Just curious what everyone thinks the biggest mistake rookies make when it comes to hunting? I don't have one because I'm still a rookie!
The biggest rookie mistake is to go hunting without practicing with their bow, without doing research about deer and their anatomy, and expecting to shoot a monster the first time out.
My biggest mistake from my rookie year last year was,after drawing my bow and looking through my peep and not being able to see my pin, and still taking a shot on that deer. Never again will I take a shot that I know will only be a kill shot by pure luck. Making a not great hit and wounding a deer is one thing, but what a did was completely unacceptable and makes me sick to think about it now.
Obviously poor shots are the biggest rookie or veteran mistakes. Other things I learned the hard way is when to call at deer. Many times less is more and your setup has more to do with success than the quality of sound made. Always play the wind, you can't beat a mature bucks nose. Stay safe, always wear your harness. Never stop learning.
Mine was continuing to set stands along trails waiting for deer to walk by without a clue where they might actually be feeding or bedding. 80 hours of sitting and 2 deer.
Yep. Drawing back from a ladder stand on a hog and not bending at the waist. Pointed the bow down but couldn't see well through the peep and still took the shot Never found the hog but never did it again. Now it's a heart shot or keep the arrow nocked.
Let's see... I messed up twice last year that cost us bucks... really nice bucks. Rookie mistake #1... I had a spot in mind I wanted to get to. As Britney and I were heading into it, we came across a great spot with a lot of activity, a perfect pinch point and would have been easy setting up in for both of us. It pretty much screamed hunt me. I stopped and thought about it, but decided to stick with the plan. Even Britney questioned me when I decided to continue on. We got to our spot and were high enough to see the first spot. Watched a very wide buck walked through it. Rookie mistake #2... Got to my spot. Pulled the range finder out and ranged the area. There was a little bit of a ridge at the field edge where the field dropped off a little. Top of the ridge was 25 yards. I figured good enough and put the range finder back in my backpack. The buck I was most interested in, showed up. Had him at 15 yards twice but no shot. When he finally hit my shooting lane, he was standing on the other side of the small ridge. It threw me a little and I just couldn't get a feel on how far he really was from me. I knew he was past 25 yards, but with only his body showing ( no legs ), I couldn't tell if he was at 30 yards or 40 yards or somewhere in between. I couldn't reach for my pack and unzip it to grab the range finder as there were 3 other bucks with him and the cover I was hiding in ( on the ground ) was mighty thin. He stood there for a couple minutes surveying the area before heading out with the other bucks. I passed because I just wasn't sure. I should have never put the range finder back in my pack as I normally keep it handy for such situations. Stupid me !! Tim
Screwing on broadheads just before season and not practicing with them. Give yourself plenty of time to try them out, tune your bow accordingly (if necessary) and get the advice you need well before season. Just because the package says "flies just like your field points" doesn't mean they actually will!!
heading into my 3rd season im still a rookie and my biggest mistake to date has been not hunting the wind. I practiced a year before i went out, but ignoring which way the wind is blowing has had me busted a bunch of times.
I am gonna say Entry / Exit. There is no point in hunting if you are running through the woods to get to your stand making all kinds of noise, bumping deer out of fields, not playing the wind on the walk in, etc...You gotta give thought to not only where are these deer coming from to get to my stand, but were are they right now and when do I think they will be in front of my stand. Same goes for exiting the stand.
I'm pretty sure that most people would agree, that no matter how seasoned a hunter you are. You will always make a "rookie"mistake at some point. First year bow hunting, I took a less then ideal shot at a deer being a converted gun hunter, it worked out for the best and I learned from it. This year, I stood up and put a jacket on, and got busted by a nice 8 Pointer. I checked around before doing it, but just didnt spot him, maybe if i would have glassed the area instead of just looking around I would have seen him. The second and worst mistake I made was not stopping a deer in the shooting lane, I was worried taking a 30 yd shot he would jump the string. I shot when he stepped just into my lane, well by the time my arrow got to him he had taken another step and a half, hit too far back and did not recover the deer till the next day, and to make matters worse it was 70 degrees at the beginning of November when it normally would have been 30-40's.
Expecting to shoot a monster with ease. I hunted 6 seasons before I shot a buck that I would consider a trophy. The buck I killed this last season was about a 120-130" deer and he's by far my biggest yet. Big deer are hard to find and even harder to try and the guys that consistently kill mature deer have a system that they've been working on for years and years.
Getting discouraged and or giving up... bowhunting is not easy you can't expect to hop in a stand and 30 minutes later wrap your tag around the leg of a giant, nor would that be fun IMO.... Patience is key and the lack of it costs many a hunter to fill their tags... Case in point, last season I had just filled a doe tag and sent my Dad a text that I'd be getting off stand and slippin back to my truck, told him to finish the morning sit. As I sat in my truck watching the field there was 4 bucks all 120 - 140 in deer doggin a doe and that ol doe was pullin em right to my Dads stand...... Well he never saw em comin, got antsy and impatient on stand and started to climb down. As he did they all busted, would he have killed one?? Dunno but had he sat 5 more minutes he would have seen em comin and had a shot at his choice of the lot. This was his first season bowhunting after MANY years away... He learned a hard one that day... Additionally one of the four in the group was the ONE he had put his sights on from my trail cams. He had already passed on several good bucks earlier in the season to wait on this guy, that was the last time we saw that buck during season and my Ol Man ended up with tag soup....
