brand new hunter has a simple question for everyone.

[elkyinzer]

Be safe. Don't embarrass us (the fraternity of ethical public land hunters).

Keep the wind in your face and the sun at your back.

Enjoy the ride, not just the results.

Measure success on your own scale, not what magazines or internet champions tell you what it should look like.

Use short term disappointment to create long term success (aka learn from your mistakes).

Good luck brother, and welcome to the addiction.

 

[WestORHunter]

Welcome! I would say dont be so focused on killing the game I am after and enjoy the surroundings and adventure.

 

[sdr]

Take a good shooting course so you are very proficient from different shooting positions. Making a clean kill is especially important if you are just starting out.

Start scouting now. You need to get used to glassing and figuring out where the animals live and feed. The more time you spend now looking for animals the better off you will be when the season gets here. You may be surprised how hard it is at first just finding the game you want to pursue.

 

[7mag.]

There is no substitute for time in the field.

 

[Manosteel]

Practice shooing, lots, be it a bow or rifle. If rifle, pick up a .22LR and go out plink shooting (stumps, cans etc) with the .22 you can shoot it 2 or 3 thousand times and it won't cost very much. and like Nick says - shoot everything you can legally.

 

[Dos Perros]

Find a mentor to learn from. It's no fun to learn most everything the hard way. In some cases it's flat dangerous.

 

[VAHunter01]

Just had surgery this morning, so a little bit loopy here...

Two things right off the top of my head though:

1) While we all like to kill, hunt in a way that you can enjoy no matter if you're successful or not.
For me, that meant getting off the the farms (where there are tons of game and shot opportunities,) and hit the backcountry where I feel
at home and have fun either way.

2) Good boots and packs are much more important to me than most other things I use while hunting, including the weapon I'm using at the
time.

Best of luck to you beginning this life-long journey. Even though I have no clue who in the world you are, I truly hope hunting brings as much joy into your life as it has mine.

Edit to add: Always, always have a camera handy.

 

[luke moffat]

Time in the field trumps the latest and greatest gear.

A $300 rifle will harvest animals just as well as a $3k rifle.

Take care of your feet.

Have fun.

 

[elkbowkevin]

Rule# 1 Be proficient with your weapon. Know it, shoot it often.
Rule# 2 be patient with your abilities. keep your expectations in check
Rule # 3 have fun. It ya aint having fun hunting you might as well not do it.
Rule # 4 Fine a mentor that can help you learn the ropes, this will shorten your learning curve tremendously.

 

[COlineman78]

The #1 most important thing is confidence. My most successful seasons are those that I spent more time preparing and was both physically in shape and 100% confident in my shooting. If you are second guessing your hold or are uncomfortable with the shot you will miss. Practice shooting from weird positions and if you can weird angles. You will never have a perfect shot.

 

[Dfive]

Wow, I'm a bit overwhelmed. I have certainly tapped a rich vein of ore! Thank you all so much for your wisdom. I'm not sure there is any better advice I could have hoped for. I hope one day many years from now I can pass the favor forward and help people out in kind. I want to give this my best learn all I can before deer season and fortune was with me when I signed up here. I'm also fortunate to have some mentors who are very good hunters. My brother in-law has tagged a half dozen or so elk, lots of bear and lord knows how many deer all DIY. Also I have good friends I fish with who are successful also. I've been an avid big trout fishermen for years, often in winter conditions, so I'm used to hiking heavy loads and working in and being in cold and wet weather. I have a lot of the gear I will need already. I'm coming into hunting from a very humble and respectful place. I'm a big fan of Steve Rinella, Cam Hanes, Remi Warren and the respect and knowledge they show. In fact, listening to those three guys and Joe Rogan led me here. I've lost 30 pounds and completely changed my life around to get in shape. The best thing I have going for me is I love to learn and I don't mind loosing for a while as long as I think I can win eventually. And obviously i'm a crack shot at picking internet forums out! I'm trying my best to put myself in position to have a lot of fun. Thank you all again for your sound advice. I guess its up to me to take advantage of it! Speaking of which, I think I'll read through it all again!

 

[Jeff Martin]

Do not get caught up in a number AKA someone else's thoughts on a trophy. You will hate the sport as fast as you came to love it. The TV shows have reduced hunting to a number and it makes me sick. I agree with Nick - shoot and enjoy the passion filled venture.

 

[kingfisher]

I have never been so excited about a question, because I love hunting so much, and what it has done for my life, I am excited for you. I would give advice, but it looks like those who have answered have you covered. This is a great forum keep asking as you go.

 

[aboltlrhunter]

Have lots a patience. I still struggle with it at times.

 

[kodiakfly]

Welcome to hunting. You can't help but find it rewarding, for any one of a thousand reasons. That's the easy part.

My advice, so you don't lose the good in it....

Mind your own business and hunt for yourself and stay off the internet. As soon as you start comparing yourself or your season to other people's, your enjoyment plummets. Shoot a 140" whitetail, your buddy shoots a 150" from the same stand a week later. Stay low and hunt (or fish) for yourself and don't compare your hunts to what some guy on the internet or some guy from work does. Guys will say, "any XXXXX is a trophy..." and then you show them what you shot and you can see their reaction tells a different tale. I read a well known author in a bowhunting magazine the other day said to not pay attention to antler size; guys put too much value in big antlers....says the guy who every article he writes is accompanied with massive dead animals. What you kill is no one's business but yours and your close, inner circle.

Trust fewer people than you'll be inclined to. You'll get burned. Pick one or two people you can trust to date your sister and stick with them. If you don't, you'll lose hunting spots, get in fights over who shoots first, have secrets spread across the county and get pissed.

Ignore hunting shows. They are fantasy. Remember those guys are usually paid to hunt and outfitters, guides and property owners beg them to come hunt with them, and editing is magic.

I don't mean to sound like a downer; actually I'm quite the opposite...I want you to enjoy this! Enjoying the outdoors and getting all poetic and one with nature is the easy part. That's why we do it. But all of that is out the window as soon as a "friend" intentionally goes behind you and shoots a deer you told him about. Or as soon as you tell a guy where you plan to hunt and he then goes and gets permission or cuts a trail the day before you do. It happens. I've learned more about the hunting world from negative experiences than from good. The good stuff comes easy and is just as easily ruined by the bad. But the bad is usually avoidable.

 

[tttoadman]

Good boots and a good layering clothing system. All the rest like packs and optics can be pretty cheap and still get the job done.

Take pictures. They are for you, not for sharing on F'ing facebook.
We don't talk about how far we can shoot(except those long range guys, but they are weird).
Don't share where you hunt. Your hunting spots are sacred after you put a lot of hours into them.
Search out that one partner that is like minded. More than one can be busy.

Hit the trails often, and be proud to tell people you are a hunter and scouting for deer hunting. I have great conversations with non hunters throughout the summer with my giant camera on my hip. I think it helps bring us together with the common passion for the outdoors, and removes the hillbilly in a truck mentality that people perceive.

have fun!!

 

[mtnwrunner]

Be safe. Don't embarrass us (the fraternity of ethical public land hunters).

Keep the wind in your face and the sun at your back.

Enjoy the ride, not just the results.

Measure success on your own scale, not what magazines or internet champions tell you what it should look like.

Use short term disappointment to create long term success (aka learn from your mistakes).

Good luck brother, and welcome to the addiction.

Great post by elkyinzer. I will just again echo ethical hunting. Remember that character is what you do, who you are and how you act when no one is watching.
And the last thing I will add is something that my dad told me YEARS ago and he proved it by taking about 4 million Kodak slides----you can never take too many photos.
Have fun and take lots of photos!

Randy

 

[napeequa55]

20 years from now, your best memories are not going to be about how cool your gear was.

Spend your money on gas and time in the woods, and don't fall for all the marketing about the next biggest thing.

 

[2ski]

Appreciate the little things about the hunt. The squirrel that sat on the branch about you chattering away, the mouse you saw nibbling on grass 5 feet away, while you sat still as you could. The sunrise and sunset. The little things.

 

[larryschwartz]

Another thing to keep in mind is to ignore most of what you see on the hunting shows on television. They are nowhere near realistic. They compress into a 30 or 60 minute show the events of a few days or even weeks. You may not see anything on a given day or you may walk up on a herd of deer or elk feeding in a field. The only deer you see may be a yearling rather than a 6-10 point mature buck. But you may see a bald eagle fly overhead or hear a flock of Canada Geese as they wing their way south for the winter, or watch a fox being harrassed by a half dozen squirrels as he runs back and forth trying to figure out which one to go after (one of my favorite treestand hunting memories).