new hunter need advice
02-17-2015, 11:44 AM
#22
Spike
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 65
if you can just spend some time in the woods. Just walk around and look for old rubs and trails that they are wearing out moving from bedding areas to feeding areas. Buy a trail cam or two and place them in spots you know they will walk by. Also doesnt hurt to drop 100 pounds of corn in front of said camera. Its like Christmas morning as a kid when you camera says 6000 pictures after only 10 days lol.
04-19-2015, 10:59 PM
#23
Banned
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 32
Few tips for new hunters are: A deer is easily alerted to human cadence as we walk through noisy leaves, so go slow, use green flash light while hunting as this spectrum is not visible to deer, try to keep yorself scent free. As humn odor spooks deer.
04-20-2015, 04:40 PM
#24
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Germany/Calif.
Posts: 2,664
I hunt for the experience and the meat more than bragging rights. For every Deer I've ever shot, I've spent hundreds of hours just watching.
If I've scoped it, I own it. I've let the biggest Buck pass and harvested a two year old Doe, better meat. I've scoped thousands of Deer.
Learning from the experienced people can help, some of it is just practice, like being able to transition from binoculars to a rifle scope and quickly picking up your target in the scope. Something you can practice in your back yard with an empty rifle.
Some of the answers are so simple it is amazing. Like not trying to see every direction at once. Animals and humans tend to pick up motion more so than shape. Turning your head quickly from side to side looks like a camera flash going off to wild game, even at night.
Learning the rhythm of the forest is another big hurdle. I've learned to move like a Deer just coming into the meadow from the thicket or forest. If you watch deer do it, you can copy it. The sound you make won't be exactly the same, but the rhythm is considered non threatening to many animals.
Game animals have no real rules, just tendencies. I was sitting in my Jeep Cherokee just watching a game trail, a young Buck came out of a Corn field right next to me. He decided the two open doors of my Jeep was the way he wanted to go, to get where he was headed (a bedding area). And was well on his way to running right through the inside of my Jeep before me and my dog dissuaded him. The point of the story is they are likely to sneak up on you before you sneak up on them, unless you do something to alert or startle them.
I always figure just about every animal within a quarter of a mile knows I'm there, just an assumption but likely close to the mark. The question is if they consider me a threat or not? I've sat in a spot for hours and seen no sign of game, then quietly climbed a ridge to look on the other side and seen a plethora of game. Learning to sit still and watching for hours, is a talent you have to learn. If you see no game, it is likely they have your scent and have moved on. Which way is the breeze blowing? I tend to look more into the breeze more so than the other direction.
There is much more to learn and you have years to learn it. Some you pick up by experience, some you can be taught.
If I've scoped it, I own it. I've let the biggest Buck pass and harvested a two year old Doe, better meat. I've scoped thousands of Deer.
Learning from the experienced people can help, some of it is just practice, like being able to transition from binoculars to a rifle scope and quickly picking up your target in the scope. Something you can practice in your back yard with an empty rifle.
Some of the answers are so simple it is amazing. Like not trying to see every direction at once. Animals and humans tend to pick up motion more so than shape. Turning your head quickly from side to side looks like a camera flash going off to wild game, even at night.
Learning the rhythm of the forest is another big hurdle. I've learned to move like a Deer just coming into the meadow from the thicket or forest. If you watch deer do it, you can copy it. The sound you make won't be exactly the same, but the rhythm is considered non threatening to many animals.
Game animals have no real rules, just tendencies. I was sitting in my Jeep Cherokee just watching a game trail, a young Buck came out of a Corn field right next to me. He decided the two open doors of my Jeep was the way he wanted to go, to get where he was headed (a bedding area). And was well on his way to running right through the inside of my Jeep before me and my dog dissuaded him. The point of the story is they are likely to sneak up on you before you sneak up on them, unless you do something to alert or startle them.
I always figure just about every animal within a quarter of a mile knows I'm there, just an assumption but likely close to the mark. The question is if they consider me a threat or not? I've sat in a spot for hours and seen no sign of game, then quietly climbed a ridge to look on the other side and seen a plethora of game. Learning to sit still and watching for hours, is a talent you have to learn. If you see no game, it is likely they have your scent and have moved on. Which way is the breeze blowing? I tend to look more into the breeze more so than the other direction.
There is much more to learn and you have years to learn it. Some you pick up by experience, some you can be taught.
04-20-2015, 06:38 PM
#25
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location:
Posts: 5,130
I hunt for the experience and the meat more than bragging rights. For every Deer I've ever shot, I've spent hundreds of hours just watching.
If I've scoped it, I own it. I've let the biggest Buck pass and harvested a two year old Doe, better meat. I've scoped thousands of Deer.
Learning from the experienced people can help, some of it is just practice, like being able to transition from binoculars to a rifle scope and quickly picking up your target in the scope. Something you can practice in your back yard with an empty rifle.
Some of the answers are so simple it is amazing. Like not trying to see every direction at once. Animals and humans tend to pick up motion more so than shape. Turning your head quickly from side to side looks like a camera flash going off to wild game, even at night.
Learning the rhythm of the forest is another big hurdle. I've learned to move like a Deer just coming into the meadow from the thicket or forest. If you watch deer do it, you can copy it. The sound you make won't be exactly the same, but the rhythm is considered non threatening to many animals.
Game animals have no real rules, just tendencies. I was sitting in my Jeep Cherokee just watching a game trail, a young Buck came out of a Corn field right next to me. He decided the two open doors of my Jeep was the way he wanted to go, to get where he was headed (a bedding area). And was well on his way to running right through the inside of my Jeep before me and my dog dissuaded him. The point of the story is they are likely to sneak up on you before you sneak up on them, unless you do something to alert or startle them.
I always figure just about every animal within a quarter of a mile knows I'm there, just an assumption but likely close to the mark. The question is if they consider me a threat or not? I've sat in a spot for hours and seen no sign of game, then quietly climbed a ridge to look on the other side and seen a plethora of game. Learning to sit still and watching for hours, is a talent you have to learn. If you see no game, it is likely they have your scent and have moved on. Which way is the breeze blowing? I tend to look more into the breeze more so than the other direction.
There is much more to learn and you have years to learn it. Some you pick up by experience, some you can be taught.
If I've scoped it, I own it. I've let the biggest Buck pass and harvested a two year old Doe, better meat. I've scoped thousands of Deer.
Learning from the experienced people can help, some of it is just practice, like being able to transition from binoculars to a rifle scope and quickly picking up your target in the scope. Something you can practice in your back yard with an empty rifle.
Some of the answers are so simple it is amazing. Like not trying to see every direction at once. Animals and humans tend to pick up motion more so than shape. Turning your head quickly from side to side looks like a camera flash going off to wild game, even at night.
Learning the rhythm of the forest is another big hurdle. I've learned to move like a Deer just coming into the meadow from the thicket or forest. If you watch deer do it, you can copy it. The sound you make won't be exactly the same, but the rhythm is considered non threatening to many animals.
Game animals have no real rules, just tendencies. I was sitting in my Jeep Cherokee just watching a game trail, a young Buck came out of a Corn field right next to me. He decided the two open doors of my Jeep was the way he wanted to go, to get where he was headed (a bedding area). And was well on his way to running right through the inside of my Jeep before me and my dog dissuaded him. The point of the story is they are likely to sneak up on you before you sneak up on them, unless you do something to alert or startle them.
I always figure just about every animal within a quarter of a mile knows I'm there, just an assumption but likely close to the mark. The question is if they consider me a threat or not? I've sat in a spot for hours and seen no sign of game, then quietly climbed a ridge to look on the other side and seen a plethora of game. Learning to sit still and watching for hours, is a talent you have to learn. If you see no game, it is likely they have your scent and have moved on. Which way is the breeze blowing? I tend to look more into the breeze more so than the other direction.
There is much more to learn and you have years to learn it. Some you pick up by experience, some you can be taught.
I guess I would add; even with all that "they" still seem to appear like a ghost................suddenly they are "right there" and you wonder how you didn't see them sooner !!!
Look for good sign and then sit down !!!
04-25-2015, 05:56 AM
#27
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: NE Kansas
Posts: 1,101
Here's my my hunting advice: hunters fail because they get smelled, make sound, or get caught moving.
what does that mean?
1.) There's no substitute for proper wind direction. No cover scent product can make up for a wind mistake. Ideally you face into wind, but you can get away with it quartering you. Don't ever let yourself get upwind of where you are hunting.
2.) there's no such thing as too quiet in the woods. Clanking, banging, chinking, clicking, bumping mean that's time to start checking out the next county to a whitetail.
3.) The old adage is "the harder you hunt, the slower you move." On a stand, it means sitting as motionless as possible. Use your eyes to scan the woods, and turn your head only slowly. Have a comfortable lace to sit so you're not fidgeting from a sore rump, and wear warm gloves and footwear so you're not trying to warm your hands up.
I've been busted more times by deer because I turned my head too fast than anything else. (one reason I wear a face mask, but you shouldn't rely on it).
If you try your hand at still hunting (creeping through the woods), the old adage is, "walk a little, stop a lot." Another adage: "no step bigger than your boot." There's absolutely nothing in the woods that has the steady gait of a human being on a hike. Walk that way and you will alert the deer.
Keep looking out as much as possible , not down. Your trying to see a deer, not your toes. You have to see the deer before it sees you. Use your toe to feel the ground for twigs or debris. If you feel something, slowly move your foot to a different place. If you pop a twig (and you will), stay motionless for a minute or two and just watch. Stillhunters will take at least an hour to cover 100 yards of good cover. They move in small footsteps, more tiptoeing than walking, trying to stay as quiet as possible. They use cover and shadows as much as possible. When they stop, they try to stop next to a tree or bush and/or in the shadows if they can.
Last: learn about deer. Generally speaking, deer will feed at night and bed down in day they will use trails between the those areas at dawn and dusk. Be where they are going, and ambush them. This is where you have to be upwind, quiet, still, slow, etc.
Squirrels are good practice. Get out in the wilds and see how you do with squirrels. Try to sneak up on one and shoot it. Sit on a stand among hardwoods and see if the squirrels come out. Squirrels offer the added plus of living where deer do. You might see deer or the trails they use and give you some night as to what places to hunt.
Last edited by Father Forkhorn; 04-25-2015 at 06:04 AM.
05-05-2015, 10:43 AM
#28
Spike
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 65
Also deer are about as blind as a bat. As long as they cant hear or smell you and you are motionless then they will ignore you. I walk around my farm before dark with my binoculars and I am amazed how close I can get to deer if I am downwind. Im talking knife throwing range. They look at me then start moving their ears to listen in for any sounds I might make. Then that snout goes up in the air. Then for some reason they usually will start walking towards me. The only time they run is when I just cant stand still anymore.
About a month ago I stepped out into a field and saw 2 deer about 15 feet to my right. I slowly backed up until I was hidden by some 5 year old pines. I then watched 12 deer walk out into the field and crossed from right to left about 250 yards to the other side. If I had a 12 gauge without a plug and some buckshot I could have leveled all of them. A few of them looked right at me but after a few seconds the head went back down and they continued grazing.
About a month ago I stepped out into a field and saw 2 deer about 15 feet to my right. I slowly backed up until I was hidden by some 5 year old pines. I then watched 12 deer walk out into the field and crossed from right to left about 250 yards to the other side. If I had a 12 gauge without a plug and some buckshot I could have leveled all of them. A few of them looked right at me but after a few seconds the head went back down and they continued grazing.
Last edited by X_Rayted35; 05-05-2015 at 10:48 AM.
05-23-2015, 08:57 AM
#30
Spike
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 29
You sound right where I was almost 40 years ago.
1. do your homework, listen to older shooters/hunters (they are not the same thing, but you can learn from both)
2. this sport is rife with mythology - take what you hear with a grain of salt.
3. Practice hunting in the off season by just sitting/walking in the field and observing.
4. Whether nature or people, you will learn more by listening than talking.
5. a successful hunt is one where you see a critter, not where you kill one.
1. do your homework, listen to older shooters/hunters (they are not the same thing, but you can learn from both)
2. this sport is rife with mythology - take what you hear with a grain of salt.
3. Practice hunting in the off season by just sitting/walking in the field and observing.
4. Whether nature or people, you will learn more by listening than talking.
5. a successful hunt is one where you see a critter, not where you kill one.