See The Night

Soon, millions of people will be thinking about the upcoming deer season. It’ll be here before you realize. With the economy the way it is, more and more people are taking to the woods in an effort to try and put some fresh meat on the table. Just walking out in the woods and plopping your butt down next to a tree and the act of actually tagging a legal deer are totally different things. If you don’t already know this, you’ll soon learn it the hard way. Beginners need to understand how deer move and many other aspects need to be taken into account in order to be successful. By having some patience and following these tips, you may be successful this year. You will soon find out that deer hunting is a enjoyable sport.

First, whatever weapon you choose, make sure you practice, practice and practice more until your an expert. Every year, thousands of deer are missed, or worse - wounded - by people who are not proficient with their bow, rifle or black powder rifle. By taking the time and becoming proficient, you’ll be assured of a quick, clean kill. Most hunters consider it their responsibility to make ethical, clean kills.

Now you’ll want to locate some maps and data. Topo maps are a must tool to have, especially when hunting new areas. They can show you many things including creeks, ridgetops and funnel areas. Another invaluabe tool if you can get your hands on it is your States harvest data for previous years. This will turn you on to areas with high deer population. But this can mean that there is higher numbers of hunters here also. There should be lots of data from the State, but I look for the hunter success rate first. Success rates will tell you how much success other deer hunters have had in one are.

Now it’s time to find some deer to pattern. Marksmanship is a good thing to have. But to be successful, you’re going to have to know how to find deer. Without fail, many hunters will end up hunting in an area where they’ve never scouted before. They then wonder why they’re not seeing any deer. Many of these type of deer hunters walk a few feet off the road and wait until about 8 O’clock then start walking around, spooking game or getting lost! Take scouting serious. It’s directly related to your success. If you go into your hunting area immediately prior to the hunting season, you’ll spook deer.

Proper scouting is more than just walking around the woods looking for a deer track. You need to know the difference between an old and fresh track and old and fresh poop. Look for bedding areas, feeding areas. The trails between the two are excellent places to harvest a deer. Just be careful of the wind direction when choosing a place to set up a blind or treestand. You’ll also find out that hunting the moon phase will help you.

Finally, you want to do everything you can to find areas away from other hunters. Seek out those areas with low hunting pressure. While they may be hard to find, you’ll thank youself with the numbers of deer you’ll see. Most of the stats that I’ve ever read say that the average hunter goes no further than a quarter of a mile from the road. If you have the chances to get a half mile or further from the road, then by all means do that! Finding areas of unpressured deer is your utmost goal, These deer will be easier to hunt. Just ask any good deer hunter, there is no guarantee anyone will kill a deer, no matter how good her or she is!