So I want to start a thread and let everyone share some mistakes they've made over the years to help some of the new guys out on here. The biggest reason I'm starting this thread is bc I'm seeing MORE & MORE people starting to show back up and the trail cam pics are rolling. (Good thing!) BUT..... I notice a lot of people that have decent to great deer on camera and they're in there checking it several times a week or weekly. As a young hunter I blew two 160"+ deer off my property bc I was SOOO excited to check the camera and get pics of them. Turning them into nocturnal animals first and shortly after running them off the property. Deer this time of year will take a little pressure but they wont take it long without becoming completely nocturnal. My only reasoning for bringing this up is to help...... Getting pictures are great but is it worth blowing that deer out and never getting a shot at him. Pics don't taste as good as venison so check with caution! What are some other mistakes people have made over the years that could help refresh our minds?
I knew nothing last year and screwed up lots. No scent control. Washed clothes in regular detergent. Same clothes as working on cars and stuff so stunk of gas and chemicals. Didn't wash or spray during season so definitely ripened each day of my scent. Sat same stand morning and afternoon almost every day of rifle season. Also was in field lots leading up with friends hunting geese. Hadn't learned anything prior and no one corrected me. Learned tons since. Shot an 8 that I'm personally proud to have for my first with rifle, but after learning all my screw ups makes me wish I knew earlier since I had a closer shot the hunt earlier with a true trophy til he scented me and took off just before I could pull the trigger. Always more to learn, but looking back I'll never be that ignorant again
Which category of mistakes? Holding mature bucks? Shot selection? Killing deer? Bloodtrailing? Equipment? Setups? Broadhead selection? I have bowhunted since 1970 and could list 300 plus mistakes. That's why a good mentor cuts the learning curve down immensely. My teen boys have a combined 100 kills and 2 book bucks. I just took a newb pig hunting, great shot, 35 yard broadside on a nice boar, pinwheeled with no penetration? He got excited and shot his judo. There's #301. Welcome to bowhunting kid.
My biggest mistake used to be, and sometimes still is, spending too much time shooting my bow in my backyard and not enough time scouting and learning about the deer in the areas I hunt. That's not to say I don't think practice is important and I do shoot all year but I'm not a tournament archer I'm a hunter first and I think I would be better served spending time trying to figure out how to get closer to the deer than trying to be able to win a 3d tournament.
As rutin has said, pressure is most important. I think it is more important than the wind. Property rotation is key. One funnel I hunt along a creek that produces year after year does not get hunted until late October and it is off limits to even walk in after mid February. I keep track and usually have about a 35% chance of taking a shot (could be only a yearling?) with my bow every time that stand is hunted. I know when contiguous property is getting hammered and then hold off until the right weather allows. I have learned to get all crazy Oct 30th thru Nov 21st. Before and after then I try my best to stay calculated. I used to "f" some stuff up.
As far as camera placement. I'm as tempted as the next guy to run out and check cameras. I agree, use caution when checking cameras this time of year and always. Maintaining proper scent control in key even in the summer. Personally I hang cameras only on field edges this time of year. I limit getting too far into the woods. As of now I'm only checking cameras every 2 weeks or so. Like Rutin said deer will accept some human pressure, but not too much. It mostly depends on where you're hunting. I have a lot of agriculture around so the deer are some what used to tractors, four wheelers, and trucks. Use common sense and don't over do it. Trail cameras have cost me more bucks over the years because I was over aggressive.
my mistakes have remained the same for years. I can't seem to stay out of the woods when I need to. So my deer come out later then the owls LOL One day I'll learn
I think the biggest mistake that I have made is not being patient. There have been countless times where if I had stayed in the stand, whether it be deer or turkey, then I may have gotten an opportunity at the buck or tom that I spooked walking out. This also plays into my calling. Sometimes I get really anxious when I hear a tom gobble or buck and get really aggressive and call too much. There have been only a few times that being aggressive has worked. I'd say these are my biggest mistakes.
Two years ago I a 150+ inch buck coming down a trail at me. It was complete torture because I saw him from a couple hundred yards away. By the time he got to about 50 yards I was shaking like a leaf. He locked eyes on me and was gone. I was left pretty heartbroken. Two days later I shot a 131 inch buck, so that took the sting away a little. Regardless, I think of that movement I made everyday that sent that deer running.
Great topics and reminders.... we are always learning something new and I think its good to share learning curves like stated above to help others and refresh ourselves. I don't know a single person that knows it all. Theres so many different topics we could go into that it would take years on this thread to cover them all. Keep em coming...
I would say that the biggest mistakes I have ever made have been not being patient and not thinking about our entry and exit routes. Since I really started to pay very close attention to how we enter and exit each stand our hunting has improved a ton. Don't go to stands that have mediocre entry and exits routes until its the right time. Hunt the edges and let the deer come to you. Watch what the deer are doing from a distance if they make it to you great if not pay attention and when the time is right move in. In my opinion its better to see deer every night then to hunt right on top of them and blow them all out of the woods. Third I love to check cameras. You need to check your cameras like you hunt. Stay out of the woods. I have a few dummy cams out on the edge of the properties that I can check when I get the urge. I understand that you have to check them thats why I try to outsmart myself and keep myself off my farms.
Im as impatient on checkin cams as anyone could be but I'm slowly learning. I know my biggest mistake last year was movin in my stand to much. I thought I was blending in really well till I doe busted me cuz she saw my feet movin. Them are my two biggest mistakes so far.
I have made the same mistakes everyone has brought up from scent control, to over hunting, to route selection going in and out, but one thing that makes me absolutely sick is losing a deer that you have shot just because you got impatient and pushed them. If I could give any advice to a new bow hunter it would be to give a deer plenty of time after you shoot it, even if it is a good shot. All it takes is one time to bump a deer after you have shot it and that could be it.
There are some years where I don't shoot my bow enough but do a ton of scouting and studying their patterns. Other times I wasn't patient on taking a shot when a deer was within range.
My most memorable one would be to shoot my bow at to high of poundage and it's happend to me twice over the years and I've finally got it and bought my new bow with that in mind. I am setting it up for those circumstances and mainly the Cold. I've had it happen twice and both times on 170 or bigger deer. You sit in minus 30 plus degrees for 6 hours and then the big guys shows up and you try to draw and the sucker won't come back. When the weather changes and the cold starts to be a factor,lower your poundage and you'll be a happy hunter cause of it. I've just about set up my bow for 3 different poundages for this factor, and of course ,mother nature has me doing this as age has become a factor also.We don't need to pull 80lbs and it's not a shame to shoot 60lbs when you can draw 80lbs. I tore my Rotator Cuff last year drawing on a bull moose on Nov 14th at 70lbs. If I'd had my poundage set lower I would have been able to harvest my moose @ 9yards. I also would never had to endure 9 months of rehab. Rocky
I have made a tremendous amount of mistakes over the years. I will just touch on one of those mistakes....confidence. Scout hard and be confident in your set ups. If you are constantly questioning yourself throughout the hunt as to your set up, I believe you weren't that confident in your set up anyways which means you probably did not put in enough scouting.
Lots of good stuff here... I'd like to comment on the checkin cams topic though. I don't think it is as cut and dry as some folks make it out to be. Paintin with a broad brush so to speak. All properties are different and the deer on them as well. Example I have one place that I wont even put a cam on let alone check it weekly, you bump a deer once on that place and it seems you never see him again. Yet across the county I have deer that see me regularly, whether it is me filing feeders fixin fence or screwin with the dang cattle I am out there quite a bit. The catch here is this. That piece of property is 160 acres of that 160 about 60 is huntable, I actually hunt about 15.. That's right 15 acres!! The remaining "huntable" is a sanctuary. I have one cam on the edge of that area I haven't checked since the last week of June. One camera on the area I do hunt I check weekly through the summer but come the second week of August I will stay out till the last check before opening day. When the deer on this property feel "pressured" they simply move to the sanctuary. I'll also add that this time of year my deer see me as food. They routinely show up at the feeders moments after I pull away. It's like they hear me pour the corn lol. That changes come the end of Sept. Additionally my third property is nothing but a sanctuary, summer time there is hardly hide nor hair on the whole place come opening day when the pressure heats up all around it is teeming with deer!! I guess my point is... no two places are the same and unless you REALLY know the property and the deer on it err on the side of caution and don't over do it, know the deers limits in other words. That aside I think the biggest mistakes I and many others make is patience. It can be hard to stay on the stand come day 5 in a row for the entire intended sit especially when it is slow. Case in point last season, I had just punched a doe and slipped out of my stand, I text my dad who was a couple hundred yards away and told him to continue his hunt and I would be back so we could recover my doe. He replied that he was bored and would just get down, I replied right back to say I thought he should stay put cause the deer were just getting on their feet. Next thing I know I see him walking up the road. He gets in the truck and we head over to recover my doe..... guess what was standing DIRECTLY under the stand he had just got out of??? That's right a biggun!! A solid 150. He was sick to say the least and I got to rub it in for days after he ate tag soup... lol
Not patient enough on stand, had a buck walk under my stand 2hrs after I go out of it last year; need to let a deer lay for a few hours before tracking; has taken me years to keep the same routine in my draw cycle so every shot is as close to the same as possible.
Tacklebox - You bring up a good point about land ratio when hunting vs sanctuary. Knowing the land you hunt and the herd you hunt is crucial! I truly believe it takes you 5+ years to learn 100-150 acre farm and the way it should be hunted versus how the deer use it. Cameras are not a cut and dry topic like you already stated, you cant take everyone situation and paint it with the same brush. The biggest thing I see here is that every state/county is different. I could guarantee that your deer put up with pressure A LOT better than a deer in OHIO. Depending on where you are in the country deer act completely different, you can even break that down into counties by state if you wanted. Most deer in OH have learned to look UP bc they've associated pressure from above. The ratio to hunters vs. deer in this state is ridiculously high! Out in the plains like KS this isn't as big of a problem and deer don't see enough pressure to think this way. I had 7 buddies hunt KS last year and the footage was amazing at how the deer worked compared to here, its like they didn't have a care in the world. Deer here know that EVERY 5 acre woodlot has a hunter somewhere in it ready to kill them so they walk on pins and needles and are mostly nocturnal. I guess where I'm going with my rant is that camera checking is all based off where you live and the amount of pressure but at the same time you can live in a low pressure area and create more pressure than necessary resulting in turning a good buck nocturnal or bumping him off the property.
