Any things to keep in mind for new hunters?

[styksnstryngs]

A little about my situation and background:
I'm a very (very, very, very) broke college student in Nashville, Tennessee. I have no car and next to no hunting equipment. Currently, I am not at school on medical leave, but I will hopefully be well enough to return in January. With that being said, I won't be able to hunt this season, but hopefully I'll be able to start deer hunting next season.

My plan for this spring is to (when I can find the time on weekends) scout out some WMA land that's a short Uber ride away from campus and see if I can identify the land features and deer sign I'm researching up on right now, and hopefully take a sitdrag and some sticks to try to get some practice shooting my recurve from a saddle. Do you guys have any advice for me to keep in mind? I'm going to be very limited on time, unfortunately, as engineering classes have been kicking my a$$. Any tips for efficient scouting and maximizing results from my boots-on-the-ground time? I have a sub to spartan forge to work with.

 

[bfriendly]

Download for FREE The HuntStand app(or OnX etc…) and pre scout where you gonna think you may go. Use the topo map layer and find those places that look good to you before you set foot in the woods. BTW- I used the trial versions of the 2 I mentioned for a year before I finally bought HuntStand…..both do what you need.

 

[Bunker]

a couple low budget things you could do that will help flatten the learning curve are pick up a book or two on deer hunting. John Eberhart's Precision Bowhunting is a good one. You can read that in the time between now and you feeling well enough to get out and do some scouting. Once you are ready to get out in the woods, try and save up some money for a cheap trail camera or two. Amazon has some for $40. You can check them every couple of weeks leading up to the season, and this will give you a great idea of activity in each area and how much sign is left behind by those deer. As the season drags on you will probably have a more informed outlook on what kind of sign/how much sign is worth stopping and hunting over.

Free media like youtube and podcasts can help as well but try to watch more of the educational stuff vs. the entertainment focused if you are trying to be efficient with your time at school.

 

[Sempertodd]

Boots on ground is cheap. Way back in the day (I am old) that was only way of knowing what was going on. Get a map from your DNR and understand the boundaries, free. Then section off each part of it, and make several different trips. Take a small notebook, take your time and look over everything, and take notes. I suggest at minimal, take notes of wind direction, sign that you see (not just tracks, but poop, browse, nut trees, trails-directions). If you do this it will "paint a picture" of what is going on in the woods. Then after each hunt, note what seen or harvested, always note the wind direction.

 

[styksnstryngs]

Boots on ground is cheap. Way back in the day (I am old) that was only way of knowing what was going on. Get a map from your DNR and understand the boundaries, free. Then section off each part of it, and make several different trips. Take a small notebook, take your time and look over everything, and take notes. I suggest at minimal, take notes of wind direction, sign that you see (not just tracks, but poop, browse, nut trees, trails-directions). If you do this it will "paint a picture" of what is going on in the woods. Then after each hunt, note what seen or harvested, always note the wind direction.

That's the problem- boots on the ground are not cheap for me. Uber to the wma from my dorm is about 35 dollars. That's $70 every round trip that I make. I know having minimal boots on the ground time is suboptimal at best, but it's what I've got to work with, so I'm trying to figure it out best I can do I can focus the time that I do have on scouting the most likely areas.

 

[Aeds151]

That's the problem- boots on the ground are not cheap for me. Uber to the wma from my dorm is about 35 dollars. That's $70 every round trip that I make. I know having minimal boots on the ground time is suboptimal at best, but it's what I've got to work with, so I'm trying to figure it out best I can do I can focus the time that I do have on scouting the most likely areas.

How much extra to load a dead deer in an uber? Do you go with the XL?


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[sweats]

How would it work if you were able to get a deer? With no vehicle and if you are in a dorm, I'm not clear on how that would work.

Can you tell us a little more about your situation, the associated logistics, and your goals?

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[styksnstryngs]

Well, the plan is to basically process as much of the deer as possible in the woods and pack it into game bags, then garbage bags, then into my 65L pack. Honestly, if I try that and it smells too much, I have a couple of friends I could call in a semi-emergency. I've already made sure that leaving behind the bones and hide is legal in Tennessee, as well. Hopefully I'll be bagging a pretty small doe, not going for the urban giants. Again, if it looks like it would be an impossible situation, I'm probably not going to even bother, but that's what I'm trying to figure out before I'm too far in. I'm off on medical leave this semester, so now is the best time to try to get the logistics figured out, but I guess the first step is to try and find what land would be best spent time scouting, since I've never scouted public land and nobody I know is a bowhunter.

 

[styksnstryngs]

I know it might be frustrating listening to a raw noob blindly waving his hands around in the dark in what seems like a hopeless situation but trust me, nobody is more frustrated than I am with my current condition, all I want is to get in the woods with a stick and a string in my hand and maybe even eat some self sourced venison instead of the horrendous meal plan Vanderbilt is forcing on us.

 

[Bama_Xander]

Advice - Make a friend in the area who likes to scout/hunt who doesn’t mind hauling you around. Buying him lunch every now and then is way better than those Uber prices. And if he has some experience you can learn from him and/or with him as you all collab together.

 

[styksnstryngs]

Advice - Make a friend in the area who likes to scout/hunt who doesn’t mind hauling you around. Buying him lunch every now and then is way better than those Uber prices. And if he has some experience you can learn from him and/or with him as you all collab together.

Any ideas on how to make friends with the local hunters? If there's a Tennessee hunting board or something somewhere that would be a godsend, but I'm not holding my breath. My school is right in the thick of Nashville, but it's also pretty cut off from the rest of town.

 

[Bama_Xander]

you might find someone on this site with a post. There is also probably some FB group for TN hunters.

Just striking up conversations is nice too. One of my best hunting friends I met at the Apple store. I was buying a new phone because my old one went swimming with me when I underestimated the depth of some water I could cross in my hip waders on a deer scouting mission. When sharing about the event that caused my phones demise it turns out my Apple tech was a new hunter. We talked for like an hour and became best friends. We work together to hunt public land and even bought a boat together.

If you’re a church going person, that’s another great place to meet someone who might hunt and may even have some land they will let you hunt.

 

[sweats]

So here are my two cents. I don't think actually hunting right now is feasible given your present circumstances.

Take this time to read books, watch videos, and if you have an archery range nearby, practice shooting as much as possible. Maybe every few months go hiking somewhere and see if you can spot deer sign where you think it should be or find a good vantage point to try to observe deer.

That way once you get your degree, get a job, and get a vehicle you will be ahead of the curve.

I ended up not hunting for about 10 years between going to school, moving to a new state, and building a career. That of course wasn't fun, but it set me up to where I was able to eventually buy my own hunting land. It's good to set a goal and work towards it, but sometimes it takes a while.

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[thedutchtouch]

If i were in your situation, i'd be saving up for a vehicle. it doesn't have to be flashy, i put my first/only deer so far in the trunk of my civic. transportation will alleviate some of your issues, and potentially just make life easier all around. obviously there's large expenses past the initial purchase- insurance, registration, paying for parking? so factor that in to the savings plan as well. in the mean time, don't bother getting any more gear, jsut find a place to practice withyour recurve and have fun shooting. then, a year or three down the raod, when you have a car and ideally aren't in a dorm any more, possibilities start to open up. because of some similar issues and some different ones i didn't start hunting until last year in my mid 30's, though i remember having similar dreams back in the day.

that said, there's also a lot of books that have been reccomended to me, i just started precision bowhunting by john &chris eberhart, and have had reccomendations to look up :hunting pressured whitetails (also by eberharts), whitetail: the ultimate challenge, by charles Alsheimer, and pretty much everything from fred asbell. then there's youtube - the hunting public, catman outdoors, the hunting beast, seans outdoor adventures, and deer meat for dinner come to mind in terms of various educational for new hunters topics, there's plenty more, and some fine channels from members on here.

my limited experience is that e-scouting will tell you about 5% of what you need, basically edges of fields, topographic features to go explore etc, but it has NOT helped me narrow down where in the woods the oaks are/ are more plentiful, etc, you can only do that type of scouting in person. i do, however, use it quite a bit in the field (i use basemap right now) to mark things, and then can return to the computer to try to identify patterns and new areas to sit/scout based on the ground time.

 

[styksnstryngs]

you might find someone on this site with a post. There is also probably some FB group for TN hunters.

Just striking up conversations is nice too. One of my best hunting friends I met at the Apple store. I was buying a new phone because my old one went swimming with me when I underestimated the depth of some water I could cross in my hip waders on a deer scouting mission. When sharing about the event that caused my phones demise it turns out my Apple tech was a new hunter. We talked for like an hour and became best friends. We work together to hunt public land and even bought a boat together.

If you’re a church going person, that’s another great place to meet someone who might hunt and may even have some land they will let you hunt.

Well, since I didn't have a Facebook account, I didn't realize how many hunting groups there are on that platform. I made an account, joined some Tennessee hunting groups, and found a gentleman nearby who's hunting the same WMA I've been e-scouting that's willing to take me on scouting trips and hunting. Thanks for that advice, it worked out really well.

 

[MNFarmHunter]

My recommendation would be to have no expectations. If you have nothing, buy a Diamond or Bear bow package, general bin arrows and no-frill fixed blade broadheads. For climbing/hunting, just get basic sticks and no-frills saddle.

None of it is shiny or gives “bragging rights” but who cares as long as it works. If nothing else, you’re in the woods. If you get something, you get the bragging rights of getting a deer on a shoe string budget.


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[styksnstryngs]

My recommendation would be to have no expectations. If you have nothing, buy a Diamond or Bear bow package, general bin arrows and no-frill fixed blade broadheads. For climbing/hunting, just get basic sticks and no-frills saddle.

None of it is shiny or gives “bragging rights” but who cares as long as it works. If nothing else, you’re in the woods. If you get something, you get the bragging rights of getting a deer on a shoe string budget.


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I already have a hunting bow and I've been accurate with it for close to a decade now, gonna get one stick and some rope and maybe try to find a used saddle or just a recon and roll with it.

 

[mtsrunner]

I already have a hunting bow and I've been accurate with it for close to a decade now, gonna get one stick and some rope and maybe try to find a used saddle or just a recon and roll with it.

I can buy any saddle I want and choose to hunt with a Recon more than my others. It would definitely be my first choice if I were you. It isn’t as easy to get used to as some others, but you go to Vanderbilt. I’m confident you can figure it out.


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[Exhumis]

Any ideas on how to make friends with the local hunters? If there's a Tennessee hunting board or something somewhere that would be a godsend, but I'm not holding my breath. My school is right in the thick of Nashville, but it's also pretty cut off from the rest of town.

Hit up either here, the hunting beast and/or archery talk and see if you can find a mentor. Look into local archery clubs. See if there’s an Izaac Walton league local to you. If you attend a house of worship see if you can find. A hunting buddy there or mentor. If you’re close to farms try and make friends with a farmer and see if they’ll barter help for hunting access. I do that on a property I currently hunt.

 

[styksnstryngs]

I can buy any saddle I want and choose to hunt with a Recon more than my others. It would definitely be my first choice if I were you. It isn’t as easy to get used to as some others, but you go to Vanderbilt. I’m confident you can figure it out.


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Man, if I can't figure out a few pieces of seatbelt and some rope, I don't deserve to be in mechanical engineering anyways.