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sort of new to hunting in general and could us some advice.

Tr33_n1nj@ said:
When listening to other people’s advice, take what applies, leave what doesn’t. Most people think their deer are just like everybody else’s so what works in their locality will also work for yours. It does not. I wasted years trying to learn how to hunt giant Midwest ag country whitetails in southwest Alabama pine forrests.
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I fully understand that. for me it's all about the in general characteristics that would be consistent for the species.
 
Bigterp said:
Do you know anyone near you that could help mentor you? Sounds like your doing a lot of things right, but some hands on can pay big dividends from someone who has already had success.
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I do have one friend not to far from me and we talk a lot . He is the person that showed me a few place close to me to hunt and showed me th scdnr website and map info online when I got started. He even let me hunt is private land anytime I wanted. Until he no longer owned the land. he has helped me in the ways he knew how. We have already spoken about doing some scouting together that way he can show me some things as well. He's a great guy. I met him on another hunting forum on facebook . He helped me get started when I first got into hunting. we have since became very good friends. The only problem is he gets so pumped up about hunting that when we go out together he goes one way and I go another. I just cant seem to get him just go with me and help me hunt a few times.
 
As far as books are concerned......the best book by far I've read.....wish I read it earlier LOL.......Mapping Trophy Whitetails by Brad Herndon. Sign on the ground isn't always the best way to know where to hunt......alot of it is at night. Read.....reread this book. Find thicker areas around edges as stated earlier. Do your best NOT to travel to your spot through thick bedding or cross to many trails. I hunt areas that are overlooked travel corridors between food and bedding. Do not be afraid to do an observation sit up high to see if you can see deer moving around and where they go. A feed tree is a great place to harvest a doe to get started! Once you figure out travel corridors you are going to be efficient at seeing deer alot more. As stated earlier deer ARE mostly creatures of edge. Even hard to detect edges. Oh.....YouTube is awesome to watch the guys like THP and the Hunting Beast to learn. Wish you all the best!
 
Oh yeah......the wind....I repeat the wind. Knowing what the wind is doing is going make or break alot of your hunts. Use milk weed pods... use an app to know what it's supposed to be doing. By far the most important thing to watch If you don't already know that!
 
Schemeecho said:
I do have one friend not to far from me and we talk a lot . He is the person that showed me a few place close to me to hunt and showed me th scdnr website and map info online when I got started. He even let me hunt is private land anytime I wanted. Until he no longer owned the land. he has helped me in the ways he knew how. We have already spoken about doing some scouting together that way he can show me some things as well. He's a great guy. I met him on another hunting forum on facebook . He helped me get started when I first got into hunting. we have since became very good friends. The only problem is he gets so pumped up about hunting that when we go out together he goes one way and I go another. I just cant seem to get him just go with me and help me hunt a few times.
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Thats not a mentor, thats a hunting partner. You need someone willing to start from first principles with you. Or, you need to swallow your pride and tell that fella you're just going to mirror him for a season, and promise to never hold him back in any way.

If you intend to hunt long term, I can tell you that taking one season to not "hunt" but to learn, in great detail, about all the aspects of hunting, you'll be better off for it.

Lot's of people say that the best way to learn to do a thing is to do it. I agree, but that doesn't really work for dynamic activities. There's a million variables that will impact your success. You've got to get some fundamentals down.

You don't need to climb up in a tree and hunt and not see deer to know that you will hunt and not see deer. The only way I'd be in a tree my first year or two hunting, is to be in a tree with a real killer, watching their every move. Following someone else who doesn't know how to get deer in front of them, and what to do with them once they're there, is just as silly as sitting in a tree by yourself not seeing deer.

I'm not trying to sound negative or suck the fun out of it. I'm trying to do the opposite. Hunting is portrayed as a results oriented hobby. Don't let people or industry fool you. Most of the enjoyment of hunting, like any dynamic activity, is all of the little different aspects. Killing is just one of them. Taking the time to enjoy learning to read maps, identify hunter pressure and hunter habits and access, find places to find deer sign, finding deer sign, finding deer in the flesh, picking up the details that would lead to you having a deer in weapon range without knowing you're there, all these things are the "roses you should be stopping to smell."

Nothing will turn a hunter away faster, is buying 2000.00 worth of gear, walking out to public land, climbing a tree, and staring at their phone for a season because no deer walk by.

I was fortunate that a complete stranger took me under his wing, and showed me how to hunt. I learned all aspects at a young age, with minimal focus on the end of a hunt. The act of shooting a deer generally lasts a few seconds, to maybe a minute or two. It is a tiny part of a big ole puzzle.

Don't get in a tree.

Go find deer!
 
kyler1945 said:
Nothing will turn a hunter away faster, is buying 2000.00 worth of gear, walking out to public land, climbing a tree, and staring at their phone for a season because no deer walk by.
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I blame the “hunting industry”, they pimp the gear and lifestyle and could care less if we get results, they already got theirs.

Not trying to say hunters shouldn’t put in the work, but in the beginning, nobody told me I wasn’t going to be shooting booners every year over a clover plot that magically regrows every year, from a nice heated ground blind, 20 feet from the truck.
 
kyler1945 said:
Thats not a mentor, thats a hunting partner. You need someone willing to start from first principles with you. Or, you need to swallow your pride and tell that fella you're just going to mirror him for a season, and promise to never hold him back in any way.

If you intend to hunt long term, I can tell you that taking one season to not "hunt" but to learn, in great detail, about all the aspects of hunting, you'll be better off for it.

Lot's of people say that the best way to learn to do a thing is to do it. I agree, but that doesn't really work for dynamic activities. There's a million variables that will impact your success. You've got to get some fundamentals down.

You don't need to climb up in a tree and hunt and not see deer to know that you will hunt and not see deer. The only way I'd be in a tree my first year or two hunting, is to be in a tree with a real killer, watching their every move. Following someone else who doesn't know how to get deer in front of them, and what to do with them once they're there, is just as silly as sitting in a tree by yourself not seeing deer.

I'm not trying to sound negative or suck the fun out of it. I'm trying to do the opposite. Hunting is portrayed as a results oriented hobby. Don't let people or industry fool you. Most of the enjoyment of hunting, like any dynamic activity, is all of the little different aspects. Killing is just one of them. Taking the time to enjoy learning to read maps, identify hunter pressure and hunter habits and access, find places to find deer sign, finding deer sign, finding deer in the flesh, picking up the details that would lead to you having a deer in weapon range without knowing you're there, all these things are the "roses you should be stopping to smell."

Nothing will turn a hunter away faster, is buying 2000.00 worth of gear, walking out to public land, climbing a tree, and staring at their phone for a season because no deer walk by.

I was fortunate that a complete stranger took me under his wing, and showed me how to hunt. I learned all aspects at a young age, with minimal focus on the end of a hunt. The act of shooting a deer generally lasts a few seconds, to maybe a minute or two. It is a tiny part of a big ole puzzle.

Don't get in a tree.

Go find deer!
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No, you're right. I have already talked with him. We are going to start with him going with me to scout the places that have already talked about. He's going to kind of treat me as teaching a child. not saying im stupid or anything but just lack the knowledge so far. he has also agreed to let me tag along with him when we find the spots we are looking for. Hw wants to put me on some Deer this coming season. So we are going to start with the basics. Scouting first then going in to sit in a tree and just watch and see if we can find them moving . we plan on doing this up until about a few weeks before season starts. Which is fine with me because I havent bought a bow yet so Ill be going with him when bow season starts. I hunt with a rifle so rifle season starts about 6 weeks after bow season. plus we decided that its best if i start with a rifle and not a bow just yet. Since bow range is closer than rifle range. We figure it's best if I can learn how and where to position myself for the hunt. Like you said, no point in hunting if you're not seeing anything. Im an outdoors person. love camping , fishing , bushcrafting and even hunting despite if I see anything or not. But, the end result is to put meat on the table. And the cool thing about hunting with him is that he tags out every year. Like i said he's a good friend now and agrees that I cant just be sent in blind. so he's going to help
 
Something else I want to mention, nothing is written in stone. Deer are wild animals and no one knows what they’re going to do all the time. Don’t get caught up in the well this book says I HAVE to do this, or this podcast says I HAVE to do that. Be flexible out there and don’t worry about what someone else thinks you should be doing. Experience can’t be bought or learned from a book, you have to get out there, and you just never know what will happen. With experience comes faith in your instincts, not getting discouraged, and most importantly, remembering you can’t kill them from the couch. Learn the basics from the podcasts, people here, and stuff you read, then shape that into your own deer killing mantra and don’t worry about what everyone thinks you should be doing.

The point I want you to take away from this is nothing is written in stone. Deer are wild animals that do wild animal ****.
 
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kyler1945 said:
Thats not a mentor, thats a hunting partner. You need someone willing to start from first principles with you. Or, you need to swallow your pride and tell that fella you're just going to mirror him for a season, and promise to never hold him back in any way.

If you intend to hunt long term, I can tell you that taking one season to not "hunt" but to learn, in great detail, about all the aspects of hunting, you'll be better off for it.

Lot's of people say that the best way to learn to do a thing is to do it. I agree, but that doesn't really work for dynamic activities. There's a million variables that will impact your success. You've got to get some fundamentals down.

You don't need to climb up in a tree and hunt and not see deer to know that you will hunt and not see deer. The only way I'd be in a tree my first year or two hunting, is to be in a tree with a real killer, watching their every move. Following someone else who doesn't know how to get deer in front of them, and what to do with them once they're there, is just as silly as sitting in a tree by yourself not seeing deer.

I'm not trying to sound negative or suck the fun out of it. I'm trying to do the opposite. Hunting is portrayed as a results oriented hobby. Don't let people or industry fool you. Most of the enjoyment of hunting, like any dynamic activity, is all of the little different aspects. Killing is just one of them. Taking the time to enjoy learning to read maps, identify hunter pressure and hunter habits and access, find places to find deer sign, finding deer sign, finding deer in the flesh, picking up the details that would lead to you having a deer in weapon range without knowing you're there, all these things are the "roses you should be stopping to smell."

Nothing will turn a hunter away faster, is buying 2000.00 worth of gear, walking out to public land, climbing a tree, and staring at their phone for a season because no deer walk by.

I was fortunate that a complete stranger took me under his wing, and showed me how to hunt. I learned all aspects at a young age, with minimal focus on the end of a hunt. The act of shooting a deer generally lasts a few seconds, to maybe a minute or two. It is a tiny part of a big ole puzzle.

Don't get in a tree.

Go find deer!
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I kill a lot of bucks, listen to this man, he is 100% correct. Well said...
 
One of the first things I look for is poop, lots of it. One of the first things a deer does soon after leaving a bedding area is take a dump. I look for the bedding areas early, during opening of squirrel season which is August 1st here. Once you find the bedding area you can plan your hunt upon what the deer are feeding on. This is not for everyone, but has worked really well for me.
 
BigAl said:
Oh yeah......the wind....I repeat the wind. Knowing what the wind is doing is going make or break alot of your hunts. Use milk weed pods... use an app to know what it's supposed to be doing. By far the most important thing to watch If you don't already know that!
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I’ll second to make sure you’re using milkweed to get to know the areas you scout and hunt.
 
South Carolina deer are way different than the NY deer I used to hunt. Been hunting Spartanburg for 15 years now. Where you hunting?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Look up wind rose graphs for your areas by month. Anticipate everything (entrance, spot, exit) based upon wind direction. The day before a hunt, figure out a game plan based upon projected wind from weather forecasts. Then have back up plans (ex. "If the wind is blowing north at my spot as predicted, then I'll do this. If it is not, then here are my options"). Get some wind indicator fibers and drop them while you are scouting and get familiar with what the wind does in your areas. For instance, I have one area that is very difficult to hunt because of how the wind swirls in this bowl....and it so happens two 10 points live there and I can't seem to get them!
 
Schemeecho said:
I need something other than milkweed. I'm not sure if it grows around here or at least I havent seen any
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Fly tying online shops sell super light feathers you can tear up. Beware the stuff that is small glass spheres, you shouldn't breath that stuff. @Allegheny Tom might be dealing in milkweed for a cause still. If you are afraid of it being invasive, you can pull the seeds off before taking into field.
 
I've not tried this but I've heard that cut up feathers, white or dyed bright colors. They're supposed to float pretty well. Old down pillow opened up might float better. Yes, people on this site have some milkweed to sell. Just giving ideas to think about. Oh, another I have not tried is cattail seed fluff.....I bet you can find that in S.C.
 
Ripe cattails work pretty well as wind indicators too. Milkweed is better,but if you only have cattails they are ok. I also second listening to podcasts if you can. I got into the truth from the stand one last year and listened to all of it. There are tidbits from just about every guest that one can learn from. Of course you have to see what applies to your area and goals.
Just pay attention every time you are in the woods and keep an open mind. I think you should get a bow because hunting during bow season is completely different than hunting during rifle season. At least here in NY. Deer act normal before the orange army descends into the woods. I learned a lot more during bow season than gun season.
 
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