Going off of Caleb's thread... Might be a little inappropriate of a question, so if you dont wanna put your input in you can ignore it... How does other people's knowedge effect "your" success... And how much other people's knowledge do you think "you" have into your hunting.... No wrong answers. People can be honest sometimes.
I've learned most of my hunting from dad and my uncle. It was all shotgun hunting though. The whole bowhunting thing, it's all me (uncle died before I started bowhunting, and dad didn't bowhunt til this year-- Im teaching him!), and this website. It's a whole different ball game than shotgun hunting.
Very interesting subject for me. I hang out with ALOT of hunters, ALOT of good hunters. Im somewhat stubborn though. We love to have a good time here in Chatham, Ohio..and thats means there is alot of competition, and ego's. For the last 4 years i have done everything on my own, from reading here/magazines and watching some DVDs/TV to doing all my scouting, stand hanging and hunting on my own. I could easily latch onto a family member or friend and have them set me in there stands, help me more, and it would probably get me alot more opportunities. That's just not the way i wanted to start my bowhunting career though. Ill enlist some help here and there in the future, but it will be to build off what i have already learned. I feel alot of pressure from people to "shoot Freak Daddy", or any big buck for that matter, but it doesn't bother me a bit. I like having a standard to follow and a set goal that i want to achieve.
I would say 95% of the things I carry in my head each time I hit the woods was learned from being alongside my dad through my early years of hunting. The remaining 5% are things that I have learned via magazines, dvds, t.v., internet, and also just the other things I knew, but just elaborated on them.
I guess I'm an outlier here. 80% of what I've learned I've learned from the school of hard knocks. I was motivated to hunt by a friend in highschool and we grew up learning it all on our own. I never had anyone to teach me. The rest I've learned from reading about other's experiences and adapting that to my own situation.
Pretty much the same as Kodiak. I learned to hunt on my own. I was always the outdoor type and fished and small game hunted, sometimes with friends. Never had many family members that hunted and my dad never had the patience. He did have 120 acres of land, that once I found out was home to a few deer, I needed to hunt them. Then when we moved to our new home in 1992 there were deer all over the neighborhood. No gun hunting allowed, so I started bowhunting on my own. Made lots of mistakes, still with a gun hunters attitude. Slowly learned what it took to kill them with a bow. Mostly on my own by trial and error and some from magazines. No internet back then. I really didn't find this resource until 2006 I believe. I've learned a few new tricks on here. But a lot of the new fangled stuff is just common sense with a new twist or gimmick.
As of bowhunting, i have seriously learned about 75% of the little knowlege i do have from all of you guys no joke. Nobody in my family hunts bow seriously, a lot of gun hunters but thats a hugely different story from what i found out. 10% is from what i learned being out doors, naturally i love the outdoors and i am constantly learning. The other 5% is from my local pro shop i visit regularly. This site has shortened my learning curve drastically, and i owe it to all you guys!
Not too much for me... I have picked up some great info from several members... but I have also read way too many "tips" from guys that have no way of affecting how I hunt. Cardeer (though he was bashed) helped me alot more than most.... his tips may have sounded crazy but they worked. I remember him giving me tips on a buck that we had nicknamed "The Ghost Buck".. I missed the deer at 30 yards (130-140 class 10 pt.) and after that, we never imagined seeing him again. Bob told my buddy and I to try to collect his droppings, dirt from his tracks, ect..... pretty much any sign that he had left... put it in a zip-lock bag, and place that bag at our stands when we hunted. After exhausting all other options, we tried this and my best-friend was the first to have the bag. Our a cold, windy, and rainy day... he had an encounter with "The Ghost", but hit a limb on his shot and missed the buck.... wether it was superstition or not... the only time after the initial viewing was when we used Bob's tip. His track record with his necklaces was impressive to say the least!
Guess I should have posted my own response. I have learned probably 95% about shooting and working on my bow from this and other forums. Bowhunting knowledge as far as the difference between it and gun hunting, probably 50% from here and 50% on my own. I started hunting and fishing at around 7 yrs old. I hunted with my dad and brother until around 12 and then started going on my own for whatever was in season. I trapped and hunted with the knowledge my dad and others gave me, and learned a lot on my own from just staying in the woods hunting and trapping. I really just love being out there in the fall and winter months. Nothing like it to me.
Greatly. It effected me much more when I was younger. My dad Is a great teacher of the woods no matter the animal he's hunting. I am very fortunate to have the upbringing that I've had from my parents. My dad Is and will always be my best hunting buddy. As I've gotten older I've figured out a few more things on my own but to be honest I'm not sure I'll ever have that "big buck Instinct" that my dad has. The man just knows what he's doing plain and simple, It's pretty awesome. I have allot of my dad In me, but I want more of him In me. I've picked a few things up from folks on here and other hunting forums (thank you all) but mostly everything came from my dad with the hunting part of It.
i learned most of mine on my own,but a friend of mine dad would stop at my work and show me huge deer he had taken with bow and gun but the thing was he stopped by every year, so i kept on him about not where he was hunting or would he take me with him but show me how he did it. yes he had a great spot but he turned out to be a master hunter,very quite and elusive,fact was while i was beating my spots to death he was waiting for a three day window during the rut when the wind was perfect for his stand that only gets hunted maybe five days a year bow and rifle. yes less is more so i now keep my own spots like the funnel he showed me and meat hunt around the areas i dont mind dragging does out of or i just want to still hunt in without tipping off the big deer on my own honey hole.
I always enjoy reading about you talking about your dad so fondly. You are one lucky son and he is one lucky father to have the kind of adult father/son relationship that you have. While I get along fine with my dad and have never had any issues, we have never particularly been very close either. We just have different interests for the most part. As far as my hunting, I was basically self taught, especially when it comes to bowhunting. I did not know anyone that bowhunted when I started and I made lots and lots of stupid mistakes. But along the way I gradually learned a good foundation in which to build upon by reading magazines/books (this was before the internet) and from bowhunting friends I met along the way. The fun part of hunting is that you (at least I) never quit learning from your own experiences and from others as well, including things I read from others on here.
most of the stuff i have learned have been through 3 friends..which are not experts, but put down alot more deer than i have..im always open to their suggestions..but sometimes, i wanna find out for myself and try things...whether they like to do that or not...but this site also helps me a ton..im no expert, yet im a young pup when it comes to bow hunting..i do know im doing things right, controlling scent, wind and things..but like i said im still learning...
Damn that is what I am missing this season I forgot to have my GL cardeer necklace on. Thx for the reminder.
My dad taught me to hunt elk predominately but at 17 years old I lost him, so I am a self taught whitetail hunter but without a doubt there have a few select individuals that have steered me in the right direction. Still the mountain and the bucks that live within it have taught me more about hunting them than any other aspect. I would say my kinesiology and biology background has weighed in heavily on the approach I take with my hunting philosophy, tactics and methods. I also spend a lot of time year around in the woods, that scouting unravels the big picture! My education from hunting sites would be in the form of confirmations, and helping me to look at other perspectives and appreciate and use a little of this and that from everyone's input.
My dad is a hunter and I first started going out with him, but he is not very into it. He taught me what he could, but it was minimal. None of the guys I started bowhunting with were very forthcoming with information since hunting around PA is highly competitive for opportunities even amongst friends. Most of what I've learned has been through trial and error, and error, and error, and well you get it. I do have a close knit group of hunting friends now and we share information which is helpful. I've also picked up some great information from guys here and on other forums that is helpful, but honestly a lot of what guys say on forums does not work where I hunt and I'm sure some of my tactics would be an equal failure on their grounds. I will say the online game has been extremely beneficial from a technical aspect on learning about bows and gear.
