The wind determines every one of my hunts, or if I hunt.

On the inside of my bow it is written:

*Point
*Pin
*Place
*Pull
*Pray (optional)

I follow the above plan...

If you shoot a smaller hog for meat dont drag it out infront of the mom sow.

my cousin and i were hunting and she shot her first hog. a small one because she couldnt get any good shots at the big ones. I told her it would be good meat too. She shot a small one and then we were dragging it out and when we got about 200 yards away from where she dropped it 2 sows came out about 10-15 yards in front of us. the mother looked at us started chomping her teeth. I told my cousin to give me the gun and i loaded it as quick as possible and sent the bolt home and shot just as she took a step towards us. the other one ran off.

Always go slow and ready to your stand like mentioned before. I have killed 2 nice bucks while sneaking back to my stand and catching movement. When you do get to your stand climb very slowly and slowly look around as you climb. On afternoon I climed my stand in a hurry to get hunting and stood up only to see three, yes count them three kansas monsters practically laughing at me as my jaw droped. Well as you can imaginethe next image I saw was three brown butt holes making a mad dash in the oppisite direction. Looked like bouncing milk duds trotting thru the crp field.

Be prepared , check your gear , and just have fun .

My most learned lesson in the 4 years that I have hunted is SIT STILL I never fully grasped how much this really mattered until some people that I was hunting with were killing all the deer. I have been 2 for 2 on deer since then.

Always be ready, alert, and expect the unexpected.

Don't fall asleep... When I was about 11I think, when I had been hunting a few years and had a few deer under my belt... My dad took me to the blind with him one cold morning after we'd been up all night trailing a head shot hog (missed the brain, went over 2 miles)... He tried like everything to wake me up when deer started goin by.... the gun-shotwoke me up just finethough when he dropped the biggest 12 point I've ever seen on that old family ranch of ours.

My mom was packing up for us to come home one year, and saw a brute of a buck about 75 yds from the camp house. She had already packed her .30-30, but got it out and put 2 rounds in the magazine, snuck out side, braced on a fencepost, squeezed the trigger... *click* no round in the chamber...

ROTFLMAO! These stories are great and are only funny because I have had similar experiences. One year got out of my stand because of stomach problems, went home, took care of it, came back and there was a huge rub 3 feet from my stand... no kidding. I also shot under a really nice 10 point because I thought I remembered how far the tree he was next to was from my tree. I've also forgot my release and missed an opportunity. The worst was when I drew on a really nice 8-point when I was about 12 and the arrow fell off the rest. All I could do was let down, which alerted the buck, who ran like his butt was on fire. So in summary: eatwell before a hunt, range everything and put out markers if possible, double checkgear before leaving, and make sure your arrow ison the rest properly before a deer shows up. I could go on, but it is making me laugh too hard.

With over thirty five years of experience I have to say the "best learned lesson" would be to stay committed to actually showing up in the woods on a daily basis... or as close to your comittment as possible.

Last season I was in the woods over fifty days, most of them full days, before sun-up and after sun-down.
I saw deer behavior that would take the casual hunter years to see.

It was one of the best years I ever experienced. It was my sons' first year to hunt since serving time in Iraq. Every outing in the woods I always seek to find a new nugget of truth. You might call it an,Ah,Hah!

Just showing up is half the battle.
Have a teachable spirit,look,listen and learn...