New Hunter: How do I Actually Get a Deer?
I am a 23yo male living in SW Michigan. I am a college student and live with my parents on a ~20 acre mostly wooded property. I have done plenty of squirrel/chipmunk hunting with an airgun, but never successfully got a deer. I did my hunter education course back when I was in Colorado, and it went over things like the local laws, safety, and where to shoot the deer. I know the really basic things like this, but not any of the techniques to actually get a deer. Nobody in my family hunts, so I have to turn here to figure out what to do.
Where I live currently, I have to use a shotgun or large caliber rifle. I have a Remington 870 shotgun, so this is what I will use. When I practiced with it last year, I was able to consistently hit a piece of standard printer paper with slugs from 30 yards. The area I live is heavily wooded, so I can't imagine I would be taking a shot from much farther than that. I will still practice more this year. I just can't do too much because I'm a pretty thin guy and my shoulder gets bruised after several shots.
Last year when I tried deer hunting, I had no idea what I was doing, so I just walked around the woods looking for deer. By the time I spotted any, they were already aware of my presence and ran off. In my property, there is really thick underbrush with lots of thorns, so it's really slow to move around and almost impossible to do so silently. I tried to change my tactics to hide in some bushes near a clearing where I saw them hanging out once. I dumped some leftover veggies in the clearing and just waited there silently. The deer didn't seem interested in the leftovers, because when I came back a day later they hadn't been touched. The closest I got to them was when I was hiding in the bushes, I shifted my position slightly, and several jumped out from behind me, ran through the clearing and got away. I wasn't able to take a shot because they were running. I think if they were in front of me rather than behind, I would have been able to get one.
This year I want to build a blind somewhere along one of the paths they take. I don't want to buy anything, so I'm thinking to just pile up some branches so that I'm mostly hidden from the deer trail. Does this sound like a good idea? If I do this, how far should my blind be from the trail? Is there any kind of leftovers that might attract deer that I can put in front of the blind? Any other tips on what tactics I can use?