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Give one tip on deer hunting

woodsdog2 said:
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Be it scouting, locations, access, methods of hunting, weapons for hunting, ways to get in a tree, etc. As said in the trapping world. A “change-up”can mean everything.
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I've done pretty well committing to a certain strategy or spot and just staying the course, basically trusting myself and playing the odds as I see them. My brother switches things up way more, and does quite well tracking down a solution. Over time we've both gained quite an appreciation for how success can be had with either approach, and we've learned more about what it takes to be successful either way, from each other. Ultimately, that shared experience probably helps us close in a bit on when to fold and when to go all in.

However, to this point, there is lots of good advice here, but about none of it works most of the time. It's smart, imo, to take it all on board, but make your own observations and choices and enjoy the results of being one's own master. Success is much sweeter when you aren't slave to someone else's rules.
 
Here's a tip. Go Hunt! It might seem obvious but if your not in the woods you can't kill em'. My favorite phrase is "you can't kill em' from the couch!" In my younger years I didn't kill much for the amount of time I spent in the woods. I'd hunt for a couple hours, then either scout or head back to the cabin for lunch. Then I'd BS w/ the fella's or shoot my bow. Then head back out for a few hours before dark. I had more time then and it worked every so often that I thought that's the way you had to do it. I hunted that way for a lot of years. Now I'm a weekend hunter, my time is limited. I try to to be in a tree as much as possible. It's amazing how many deer you'll see if stay later and get in earlier or sit all day. I hunted a tree a few years ago. I saw 22 deer. 14 of them were from 10AM till 2PM. I think I saw 5 deer early and 3 late. It was educational as to how many deer move mid day.. Back when I was 20 yrs old I would have been down and back to the truck by 10AM. It kills me to think of all the deer I could have seen or killed if I had actually been in the woods over the years.
 
Non-negotiable?

1. Tell somebody where you're going. My wife has a pretty good knowledge of where I hunt because I take her fishing, flower picking, etc in those areas. If I tell her I'm going to the beaver pond, she knows where that is. If I'm hunting where she isn't familiar, I text gps coordinates to her phone.

2. Really don't have another non-negotiable rule.
 
Not every trip is wasted. For example. I’ve been picking out balds to go glass while I’m still in this boot. First time seen two deer in one hour. Second time no deer so place two is marked off the list
 
Lowg08 said:
Ok I have a question. I bust my guts to get some where before daylight. I go 2 or 3 miles. Do you have issue with just going slow and methodical and not being there before daylight?
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I’ve had better experiences going in slowly after daybreak than quickly at dark. IMO you probably won’t beat them to their beds anyway..
 
Pack a lunch and stay out all day. You'll bump deer walking to and from your X, that you might have seen had you just stood fast.

Walk. Park away from the X and walk in. If you're too cold or antsy to sit in your stand, or the wind is wrong, or you're just not feeling lucky, hike around and try to find more good places.

Related: Learn how to track foot sign. Look at the ground. How many human footprints do you see? How old or fresh are they? When was the last high wind or precipitation, and are the footprints more recent than that? Are the hoofprints on top of or underneath the footprints? Is there snow on them? How sharp are the edges? Compare them to the details in your own boot prints, and try to estimate their age. How big are the hoof prints? How far apart are they spaced? Are the toes splayed apart? Because they were running away from you? Are they browsing on a food source? Tracking sign is a fungible skill, and you'll funge it all up if you don't practice and keep sharp.
 
NMSbowhunter said:
One big part of being successful bowhunting is learning when to shoot deer. The first thing I ask myself when a deer comes in is what it its demeanor? Is it calm? Is it nervous? Learn when you can get away with movement and when you can't. This comes from experience and getting busted. When I first started bowhunting the guy who got me into it told me that if I can see any part of a deer's eye, that they can see me. That helped me a lot. Most of the time, be patient and wait for the opportunity to draw and get a good angle. If it is a fast-cruising buck, you may just have to speed things up.
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I also Practice holding your draw with a bow until you are fatigued and making your shot. Also practice in awkward positions, kneeling, sitting, from the saddle. If a deer busts you draw your bow. Killed one last year that had my bow ready but did not draw since he was heading at me. He looked up and blew and started to run. Stopped behind a big pine tree and stepped back to take a look and opened his vital area. His eye’s were not on me when I took the shot.
 
If you bust a buck out of his bed, it doesnt mean he will never use that bed again. Give it a few days based on wind/weather


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Lowg08 said:
Ok I have a question. I bust my guts to get some where before daylight. I go 2 or 3 miles. Do you have issue with just going slow and methodical and not being there before daylight?
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I think it is pretty situational. Time of year, area your hunting, deer patterns around you. For instance, one of the bigger bucks I shot, I didn’t get into the woods until close to 8 in the morning (alarm didn’t go off). But I knew I still had a chance because the deer in our woods didn’t usually come through until 1030 after the guy hunting up the river from us would leave the woods at 10 everyday.
 
Tylerhorner33 said:
(alarm didn’t go off).
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Congrats on the deer first and foremost.
Not trying to bust your chops, but I am curious as I hear this as an excuse at work regularly and frustrates the heck out of me. Not once have I ever set an alarm that “didn’t go off”. I have set the alarm wrong, snoozed it without knowing it, and anything else you can think of.
Did it actually not go off, or was it a user error?
 
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