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Advice for New Hunters

HorizontalHunter

HorizontalHunter

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I have noticed that there seem to a few new hunters in the forum this year and I thought it would be great to start a thread so the experienced hunters could pass along a few of their best pieces of advice.

Here are mine:

1. Be prepared for a successful hunt:
If you shoot a deer in the evening by the time you find it, field dress it, and get it
home the butcher will be closed. I keep a tarp on hand and milk jugs frozen in the
freezer for when I have to keep a deer in the garage over night. Place milk jugs in
the cavity, between the hams, and along the back straps, wrap tightly in the tarp
and place in a cool place in the garage out of the sun. The deer will keep quite a
while like this. This is imperative during the early archery season.

Get and read Finding Wounded Deer by John Trout Jr. It is a great read on how to
find wounded deer.

2. Permethrin based clothing treatment works wonders for ticks. It kills them on
contact. I have not had a tick bite since I started using it 4 years ago.

Bob
 
Practice your shooting all weapons you plan to use and know your and their limitations.

Take ethical clean shots well within your confident abilities. Wounding and not finding an animal sucks, make every effort to put it down quickly and cleanly as possible.

Make sure someone always knows where you will be so if you dont show up back home when you are supposed to and you need to be found they can find you. Accidents happen especially when climbing trees.

Bring more than one sharp knife and a small sharpener, deer hair makes a knife blade dull amazingly fast. A dull blade is a dangerous blade.

Always hunt with the wind in your face, Scent loc can help (if the deer appear down wind where you dont expect them to) but it is not scent proof especially if you dont take all the other steps to stay scent free as possible.
(The fuzzy seeds inside milkweed pods make excellent wind indicators and they are free)

Get in your stand or spot a full hour before it is light enough to see. Take your time getting in so you dont make a ton of noise and you dont get all sweaty.

Be quiet and keep your movements slow and subtle.

During the rut if you can sit all day do it.

Find a way to stay warm, if you are warm it is easier to sit still. One of my favorite tricks on really cold days are thermacare back heat pads. Stick one on your lower back over your kidneys and you will be surprizingly comfortable on some of those really cold days.
 
I'd like to also add that when nature calls (and it will call), have a way to deal with it - esp. if you are planning to sit for extended periods of time. Wide mouth bottles or urine cups with lids are a great asset. Nothing worse than having to climb down just to pee and see a deer sitting there watching you. Yes it happens and no you won't pull some rambo move and get a shot off.

Also, spend as much time as possible scouting and understanding patterns. Around me the deer shift throughout the season. Some runs are used pre-rut, others during rut, and other hot spots are post. Know the area and terrain. Also look for signs of other hunters entering that area and/or exiting. A great spot can be quickly ruined by some knucklehead who decides to stroll through your path. I've had deer coming in on a string only to be kicked out by some a$% coming in after light b/c I posted to close to a path.

Last tip is if you can, learn the distances of a couple visual points from your stand. A range finder is an awesome tool here. Gain knowledge of the 180 from your stand and pick certain markers - fallen tree, stumps, pines, etc and remember their distances. If a deer comes in you will be nervous (probably shaking) and those visual markers will help gauge the right distance so you can make a good quality shot.
 
All really great tips, I enjoy just being out in the deep woods. If I can take game it's an added plus. My helpful hint spend as much time in the woods as possible, it's amazing what you will see and learn. Be patient & persistent.
 
Sit still. Dont move your arms around. Move your head slowly.

Dont smoke.

Be mindful of odors. Example: Dont go to a self serve and pump gas on your way to your stand. Deer can smell coffee by the way. Ask me how I know.

Dont wrap your snacks or lunch in noisy tin foil. Use plastic wrap if you must.

Go ahead, shoot the doe. There isnt always a buck behind her.

If you have the opportunity to shoot two deer at once, lets say a doe and her young, shoot the doe first. The younger deer will stick around for your second shot.

Always be mindful of your backstop.

Be courteous and thankful to landowners who give you permission to hunt on their property.

Pick up after the slobs who went before you. You are preserving your opportunity to hunt where you are by picking up after them. Dont let the pinheads ruin it for you or anyone else.

Dont leave your effing gutbags on the side of the road or trail where Mrs. Tightpants is going to see it or where her kickdog is going to roll in and eat it.

Put your cell phone on silent/vibrate.

Throw a change of outerwear in your vehicle. Put it in a trash bag to keep odors off of it.

Tuck your pant legs into your boots. If you are hunting in thick area and you wear laced boots, duct tape around the top of your boots and over the laces. You wont need to retie your boots all day.

Take a book with you if you are on stand all day. It helps pass the time and keeps you still. I even keep a small cheep ear-bud radio with me . Put the bud in one ear and listen to Howie Carr in the afternoon.

Dont park on private property where you have no permission to hunt.

Ticks and lymes disease really suck. Be careful.

You dont need to show your license to anyone but the landowner whose property you are on and LEO. Keep it in your wallet or where you wont lose it.

Hide your car keys near your vehicle somewhere. They will be there when you come out of the woods, not somewhere in the woods where you were.

Flashlights always die at the worst possible time. Bring spare batteries.

You really look like a dork with all that face paint on when you are in Cumberland Farms. By a face net. It will also help keep bugs off your face. Remember what I said about moving your arms?


Dont shoot more deer than you can gut and drag out by yourself... [thinking]
 
Always wear a safety harness in a tree. I fell from a roof in 98 and shattered my scapula, collar bone and cracked open my head. I was lucky I did not die. I was only 15 feet up
 
zerodown said:
Also, spend as much time as possible scouting and understanding patterns. Around me the deer shift throughout the season. Some runs are used pre-rut, others during rut, and other hot spots are post. Know the area and terrain. Also look for signs of other hunters entering that area and/or exiting. A great spot can be quickly ruined by some knucklehead who decides to stroll through your path. I've had deer coming in on a string only to be kicked out by some a$% coming in after light b/c I posted to close to a path.
.
Click to expand...
Use these hunters to your advantage. Learn where hunters enter or leave a given area and where the deer go when they scram from the noise of hunters coughing,talking,parking their cars or walking into the woods.
Figure out where the deer go and be there. This has worked for me numerous times.

Most hunters give up around 8am. They make noise and stir things up. Be prepared to hunt for a while after they start moving around. A lot of deer are shot late morning into the afternoon.
 
Stay put. The majority of hunters leave the woods between 10:00-11:00 am.
I have killed several deer from my stand around high noon. It's not easy, but when the big buck comes cruising by
it's worth it!
 
Wait to track your deer abit but not too long. I put a shot on a deer and gave him alittle while to bed(about 2hrs) it was a monday I had off and I hit him at about 8:00am so i was in no rush. I started tracking him took alittle longer than expected because it started to rain but after about 3 hours of tracking I found a still warm gut pile at the end of my blood trail. And another thing don't go gear crazy scentless showers, scentless detergent, and scentless spray works fine (by scentless I mean scent eliminating) I have gotten a kill shot on a deer at 15-20 yds on the ground with my bow in clearence bass pro leaf ghillie. I know some people go out and buy $1,000 in scent-lok ( which I read somewhere they are being sued for saying thier cloths eliminate scent which they don't they just don't absorb scents like cottons) and they still don't get a deer the indians and settlers where excellent hunters and did it with what we consider primitive gear so focus on your skills more than you gear. And on the not getting a deer keep hunting I waited 4 seasons before shooting and succesfully retrieving my first deer it happens. The deer you shoot and miss teaches you more than 10 dead deer at camp use the hard winters as the excellent learning tools they are. Other than that watch out for the squirrels they think they own the trees and the chipmunk will sound like a grizzly coming through the woods. And one last thing deer and deer hunting, and traditional bowhunter(if a bow hunter) are two must have mags in my mind.
 
Lots of good sound advice above.

Here is what I can add to it:

1. Practice shooting with your opposite hand (I've had some chances where if I switched hands I could have taken a shoot and instead of waiting and losing the deer in ground fog - my window to shoot was about 10 seconds. Know your ability with your firearm: practice, practice and then practice some more.

2. Don't look at anything you don't intend to shoot if you have a scope on your rifle/shotgun. That is what binoculars are for! I can't tell you how many morons would look at me with their scoped rifles when I hunting in CT on private property.

3. I use those Photon Lights to walk in to my stand - orange or red color - just enough light to see and it won't screw up your eyes like a white beam will. I have at least one or two on my body all the time. Very handy for whatever reason - great to signal some one at a distance if you need help. Batteries last for many years! Tie a rope around your flash light and hang it around your neck.

4. Always carry a whistle as well if you can't get good cell phone reception in the areas you hunt.

5. I always leave itinerary or tell some one where I will be more or less in case something happens and I don't show back up.

6. Wear WOOL socks - even when wet they will keep your warm. Rubber bottomed boots leave no scent. Baffins or Sorels are great when it is COLD.

7. Carry your coveralls or heavy coat out to your stand and not wear it on the way out. You work up as sweat walking with all your gear and so you don't want your scent too strong.

8. I use the landscape to my advantage - I stopped using tree stands and just sit on the ground. Get some thick close cell foam for your bottom and back - lean against a tree. I tie flagging tape around the 6' up on the tree truck so I can look back at where I shot from when I am trying to see the line of path when trying to pick up a blood trail in heavier thickets/brush.

9. Bring along a cheap long plastic kids sled - I strap my deer to it and it makes dragging it out much easier! I know this sound silly, but it works. It is more strenuous than you think it is so take your time and stop to catch your breath if you need to.

10. Pack along some rain gear just in case. Weather here in New England changes a lot so be prepared. Better to be dry than wet and miserable. Don't trust the weatherman!

11. I use to leave stand area when 8:30 am rolled around and found that I am patient and wait until 10 or 11 am that it can really pay off. I go back in around 1 pm and when you are going in load up because I have jumped bedded deer only to see them bound off because I didn't chamber a round, LOL - live and learn. [laugh]
 
Use a single edge razor blade(not a razor knife refill, the type that goes in a scraper) to gut your deer and a rigid short fixed blade or lock blade knife and a 2 inch piece of wood to tap it to split the sternum if you need to.

A razor blade cuts clean and efficient like a scalpel and works far better than any knife I've ever used. You will not find an easier blade to use, nor get a better job than a razor blade.

DON'T CUT YOURSELF......cut the deer.

Bring latex gloves if you don't want bloody hands.

Don't ponch the stomach.

Don't knick the urine bladder.

Bring gallon ziplock bags for the heart and liver.

Hang the deer by rear leg tendons if you intend to eat the meat, hanging from the head settles fliuds and blood back into the best meat on the animal and should be avoided.
 
All GREAT tips!!!!
I have no funds for a stand or a blind this year, so I've
been practicing with my bow in the sitting/kneeling position
just in case.
 
md2020 said:
Lots of good sound advice above.

5. I always leave itinerary or tell some one where I will be more or less in case something happens and I don't show back up.

Something I forgot that me and my firend do ( also good to have a hunting buddy if the land is big enough for it) When i leave I leave a note at home where I will be parking and I don't get good cell phone reception so I bought a really good set of walkies that I have tested from the farthest stand in I have they work great, just leave one in the truck and one on you and one for your buddy if you are hunting with one.
Click to expand...
 
Finalygotabeltfed said:
Don't knick the urine bladder.
Click to expand...


Wait to cut around the genital area till after you have located the bladder. Once located reach in and grab the bladder in your hand and squeeze. All the urine runs out where nature intended it to exit the body from leaving very little to spill on the inside of your animal if you do make a slip with the knife when you remove it totally.
 
Always think you are going to kill a deer. Don't drop your guard. It is possiable that you could shoot a deer your first day in the woods.

Pack light, know where you are going. Keep the wind in your face. If you think you are moving slow, move slower.
 
boxerjake77 said:
All GREAT tips!!!!
I have no funds for a stand or a blind this year, so I've
been practicing with my bow in the sitting/kneeling position
just in case.
Click to expand...

I hunt exclusively on he ground and i shot 3 deer last year so you can be successful hunting on the ground. I carry a 6' x 4' piece of cammo fabric with rope ties on the ends that I often use to set up a makeshift blind on the ground. It is lite, fast to set up and take down, and can be thrown in the washer at the beginning of the season to be washer in scent free soap.

Bob
 
arlow said:
Wait to cut around the genital area till after you have located the bladder. Once located reach in and grab the bladder in your hand and squeeze. All the urine runs out where nature intended it to exit the body from leaving very little to spill on the inside of your animal if you do make a slip with the knife when you remove it totally.
Click to expand...

+1
This is some great advice!
 
arlow said:
Wait to cut around the genital area till after you have located the bladder. Once located reach in and grab the bladder in your hand and squeeze. All the urine runs out where nature intended it to exit the body from leaving very little to spill on the inside of your animal if you do make a slip with the knife when you remove it totally.
Click to expand...

Also if the deer did not evacuate their bladder when it died you may be able to get some fresh doe/buck urine for a mock scrape or drag.

Bob
 
Dont rush, not when you are walking in and not when you are walking out, but most importantly dont rush to shoot when you see a deer. If you are doing your job right the deer wont know you are there and will give you time to calm down, steady yourself, and pick your shot....quick turns and rushed shots usualy lead to running game and missed shots
 
As a new hunter, I cannot thank you guys enough for sharing these great tips. I've been doing a LOT of scouting recently, both in the mornings and after dinner. Seems I need to get out earlier in the morning (I go at 7am), and stay out even later (I come in when it's just dark).
 
If sunrise is at 6:30, that makes legal shooting time at 6:00 I try to be in my stand by 5:15 at the latest. I dont want to be bumping deer out of the area on the way in and want time for the woods to settle down from my disturbance before it is light enough to shoot.
 

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