What has made you a better hunter?

I was one of those proponents of cells cams. They've helped me out quite a bit on public these past 5-6 seasons (or so I thought). I usually have about 40 sits every year because I can make my own schedule. Well this year saw a job change and I only got 5 sits all year and killed only one deer. And guess what, the cell cams did NOTHING to help me. I realized the reason I was always on the deer in previous seasons was cuz I was constantly in the woods observing, scouting and shifting with the deer. Now I will still run the cams next season, but I have down graded them in my list of priorities thats for sure. Very interesting lesson for me.
 
i've had deer come in straight upwind to me, and stand in the wet leaves where i'd recycled iced tea, sniffing and looking around. had one young buck bed down like he was waiting, scared him off when i climbed down.
 
1. Hunting high
2. stop relying on tricks so much - such as scent control, scent products, etc. and rely on scouting and woodsmanship more
3. Sitting longer
4. During the heat of the rut - Paying less attention deer sign and more attention to terrain features
 
DMD said:
4. During the heat of the rut - Paying less attention deer sign and more attention to terrain features
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This is a biggy. All of our stands are pre-positioned before the season. They are place along favorable terrain features. Now often, the exact place we choose is a location that has displayed a lot of buck sign in previous years, but there is no telling which areas will have the best buck sign in a given year. But the buck sign has appeared there in the past because it is a favorable terrain feature for buck movement! During the rut-month of November, we are going to hunt those locations buck sign or not, although I will admit I will lean towards those stands near hot buck sign. The biggest caveat is food sources that year. We find one set of terrain features will be hot in a good acorn year, but another set in an acorn-failure year. So whether or not there are acorns that year will determine how we set up our stands and which will get hunted most.
 
1. Being picky with what I shoot. I've got friends that complain about not having any big deer but shoot the first decent deer they see because of the "if I didn't shoot him the neighbor would" theory. I've never gave into that theory. I'm not going to shoot a deer just because I'm scared the neighbor will. I'm only going to shoot it if I'm going to be happy with it. If the neighbor will be happy with it but it isn't up to my standard then I'm going to be fine if the neighbor shoots it. Sticking to my standards has given me a chance to watch more deer and learn their behaviors. More often than not I end up not killing a buck during the season but it's not for a lack of sightings. I usually get one or 2 chances at a deer I'm after and sometimes it just doesn't work out. I'm fine with it.

2. Paying more attention to how I access or leave a stand location before or after a hunt. Use Terrain/ wind to your advantage. My goal at the end of a hunt is for the deer to have not idea that I've been there. I absolutely HATE bumping deer walking to or from the stand. A lot of times all it takes is one nanny doe seeing you climb up or down your stand and she's going to be looking for you everytime she comes through from that point on.

3. Paying attention to the wind. Not just while you are on stand but also as you are accessing your stand location. A lot of times I will walk way out of the way to get to my stand depending on what way the wind is blowing. Unless it's the middle of the rut there will also be days that I absolutely will not hunt a stand based on wind. I've learned it's more about the quality of sits than it is the quantity of sits.
 
Bass1090 said:
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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Patience
 
In order for me to effectively answer this question I guess I'll define "better" as more effective, or efficient.

I have become a much more effective bowhunter by many years of experience, It has taught me invaluable lessons.
One of the lessons is about how deer use their sense of smell.

And their sight.

And how important it is to have many hunting spots with totally different doe groups.

Spots that are "fresh".

This past season I killed 25 whitetails with my bow including 4 very mature bucks and several mature does. I missed 7 other deer.

I had 57 sits in a stand from September 23rd until February 4.
Average shot distance 19 yards.
3 States!

MOST of these were taken on VERY pressured public and private land. But there are always "pockets" or areas where deer feel less pressured.

Learn how to identify these areas and you'll find deer!
 
Lost Lake said:
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.
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Very well said. Learning patience above all.
 
I'm sure I'm going to get lambasted for this, and this is not a criticism against any particular person or viewpoint (what works for one person may not work for another), but I often see hunters being advised to hunt longer and hunt harder. It is certainly true that you can't kill anything while sitting on the couch. It is also true that the more time spent afield the greater the opportunity to encounter an animal you are after. However, hunting longer and harder in the wrong location, or at the wrong time, is not going to help you much.

For those who have a single property they are hunting, it may be more advantageous to hunt smarter (find the best ambush locations) and wait until the best time to hunt. This may mean hunting less, not more. Waiting until the best time to hunt rut-crazed bucks until just before the rut kicks into high gear may produce far better results than pressuring those deer all pre-rut until they've learned to avoid those top locations. In essence, hunting longer/harder either at the wrong time or the wrong location may be doing far more harm than good.
 
BSK said:
I'm sure I'm going to get lambasted for this, and this is not a criticism against any particular person or viewpoint (what works for one person may not work for another), but I often see hunters being advised to hunt longer and hunt harder. It is certainly true that you can't kill anything while sitting on the couch. It is also true that the more time spent afield the greater the opportunity to encounter an animal you are after. However, hunting longer and harder in the wrong location, or at the wrong time, is not going to help you much.

For those who have a single property they are hunting, it may be more advantageous to hunt smarter (find the best ambush locations) and wait until the best time to hunt. This may mean hunting less, not more. Waiting until the best time to hunt rut-crazed bucks until just before the rut kicks into high gear may produce far better results than pressuring those deer all pre-rut until they've learned to avoid those top locations. In essence, hunting longer/harder either at the wrong time or the wrong location may be doing far more harm than good.
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When we started this we started becoming better immediately. And I agree 100 percent.
 
BSK said:
I'm sure I'm going to get lambasted for this, and this is not a criticism against any particular person or viewpoint (what works for one person may not work for another), but I often see hunters being advised to hunt longer and hunt harder. It is certainly true that you can't kill anything while sitting on the couch. It is also true that the more time spent afield the greater the opportunity to encounter an animal you are after. However, hunting longer and harder in the wrong location, or at the wrong time, is not going to help you much.

For those who have a single property they are hunting, it may be more advantageous to hunt smarter (find the best ambush locations) and wait until the best time to hunt. This may mean hunting less, not more. Waiting until the best time to hunt rut-crazed bucks until just before the rut kicks into high gear may produce far better results than pressuring those deer all pre-rut until they've learned to avoid those top locations. In essence, hunting longer/harder either at the wrong time or the wrong location may be doing far more harm than good.
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I understand what you are saying - and I'm sure you can wear a good spot out if hunted wrong time/place. But..I've also seen people who hunt a spot one time, don't see deer and abandoned it. Or wait and wait for perfect conditions and miss a lot of good hunting opportunities. Also, on large tracts of contiguous timber, often times you have to wait out a mature buck. They may only pass through an area a few times in a season. An example of this for me was several years ago. I had permission to hunt a tract of a couple hundred acres of timberland with probably 40 acres of fields. Early in bow season, I got pictures of a buck I had no idea existed. He was the biggest buck I have ever gotten on camera to this day. 150ish mature buck with non-typical junk going on. He was showing up in a difficult place to hunt him - so I set up a ladder stand to ambush him - I called that stand the "Eagle Nest". I hunted that stand every time I hunted for probably two months. Encountered the buck once, but no shot. Late in December, I finally got bored with sitting there and put a friend in the Eagle nest, and I went and hunted another stand. Guess who showed up at the Eagle Nest? My friend got two shot opportunities at the buck that morning, but was so nervous, he never got a shot off. Sometimes - depending on circumstances - you have to stay with a spot. I've killed several mature bucks after hunting a stand location 5, 6, 7, 8 times or more in a single season. If I find a hot spot - I stick with it. It's worked well for me most times. It really depends on the circumstances whether to wait on certain days, or keep hunting a spot consistently, imo.
 

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