What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

BEST

I believe I have a good eye for "hunting on the run".........(picking a spot with little or no knowledge of the area).......I stay focused on why a DEER would travel through an area and really couldn't care less what the place looks like to ME. This I believe is a skill I developed through years of bouncing around in the big woods of public state lands. I have killed deer from trees guys could barely figure out how I climbed. I also believe I have excellent focus when the moment of truth comes. When I see a deer coming I am as excited (or more) then anyone but I am eerily focused on the vitals and trying to predict the deers next steps. I'm a pretty reliable closer.


WORST

I am too bullheaded to give up or lay low on a spot when I get a taste of what's there............especially when I know that sneaking in and out will be next to impossible. I try to force that square peg into the round hole and I end up educating the deer and getting mad at myself because I KNOW I shouldn't try it but I still do because the lure of the possibilities if I do are so tempting.

I over hunt...........plain and simple. I don't have the luxury of enough spots to only hunt a stand once or twice a year or have special rut stands or special wind stands. That is reality and I accept it...........but I also know that some days I would be better off staying home then parading through the same woods AGAIN...........but I do.........because I can't get one from the couch right??...........I can justify anything if I try hard enough ;)

RE: What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

Not sure I have a "Best" atlas......but my worst mirrors yours. It's a hard thing.......to NOT go hunting.....when you have the time off and the place to go.....although we both know it would be the best thing to not go in there.

On second thought......my "best" is my eagerness to learn about these animals. I read/watch/talk/write a letter/etc...every day about whitetail deer. My herd will be better because of what I've learned an am learning.

RE: What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

One of my best would be judging distance to the deer without a range finder. I wouldn't say that I am an expert but that is what I do best.

Worst: Probably not putting enough thought into where I am going to hunt with the current conditions. Like looking at the wind forecast. It has completely changed directions and the forecast said it would. If I would have looked at it I could have been in the right spot.

RE: What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

I am not sure what my best skill is but my worst skill or lack there of is patience. I tend to rush my shots and not take my time. 3 out of the last 10 deer I have shot I feel that I rushed the shot and could have made a better shot. All came out good but I was still disappointed in myself.

RE: What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

I think one of my worst "skills" is over analyzing my setups or gameplanssometimes.... I never just go by the seat of my pants. I try to make all my moves well thought out and calculated.

Now I am not saying I want to fly by the seat of my pants but perhaps not over analyze as much at times.

RE: What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

last year was my first year bowhunting.

things i was good at, seemed to be stand placement. i seen deer and all were within 40yds. cant say i would shot at ALL of them...but most were withing my bow range...i thought that was good for a rookie. normally, gunhunting i could care less where the deer came through so long as i could see them.

things i need to work on this year would be like you, not overhunting. my one stand was PERFECT. i saw a good bit of deer. shot a buck from it. but the first day of rifle i was back in there...thats 2 weeks after bow season ends..i dont think i hunted it for 3 weeks. opening day i listend to 2 bucks walk around ALL morning till it broke light. 10am here they come back through. a MONSTER and another buck. didnt get a shot(even with a rifle...coulda shoulda woulda deal..just didnt like the shot so even being a monster i didnt take it) that just proves i overhunted it. i never once seen either of them. only buck i saw in there i shot at.

also need to work on patience still. getting in there EARLY...like its opening day every day. staying late. like its opening day EVERY day. pulling 4am till 8pm hunts. most days, i wont lie..im bored and out of the tree by 10am at the latest. didnt get in there till MAYBE a half hour before dark...i need to get my @$$ in gear and get in the woods and stay there. i just get deathly bored...

i got alot of work to do...but im on my way to becoming a bowhunter. the key to success, i believe, is always learning. figuring out what you did wrong and learning from it and changing to fix it. plain and simple i need more areas and need to hunt MORE..dont go home for lunch..starve or dont eat my lunch at 8am lol. i can feel it. this season is the season im taking my first bowkill. this is my time. im doing everything to ensure that it goes that way. even thinking of taking a doe during an early doe hunt to pop my cherry. figure my orchard spot will be best during that early hunt...i doubt i will ever see a legal buck in there in the daylight...why not take a doe out of there early and pop the cherry

though when i shot at that buck i was like a machine. counted points(legal) called the lane, drew and bent at the waist, stopped him, sent it home...till he ducked. but upto that point i did everything perfect. no shakes..no thoughts. my 1000s of arrows fired paid off. i went into mental overdrive. i was pleased with that. no thinking about it...i just DID what i do.

RE: What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

I feel my best is making a shot when I need to.

Worst isthat I fidget on stand too much. Being up a tree I don't know how often it impacts my hunts, but I know I move around more than I should up there.

I'll toss in a most improved area is not over hunting stands anymore.

RE: What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

I think my best hunting skill is my ability to block everything out at the time of the shot. I have an ability to focus only on the exact target spot and not get distracted by anything else, not antlers, nerves, wind, rain, etc...
In fact I shoot much better at live animals than I do when practicing. For me at least, when I KNOW it has to count Iperform well.

My worst bow hunting skill is I don'tstand long enough. All the years of football have taken a tollon my knees and backand I spend most of my time sitting. I like to shoot standing andusually I spot deerwith enough time to get up and into ashooting position, but I must admit if I do get busted, most of the time it's when I'm getting up. I always stand the last hour of hunting light as this is the most active time in the woods I hunt. Not being able to shift my weight and move about is shear hell.

RE: What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

Best
Patients

Worst
Patients

Being patient as yielding me some nice deer, and my lack of patients has cost me some deer;)

I really believe you can be the best shot, treestand setup, location, camo, etc etc, but unless you have the patients it is all for nothing:)

RE: What is your best and worst bowhunting skill?
 

Best.

For some reason I dont get buck fever. I tend to make the shot, then get extremely nervous.

Worst.

For the life of me, I cannot get up predawn to hunt mornings. Its not too bad when I'm hunting with someone, where if I dont wake up, I'll stand them up, but thsi year that will change.