I've been thinking about my season and the things that I've learned... I was wondering what ya'll (:d )learned this year. My feelings are that every experience you have should make you a better hunter whether it's good or bad. So... my biggest lesson of the year... Don't second guess yourself, trust your first instinct.
I learned to clear a shooting lane into the areas where the "deer won't come from".... if I would have done this, I would have had a 25 yard chip shot at a 120" plus buck the last week of the early archery season.
I learned the deer on my place love turnips. And just because there is a P&Y buck behind every tree in IL, it doesn't mean you will kill one!:d I also learned a few things I want to do before next year. 1. I will cut down some trees to direct the deer more where I want them to enter my food plots. 2. I will strategically plant food plots to make them easier to hunt. 3. I want to create some thick bedding areas on my property. 4. I need to make some back door entrances to a few stand locations for next year. 5. I learned the deer don't always read the books telling them the way they are supposed to use certain terrain features. Like walking around the head of steep hollows or being lazy and taking the easy trail thru the thick stuff.
I don't know where to begin to answer this question. Based on the long thread I posted about my entire season last week the list is way to long to list again!
I learned it's hard to kill big deer...and easy to kill little ones... No really I did learn something this year. I love bowhunting (that's not the lesson), and sometimes it causes me to take it a little seriously. Even though I do enjoy executing every possible attempt at laying down a big buck, sometimes you just have to take it easy. I have found that I enjoy my time in the woods alot more when I am not "stressin". I put that in quotation marks because I am never literally stressing while hunting, I just couldn't think of a better word. My favorite hunts this past seasons were the ones I spent with my friends, and there was never any blood shed on those. btw, there is no apostrophe in YALL. If you're gonna use redneck grammer, use redneck punctuation.:d
I learned that deer turn into squirrels, and that is why I am not eating venison. I also learned not to trust a lite breeze. It will rock you to sleep in a matter of minutes. and deer always come while you are sleeping. sneaky little bast... you get the idea.
I learned hunting big woods is very different than hunting pasture land. I learned that patterning deer that have 2000 acres of acorns to feed on can be difficult.
I learned something that I already knew but didn't do It anyway!! What I mean Is this year I caught myself trying to hunt the whole area/part of the woods where I had my stands up. That's where I screwed up, I needed to just hunt the particular trail and the wind for that trail. All I seemed to think about the whole time was "what Is my wind doing when It's going over there"?? Who cares what the wind Is doing as long as It's good for the particular trail I was hunting. I had some kick ass spots that I didn't hardly give or put any time In being I was worried about my wind going Into some doe bedding areas that I wasn't hunting anyway. A person can't hunt the whole woods and have your wind right for every trail but you can have the wind right for the particular trail your hunting. For some reason this Is the 1st year I hunted like this (hunting the whole woods). Why I did that Is beyond me, I know better but I thought to damn much about. Some times one thinks to much an analyzes things way to much, I was guilty of that this year. It will not be like that next year.
...that taking a kid hunting makes me think of what hunting really is supposed to be. I got all wrapped up in hunting "big" bucks. But to see the joy on a 13 year old kids face when he just sees a deer, that is why I love hunting. It has changed my entire perspective on why I am out there and what it means to be blessed by our Heavenly Father to have the opportunity to spend this part of my existence as a hunter. On a less important note: 1. to spend a little more time scouting, and do not be afraid of moving a setup. 2. to find paths to setups so that getting in undetected is easier. 3. clear lanes. 4. hunt apple trees in early season. 5. hunting with a camera and no "camera guy" is not that easy.
i learned: 1 just because you hunt more, doesnt mean you'll get a bigger deer 2 take the first doe you see... dont wait!!! 3 upgrading all your gear doesnt make you a better hunter, just a better lookin' hunter 4 your ears will fail you every time, so will your eyes 5 try try try again
I learned the same thing Shultzy did....THis was my first year back into the bow scene since about 1980....I set up w/ a gun mentality and tried to cover the whole area....I saw lots of deer that would have been easy to turn into meat if I was using my rifle, but just out of my comfort range w/ the bow... I've already hung three new stands in good locations....I intend to buy one more to have for run and gun situations next year.... SB
I learned all about the Wisconsin tagging system for the CDW zone So I'm set to hunt 3 spots next year instead of 1
Kinda like GMMAT, I learned a lot about how/where to hunt during different phases of the deer. Not only the fact that if your seeing does early then your in the wrong spot, but also once you do find the bucks, you must know when the magic time is to switch from buck areas to do areas. Like this year for example, early I was a seeing a few does and a small buck or two every day. Once I switched to a more remote "big woods" area, I went a week straight where I seen 3+ different bucks per night. After a week and a half or so, things seemed to wash up. This is when I went right in to hunt one of my good bedding areas, the first morning there, my buck died. Made me a firm believer that knowing when to change up is as important as anything. That was this biggie, I also learned that summer scouting wont tell me crap other than what bucks are around the general area that im hunting. This is only because our season dont start until the middle-end of october.
The two biggest I learned this year are: 1. How to read a topo and apply it to my hunting. 2. How the deer use and travel the main property I hunt.
I learned that trying to get the job done in only 3 weeks is damn hard (thank you NYSDEC morons)........I really don't know how the weekend warriors do it with the deck stacked against them every year. To trust my stand placements more and focus instead on figuring out WHEN my butt needs to be in which one. I also learned (just the other day) that my actions helped a few other hunters in my area learn a valuable lesson (I will expand more later). You can fit a 145lb deer into a small SUV without destroying it. It is time for me to buy an ATV. My yearly trips and gifts to my landowners is something they enjoy FAR more then I ever imagined. A meat cuber is a BEAUTIFUL thing!!!!!!!
I learned several hundred things as always.. but will just expound on those I feel will help me go further into where I want to go. A better understanding of scrapes and the exact times I need to be near the active ones. What to look for in a scrape.. and a scrape line. A better understanding of timing throughout the whole season.. as in.. where I should be and what I need to be concentrating my hunting today (right now). When filming.. cover is SOOOOOO important. Get better at it. Two dudes in one tree is NOT the same as what I can usually accomplish. Bring waders when I go to my lease in West-central Illinois. And finally.. no matter how much I love them.. the Cubbies keep letting me down.
