Tips for a new deer hunter

[Arsenyev]

Hey yall this is gonna be a my first year deer hunting.
I was wondering if I could get some tips or things yall wish you knew when you started out deer hunting.
I want to learn how to find and track deer, I know people use cams but that's money and id rather do things the old school ways.
I eventually want to get to a place where I can go way out into deep sticks and at least give myself an opportunity at a deer.
This year tho since its my first, I'm just scouting and I'm probably gonna hunt out of blind, cause I want the opportunity (if i get lucky) to learn how to gut,butcher, cape, etc.

[Marker]

1. Pick up a copy of 'Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails' by Eberhardt, he also has videos on U-tube.

2. Locate and scout (boots on the ground) some hunting land (public is OK) and invite someone out to hunt with you in the hopes of reciprocation. Reciprocation does not always happen but keep trying, going out with other like-minded hunters is the best to learn from.

3. Take a compass in the field as a backup, don't rely on anything electronic as your sole means of navigation.

[tracer]

Good tips Marker. My suggestion is to learn deer biology.

[gbk]

Read related books (the more the better)watch selected You tube videos ........and do not aim high(to avoid early disappointment).
The rest will be trial and error.

Hopefully if you are lucky ,take baby steps and persist ,in a few years all will blend together for You.

[tracer]

"things yall wish you knew when you started out deer hunting." Air current thermals- the thermals rise in the morning as the air temperature rises and fall in the evening as air temperatures drop. So your scent stream will carry with the thermals to the deer, example: ( no wind ) I'm setup on a small hill off a well travelled deer trail in the evening, deer come through toward my position and I am busted when my scent stream carries down via thermal air current to their nose. You want to be hunting this spot in the morning when the thermals are rising. I have been busted so many times this way when I first started out.

[Sam Menard]

The journey to becoming a successful deer hunter takes years. I went on my first deer hunt 47 years ago and am still learning. Here are 10 rambling tips that might be helpful in speeding up the process:
1) Read lots! I own more than 30 books about deer and deer hunting and have subscribed to “Deer and Deer Hunting” magazine for over 25 years. OOD is a great resource too, unfortunately they publish less than a dozen deer articles per year. Learn deer biology, ecology, and behaviour firstly, and tips/techniques secondly. Unfortunately, there can be a lot of fluff and bs in print, some is obvious and some not. Sometimes you have to take what you learn and test it in the wild.
2) Watch videos: there’s tons of content on YouTube to the point where there is over-saturation. Although it’s entertaining to watch hunts, try to not to get hooked on the heavily edited commercial shows, or hunts that are about hunting over bait piles. Try to find educational content.
3) Keep a journal and document your hunts including weather, what you saw and did. Reflect and make notes of what worked and what didn’t.
4) Observe deer: learn first hand how deer live and interact with each other and other species. Resist the temptation to call and rattle every deer that you see. If you’re not going to shoot it, then leave it alone.
5) Be patient: filling your tag usually takes time and you might get skunked for long periods of time. Be realistic and set reasonable goals and expectations. Be positive and be ready. Resist the temptation to shoot the first deer you see, there could be other deer (including a nice buck) nearby. Waiting might also give you a better shot.
6) Learn from others: although having a mentor would be awesome, you can also learn from other hunters by analyzing successes and mistakes. Although deer have habits and can exhibit patterns, there are no absolutes in deer hunting. Just when you think that you have things figured out, deer will prove you wrong. Keep an open mind and respect the knowledge that older hunters have acquired. On the flip side, recognize that not every old hunter is knowledgeable. A good way to determine if a hunter is knowledgeable is by his/her success rate and by the techniques that person employs to fill his tag. A hunter that constantly shoots bucks by still-hunting likely has stuff figured out.
7) Hunt where there are deer. This sounds simple enough but if you learn deer ecology and behaviour, you can focus on hunting where deer actually live. Deer don’t spend their time equally across their entire home range. Their home range will consist of feeding, bedding, and travelling areas. In between, there could be areas of dead space that offer little benefit. Also, deer will regularly/seasonally shift their activity within their home ranges e.g. here today then gone tomorrow. A patch of ground will only support a finite number of deer and some areas are better than others. Seeing 10 deer feeding in a field doesn’t necessarily mean there are 30 deer in the woods that you can’t see. Often, the home ranges of several deer will overlap at food and water sources.
8) Dedication: if you want to be consistent and successful, you have to put in the time. Hunt as many days as you can and stay out as long as you are able to. Try to hunt all day, so take sufficient food and water and dress appropriately. I’ve noticed that many hunters will only go out at first and last light and will sit around camp during the day. Although deer are crepuscular creatures, they still move about during the day.
9) Learn different methods, tactics and techniques: the common methods of deer hunting include stalking, still-hunting, waiting on/in a stand or blind, pushing/driving, and road-hunting (boo). Some techniques include rattling and calling while using mock scrapes and rubs can be considered tactics. Everything has a proper time and place and you must be resourceful and adaptable if you want to be successful.
10) Become a marksman: pick a suitable weapon and projectile and practice regularly. Strive to kill your quarry with one well-placed shot. There are 3 shots that will drop a deer in its tracks… head, neck, and top of shoulder at junction with spine. These are precise targets that affect an animal’s nervous system and a misplaced shot can have dire consequences. Heart/lung shots provide more target area and are fatal; however the deer might travel a ways before dying. A high spine shot can drop a deer in its tracks and cause it to thrash about in what might appear to be death throes, but suddenly it recovers and bounds away. Gut and leg shots can result in the animal escaping (and dying a miserable death) or a long recovery. Avoid shooting at a running animal or one that is concealed by brush.

Good luck and enjoy the journey!

[rf2]

^ Excellent reply!

[bellerivercrossbowhunter]

I'm on my 30th year deer hunting.

I could probably write a book on what not to do. lol

I will repeat what others have said.
Hunt where the deer are and not where you want them to be.
If hunting private land work hard on maintaining permission.
Understand Shot placement anatomy and wait for a broadside shot.
No matter how good you think you are you will eventually injure a Deer and you won't find it. Learn to accept it and learn from your mistakes.
Learn to call and when to call.
Study field dressing techniques and how to care for the meat to ensure every edible ounce of meat is used.

Most of all have fun and enjoy yourself.