, deer snort in the woods a lot for a lot of different reasons. Your hunt isn't over by any means because you were winded and a deer snorted at you a few times.
In bowhunting, much of the conventional wisdom regarding shot distances and angles is garbage. Learn from experience, screw up a few times, learn anatomy by butchering your own deer, and develop your own criteria. Personally I tend to be a lot more aggressive with angles than conventional wisdom, but I am very conservative with distance.
Deer on alert jump the string...most of the time. Unalert deer don't...most of the time. I go to great lengths to shoot at unalert deer. Merping is a last resort.
Tracking advice....in the vast majority of circumstances, wait. If you don't have visual confirmation of a dead animal, wait at least an hour before even looking for the arrow. Any inclination or doubt whatsoever, wait. Wait a few times longer than you think you should, then wait some more.
Cyber scouting was great circa 2005. Everyone does it now. If a place looks great, it does to a lot of other people too. There simply is no replacement for eyes and boots on the ground.
For most of us this is a hobby. Remember to keep it fun and novel. Stay humble. Figure out what part of the whole hunting process is most enjoyable and personalize your experiences for max fun. Don't get caught up in external pressures.
Last edited: