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What has made you a better hunter?

Bass1090

Bass1090

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Curious as to what one or five things you think has made you a better hunter.

For me-
1. Hunting high. At 56 I have been hunting a little lower though
2. Minimal movement, when I do move around I try to do it slow and try to have a back drop
3. Hunting edges- edge of a thicket, edge of a creek, edge of a field/wood line, edge of a road bed or firebreak, etc
4. Watching deer behavior. I used to be brown it's down and I don't have a problem with anyone that does that, to each his/her own. But for me personally, when I stopped killing as many I started having opportunities to kill more.
5. All day sits when possible
 
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Learning to shoot better.

How many deer have been lost due to poor shots or misses? Where else would you sit if you were confident in 300 yd shots? How many bucks slipped past you in the woods or smelled you and never showed? It's mostly about putting odds in your favor.
 
1. The main thing……..patience. Staying on stand at least four hours at a time unless I'm doing all day prime rut hunts.

2. Laying off the trigger when needed and watching more than I shoot.

3. Wind. Paying as much attention to it as possible, and not hunting when it's primarily blowing in a bad direction. I know it's unpredictable most of the time, but it works for me if I don't get lazy and ignore it.

4. Flexibility. Hunting by treestand, ground, or whatever different method will change it up and keep the deer guessing where I might be.

5. Finally, learning WHEN to shoot. Up until my early twenties, I'd feel entitled to take a shot if a deer was in range. Once I figured that's not the case, the switch flipped and I started taking better shots. Sometimes that means not pulling the trigger or dumping the bowstring at all.
 
Wind/thermals

Hunting the thick stuff

Being a better shot and knowing when to pass a shot

Angles/anatomy - learn where their shoulders are and shoot accordingly

Stop over hunting my best spots, fewer sits and make them count
 
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A lot of has been mentioned but one thing I'll add is… hunting many different states with different terrain, different ideas, different methods, different food sources, different vegetation, etc on public land. That really broadens your viewpoint and opens your eyes to a lot of techniques/tactics that can be used elsewhere.
 
Moving to TN - More public land to hunt. More opportunities to learn.

Becoming a member of TNDeer - I have learned so much reading and interacting on TNDeer. Thanks to everyone who is willing to share!

Taking up bow hunting - Before moving to TN I wasn't a bow hunter. Bow hunting has made me learn to be a better woodsman.

Learning certain pieces of public land and focusing on those, not trying to hunt everywhere.

Learning to play the wind and thermals.

YouTube - Watching to learn, not just for entertainment.
 
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1. Mid 90s killing my first mature buck.
That deer lit a fire in me that still burns hot today. I had killed plenty of deer before that buck but something changed that day.

2. Trail cameras. But NOT for knowing where to hunt. I dont even hunt the specific locations where our main cameras are.
Its the fact that trail cameras opened my eyes to how many good bucks are actually around the area...I'm still amazed at the number of different identifiable buck there are using the property. Trail camera history makes it much easier to let good bucks, that have potential, walk.

3. Laying off the trigger. Letting more bucks walk and mature. Spending more time watching deer and learning what they do verses shooting deer. Letting more bucks walk and mature no doubt increased my oppurtunity to kill better deer.

4. Hunting the best days for our area.
Last week of archery. Two weeks of muzzleloader. First week of gun season.
With the two weeks of muzzleloader being the peak of the bell curve. Save and use as much vacation time during the rut as possible. Pack a lunch. Sit all day.

5. It may sound silly, but hunt where deer are...not where you want them to be....and if there are not deer that meet your goals or expectations in your area then change locations...make it happen.

Lastly...not a single action but more of a general statement...managing habitat, increase bedding cover, increase food sources and in turn, increase oppurtunity...give deer a place they want to be.
 
Yall have covered just about everything. Only things I haven't seen mentioned are -

1. Entry/Exit - make it as unnoticeable (not just sound, but just as importantly sight) as possible

2. Learn how to move in the woods. Slow down, spend more time looking than walking. It's possible to mimic a deer's cadence, you land with your toe first then heel and twist it to the side. Can also use a turkey mouth call to disguise yourself.

3. Deer's diet changes drastically throughout the season. If you want to know what they've most recently eaten, slice open the stomach AFTER you're done gutting/cleaning/quartering. Will also let you know if any of your neighbors are baiting if there's no corn fields near by.
 
Reseach. My own research made me a much better hunter.

My decade-long rub density and distribution survey taught me how bucks use terrain as they move across ridge-and-hollow hardwoods. This study also taught me which habitat edges bucks prefer to use.

A study on why certain stands were producing more "shooter" buck sightings than others taught me how import proximity to good cover is to hunting success.

I study on the link between localized habitat diversity and deer sightings while hunting taught me how important habitat diversity is to daylight deer movement.

Experiments in how terrain affects thermals taught me a great deal about how wind flows across terrain as the time-of-day changes.

A study on how older buck sightings decline over time from a given stand taught me how to not overhunt stands.

My annual photo census of the local deer population was unquestionably the most important for learning to be a better hunter. Although my goal was just to inventory the constantly changing buck population using my place through the hunting season, as I constantly moved cameras to try and find better census locations, I began to discover situations I would have never guessed funneled so much deer activity through them. That alone made me a much better "stand positioner." In addition, as the rut winds down and target buck sightings decline, I would often get dejected as a hunter and start giving up. Yet reviewing trail-camera data often showed me that bucks were just learning to avoid us and were still quite active in daylight, just not where we were at the time! That taught me to keep at it even at the end of the rut, and to start hunting more unorthodox locations.
 

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