best decision you ever made hunting?

[longrangelead]

realizing I can choose my attitude.

In hunting, life and every endeavor, attitude is a choice. letting a bad minute ruin your day, week or longer is a choice. choose to learn from the things that don't fit the plan and enjoy the ride.

When I was young, I was so fixated on one outcome, I let little hiccups ruin a good thing.

Prepare for bad weather, eat enough, sleep enough and don't waste daylight.

Hunt hard, hunt often. These ARE the good old days.

 

[MallardSX2]

#1 Hunt all day. I have killed a lot of animals that got bumped me by people who feel the need to go back to camp for cocktails and lunch.

#2 Focus on the areas with your eyes way out in front of you and stop worrying about looking down so you don’t crunch a leaf of breaking a stick…this was huge for me.

#3 Know how to shoot well under pressure. You can do everything right but you can’t suck at shooting under pressure.

 

[Snowwolfe]

Trust MY instincts and not my hunting partners.

 

[Marble]

My best decision was a series of choices surrounding the goal of having equipment that helped keep my wife and me comfortable in the woods.

We both have alpha glass, lightweight tripods, good packs, quality clothing and boots designed for layering and a sleep system that is warm and fits.

Doing this gets rid of the great majority of things that create discomfort and thus helps us have a better experience over multiple days in the woods.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Pony Soldier]

Early on I found I had to cover multiple miles to learn patterns and migration paths. I have many places I rarely hunt any more because I never found animals or even tracks. I don't avoid them but only go there when I have run out of good places to hunt.

Another critical decision has been to pay attention to local wind patterns drainage by drainage. It really affects how you hunt specific areas. I don't hunt 20-40 acres. I focus on 90-120 square miles.

 

[kcormack]

Moving from Virginia to Idaho 35 years ago.

 

[accountantsanonymous]

After a few days, my buddies packed up and left. I decided to stay one more day and killed my first bull that night.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Stay in your stand until the very last second.

 

[highcountrymuley]

Stay after it when the hunt gets long. Killed my biggest buck second to last day of long hot mz season. Killed 4th rifle cow after saying I was leaving the morning before. Take a half a day off to rest if you need to, but stay out there!
Also: don't chase rumors other folks give you - trust your own scouting. That advice got me the mz buck

 

[Kyguy]

I quit asking for people to go with me and just started going.

I need to take this to heart and do it. Everyone wants to go until it comes time to pony up money and do it.

 

[PA farmboy]

I love how you'll get guys that notice how successful you are so they'll want to go with you. So then you say sure we can try out a new area and tell them to help out do some scouting and you get back the "Ill go wherever you go" response. Hard to even enjoy the hunt when you deal with guys like that.

 

[elkhunter505]

Hunting areas with fewer people and fewer animals. Killed my biggest buck doing it. Left and then decided to come back on a hunch and ended up finding more deer by looking just around a corner.

Hunting midday during almost every season other than whitetails.

Don’t hunt with people that don’t put your level of effort into it. Even if they’re slower/faster, as long as they put the same effort in and match with your attitude, they make good hunting partners.

Glassing off a tripod rather than hand holding.

Allowing curiosity when hunting new areas/out of state. Specifically while whitetail hunting, some dumb tactics and spots have produced bucks with my bow.

 

[7mm-08]

Just go - hunting, that is.

 

[199p]

Mine would be
not shooting the 1st animal you see, watch and you will learn a lot.

 

[wapitibob]

Buying points for E/D/A in multiple states.

 

[displacedtexan]

#1 Hunt all day. I have killed a lot of animals that got bumped me by people who feel the need to go back to camp for cocktails and lunch.

I agree with this.

But I try to balance it with "stop when you need to"

Occasionally you do need to just stop for a few hours. I've even taken a day off out of town. Take a nap. Warm up. Eat...

If things are frustrating, SOMETIMES a little bit of mental rest and reset is exactly what you need.

 

[MallardSX2]

I agree with this.

But I try to balance it with "stop when you need to"

Occasionally you do need to just stop for a few hours. I've even taken a day off out of town. Take a nap. Warm up. Eat...

If things are frustrating, SOMETIMES a little bit of mental rest and reset is exactly what you need.

I’ve taken a LOT of woods naps. Lol 1:00-2:00 is my “napping hour” lol

 

[Z71&Gun]

My best decision was to bring my off-breed pet dog hunting. He is a husky/shepherd mix. We learned how to upland hunt together. Neither of us is going to win any awards for retrieves or marksmanship, but we kill birds now and have become such good friends along the way. It's like a whole other part of each of us that has become super important, that we look forward to all year, and that almost never existed.

 

[displacedtexan]

I’ve taken a LOT of woods naps. Lol 1:00-2:00 is my “napping hour” lol

I usually like my nap before lunch.

Sleep 30-45 min at 11ish, eat some food and GET IT!

 

[kybuck1]

I've got 2 that come to mind and both involve spending money
1. Buying my own hunting land
2. Buying and completing a bucket list hunt when I could first afford it