Took extra precautions (or same as when hunting) to be scent free when I have to go in the woods before the season. (cameras, stands, scouting etc...). I've always been a little lazy when it came to that figuring it's still early enough I won't alarm anything. If I do they'll be back. Now I take the same steps as if I was going in hunting. Just stupid on my part, but easy to do I guess.

No more tow ropes. Human scent wicks (thanks to someone on this board).

Entry and exit routes I'm constantly working on. I no longer take the "easy" route to a stand. Sometimes I even got dropped off in different areas and walked in if that was going to be the best approach. I messed up my ankle pretty good during the season and this became hard sometimes. I would have to walk 5xs as far sometimes when I felt it was the best approach to my setup.

Stay focussed. I have a tendency to let my guard down after the first 2 hours of morning and before the last 2 hours in the afternoon. I don't get fidgety or anything, I just don't scan or pay attention to the woods like I do during the primetime. I tried to work on that this year.

It's a pain in the butt doing laundry[8D]. I didnt' stretch out my clothes "one more day" this year. If they stunk, I sweat, dragged a deer out, or whatever. If I felt they were contaminated I washed them. Made for a lot of laundry.

Set out to not overhunt my main land and my honey holes................. FAILED on that one again. #1 priority next year.

Approach to stand. I have a tendency to go fast to my stand. Figuring in the back of my mind the faster I get there the more time I have to get settled in and the more time I have to hunt. Hence increasing my chances. I didn't run to my stands but I wasn't exactly stealthy either. Go in earlier and go SLOW!

Shooting lanes. Already made a thread about this. Cut to the bare minimum for me. Got screwed 3 times but maybe those were 3 times that wouldn't have happened

Shooting my bow a lot more during the season. I have buddies that will practice everyday until the season starts. Then they don't shoot another arrow until the next season rolls around. I have a treestand where I practice. Between hunts I'd leave my gear on, climb the stand, and shoot some arrows to stay in tune.

Wind. Always hunting the wind. I think I did a good job picking stands to hunt according to the wind. Sometimes the wind would change or swirl, but for the most part I really picked stands that I should have according to the wind.

Don't sweat going in. Kind of goes along with slowing down to my stand. I dress light heading in and pack everything else. I've gone as light as my baselayers and packing everything else. I'll dress when I get close, in the tree or at the base of it.

Probably the biggest one was doing everything I just mentioned on EVERY hunt. Gets old and tiring at times. I tried to take the same steps and precautions on sit #100 as sit #1. Got a little lazy towards the end but I held out a long time.


** probably a bunch others, but pretty much I just tried to pay attention to all the details every hunt.