What is your best skill???
 

What would you say is the number one reason for whatever success you have in the woods.....no matter how little that may be ;)

I would say that my best attribute in the woods is a combination of being focused and calm enough to get the job done when the moment of truth arives.

I am a good shot. I know my ranges with gun and bow and won't pretend they are longer then they are.......so that part is solved by the time I hit the treestand. I don't have to worry about my shooting ability so I never do. I am confident and sure of my equipment.

I get excited as anyone.......but I don't get buck fever. I don't fixate on the rack or count points or start reserving a place for him on the wall while he is still walking around. My father taught me very well from an early age that you have to stay focused on the job at hand and you can count the points on the rack when he is down. I have never been so worked up that I missed a deer right in front of me or blown an easy shot that I know I should have made due to nerves.......my 2 brothers on the other hand have some pretty funny stories about deer they could have spit on yet managed to miss. LOL


Things I could use some improvement on are patience......I need to just stay in a spot that I KNOW is gonna produce sooner or later instead of bouncing around between a couple different stand sites.....Nothing worse then seeing deer go by the stand you were in YESTERDAY [:@]

I could also be better at sneaking around quietly in the fall woods. If there isn't snow on the ground or really wet leaves I just feel like I make too much noise. I seem to step on every damn twig on the ground. I think I need to be more careful and walk slower sometimes.

RE: What is your best skill???
 

My best skill is sitting. I practice this all year long, and am currently practicing right now. I love sitting. :)

I really haven't had any deer that I have shot due to some "best skill" aspect of the hunt. All of my deer have been "right place at the right time."

I can walk through the woods fairly quiet though. I snuck up on a buck and a doe during the early T-zone season this year. The buck never saw me, but the doe saw me when I pulled up on the buck. Unfortunately, I never had a chance to get a shot off, but I'm next to positive he's the same guy I picked off a couple days later.

RE: What is your best skill???
 

I'd have to say my most developed skill.....even though it's really not a skill, is my instinct. I use many different methods to get my deer, because if I didn't I would likely be eating tag soup. Here in northern Maine, we get only one tag, and it HAS to be a buck.

I am good at stillhunting, stump sitting, calling, and tracking.....I let my instinct tell me what my strategy will be on a given day.

When it comes to making the shot......no problem if I'm using my old standby! Instinct takes over there too, and the shot will most always count!

The points I want to improve on are.....having more stamina when it comes to tracking big bucks for days (and many miles) at a time. This is what I need to focus on improving the most.

I have plenty of patience, sign reading ability, stalking ability, etc. I just need to work on knowing when to speed up and increase my stamina so I can close the distance on those true monster ridgerunners!

RE: What is your best skill???
 

Being modest

RE: What is your best skill???
 

My best skills I would half to say are my eyes for seeing the deer at short and long distances. Also I think my sneakyness and being able to be quiet has alot to do with my hunting success.

MY biggest weekness is that im sometime very impatient and I dont want to wate for stuff to happen. When I hunting by myself im alot more patient then if I was was with some one. IM not sure why that is.

RE: What is your best skill???
 

my best skill is patience..

RE: What is your best skill???
 

no doubt reading deer signs and putting stands in the right place, always had good luck with it and see alot of nice bucks every year

RE: What is your best skill???
 

1) Finding those 'off the beaten path' bucks spots that bucks feel safe in and walk during daylight hours.

2) Persistence!

RE: What is your best skill???
 

Education...never stop allowing myself to keep learning.

RE: What is your best skill???
 

lol...

Blending in is my best skill. If you can't blend in to your surroundings while hunting you might as well stay at home in the fart sack.

RE: What is your best skill???
 

I would say patience, if that's a skill, or the fact that I have researched the areas quite a bit before hunting season that I fairly well know where the deer should be.

Well, I could always add good shot, but that's just all a part of geing a true hunter I guess.

RE: What is your best skill???
 

Best skill? Realizing year in and year out that I don't know squat cause I always see or learn something new. That's what I like about hunting and reading this board it's a lifelong process and just when you think you got it figured out you get humbled. Kinda keeps you centered and puts you in your place at the same time IMO.

RE: What is your best skill???
 

My best hunting skill is learning the habits of the animals that I hunt.

RE: What is your best skill???
 

This is skill(a picture is worth 1000 words):D

RE: What is your best skill???
 

LOVE that photo skeeter! Crap/shoot/wipe, now that's a skill, cool under pressure. Always be prepared, never know when a shot will present it's self. Oh, my best skill??? Planning for all possibities and logistics.

P.S.
And remember "CRACK KILLS":)!

RE: What is your best skill???
 

LUCK

RE: What is your best skill???
 

My best skill is resiliance (spelling?), that is, I keep going back out, even when things look, bad. I got my rifle season deer by going out on a cold day with 40 mile winds and got down in a creek bottom. I wore a huge face muff and was going to hunt from 2pm until dark (6ish), but got the deer between 4 and 5. I just got out there when few others would and got my deer.

Also, I know my hunting land very well. I look where trails come into my stand, and I get to know where they come from so when it's hunting time, I understand what is just around the bend/over the hill/ through those woods/down or up the creek, etc.

RE: What is your best skill???
 

In the bowhunting magazines, there are some ads by an artist who is trying to sell paintings. One of them depicts a bowhunter in a treestand with his arrow in mid-flight toward a nice buck. Another depicts a hunter on bended knee, and with his head bowed in thanks, before a beautiful racked buck he has just taken with a bow. If I had the extra bucks, I would own both of those paintings.
If I have a skill at all....and I really don't claim to have one...I'm just lucky once in awhile...it is thankfulness for the game I hunt...and thankfulness for the health, strength, mind, and ability to hunt.

Clint

RE: What is your best skill???
 

Spotting and Stalking for anything, including whitetails. I rarely hear other people stalking deer and being successful, but it's a tactic I do a lot, even when there's 4 million leaves on the ground.