Are you new to the world of hunting deer? No problem, these 5 tips will help you fill your freezer this fall.
Was 2020 your first season chasing big game? Well, you were not alone. According to USFWS license sales data, Texas added about 65,000 new hunters to its ranks last year. Nationwide there was an increase of about 2,980,000 hunters. Whether you are a new hunter or have a few seasons under your belt, you are a hunter hungry for some success. Follow these 5 tips for new hunters and you’re are bound to find some.
1. Forget Social Media
Number one is especially important for inexperienced hunters; ignore what you see on social media.
Most of what you see on the internet is small collection of most interesting moments during their hunt. You see the kill shots, the trophy grip-and-grins, smiles, hugs, sunny skies, and beautiful days. Then inevitably the success you observed online is what you expect to see, and you start comparisons between your hunts and the hunts you are watching on your phone. You come to expect that hunting deer should be 100% awesome and all smiles, just like what you see on social media.
NEWS FLASH – Those smiles are earned through hard work.
What you don’t see on social media is most of the preparation and planning that made that hunter successful. You don’t see the months of work that enabled it all. The tilling food of plots, cutting and maintaining trails, installing stands, monitoring herd health, checking trail cameras, waking up and getting after it no matter if it’s raining or if its 3 a.m. or if it’s hot. Great hunters are out there putting in the work in the offseason.
If you want to have consistent success and be a great deer hunter, you must be willing to put in the work before the hunting season begins.
2. Have Multiple Plans
It’s 7:45 a.m. and that trophy buck you’ve been watching on your trail camera is finally walking right towards this perfect opening day archery ambush you have waiting for him. You’re at full draw. All he needs to do is take 5 more steps…4 more…3…2…come on take two more steps.
All of a sudden out of nowhere that buck catches your wind, and he bolts out of there. You know you shouldn’t have sat in that stand this morning, as the wind direction was all wrong. But it’s the only stand you had prepared in the offseason, so you really had no other choice, right?
WRONG. You need a contingency for when something negatively impacts your primary hunt plan. Once you spook a mature buck, it is exceedingly rare that you will see him again during daylight hours at that same location. Big bucks don’t get to be old mature trophies by being stupid. You must avoid these encounters all together.
Having multiple different positions set up will allow you to still get out and hunt on days when something is “wrong” with your plan A. These problems can be anything, the wind direction, stormy weather, or maybe the neighbor decided to have his annual B.B.Q. 400 yards away from your stand. You need multiple options to ensure that you will be able to effectively hunt no matter what conditions you have to tango with in the field.
Finding these back up areas to hunt isn’t really that difficult, especially with the technology available to use today. You can use any of multiple digital mapping platforms on your phone to scout out areas very quickly and find locations of interest that you want to try and hunt. Look for game trails, food sources, terrain funnels, bedding cover, and water. Once you find a location that garners extra attention, set a trail camera over that location.
Start paying attention to what deer show up, and when. Write it down. After a while go back over your notes, and you will be able to notice trends about your deer. Things like your favorite 10 pointer only shows up mid-morning at stand #2 when there is a west blowing wind.
Now you know where to be the next time the weatherman predicts western winds.
3. A Season Is A Marathon
This is it! You tell yourself that you are going to all in, 100% of your time and resources will be devoted to this season. No excuses. Big buck or bust. You are going to do whatever it takes to get that animal. To be successful you will be up at 3am every day to hit the stand before work, and after work you’re right back up in that stand until dark. You’re going to grind it out!
Seems like a great idea until you burn yourself out.
Hunting is supposed to be fun. If sleeping 2 hours a night and running a liquid I.V. of concentrated Folger’s house blend straight into your veins every morning seems fun to you, then go ahead and stop reading this article. For the rest of us humans, this is what you should be doing.
If you can, hunt only when the conditions are good. I know what you’re thinking, “Duh.” Hear me out.
When I first started hunting deer, I would go out as often as I could. Morning and night as soon as the season opened. It didn’t matter if it was 90 degrees, I was going to hunt. Before too long, I realized that this was a recipe for disaster. Being in the woods that often creates a massive human footprint that the animals easily detect. Soon after the deer become aware of your presence, they shift their routines to occur either before or after shooting light. They become borderline un-huntable.
If you instead wait until the conditions are right and spend your energy getting up at the right time, you will have actually get an opportunity for a daylight shot when you play everything right. That mature buck will come wandering around your set up, fully unaware of the danger 25 yards away.
4. Sit Still For As Long As You Can
When the opener finally comes around, everyone plans on staying in the woods all day. In reality, almost all the hunters don’t make it that long. If I had to bet, I would wager that most hunters get cold and bail before 9 a.m.
One of the most important things you can do is sit there while everyone else moves around. Whey will end up pushing all of the deer into areas where there are not human disturbances, like right in front of you. Stay patient, sit tight, and enjoy the success that it brings.
Now, I understand not everyone is built to sit in a treestand for 14 hours straight. If you can manage it, bring everything you need for the day. Once you feel like you must get out of the stand, climb down. Enjoy a sandwich near your tree or walk to a nearby area that likely won’t be holding deer and relax for a bit. stretch out and enjoy the scenery. When you are ready, head back to the stand.
5. Don’t Be Picky
“If it’s brown it’s down.”
That’s your new hunting motto. Too frequently new hunters are pressured into feeling like their first buck must be so massive that it makes the front page of the Sunday paper. Yes, there will come a time when you are an experienced hunter and you are holding out for the biggest buck around, but that won’t be for a while. Until then, just have fun with hunting. Set a realistic goal, especially if you’re hunting on public land. This isn’t TV land where you will have the opportunity to pass up a 160” buck because you know there are two 180” bucks running around.
Shoot that first fork buck you see. I promise, it will be just as fun as your first 150” ten point. You will come to see what “buck fever” is all about, and you will know what it takes to get another buck next year.
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