What Have You Learned?

[Wanderer]

I've learned that putting your cell phone in a camo case makes it harder to find when you knock the case off your belt while hitching up your fanny pack. Took me three weeks to find the darn thing.

[jonny5buck]

I have learned its not over ,till its over..i shot a doe from the ground ..about 12 yards away, complete downpour BIGTIME!i watched her hook around and fall right on the edge of a trail& the cornfield.I approached slowly..real slow..real real slow,then i knelt down, and thanked god , this deer will not go to waste,i said! I glanced to my left& couldn't believe this wide 12 pt buck was standing there staring at me ..me staring back at him.. i laid on the ground shaking, trying to knock an arrow..i stood and  drew in one motion..i never took my eyes off him..maybe i should have .i think the pins are on my bow for a reason? I shot what would have been a perfect shot ,if only that buck was laying down ;18 ft to his left; and about 10 yds closer.I think he actually laughed instead of blowing air,as he gracefuly lept away,i thought ;now its over.

[coach]

I shot what would have been a perfect shot ,if only that buck was laying down ;18 ft to his left; and about 10 yds closer.I think he actually laughed instead of blowing air,as he gracefuly lept away,i thought ;now its over.

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]
 
I'm not laughing at you....its the way you said it.   That's quite the experience.
Your right...it never over.'

[nhdeerchaser]

Be a better shot, and if my shot is not as on as it should be, and I do hit him/her, give the animal more time to bleed out and die before getting out of my stand.

[69Viking]

I know I learned more than just two things this past season but these two are the ones that stick out.

If you have big racked buck in the woods off to the edge of your green field don't rush the shot and think it through. Make sure you aren't going to hit a limb and if he's quartering away make sure you move your shot back to compensate for your angle of entry. Yep, first shot I have missed with my Marlin 30-30 and the scope in good working order.

My second lesson is one I'm sure I should have learned from reading some of Woods Walker's posts. I was sitting over a small cornfield planted as a food plot in a shooting house from sunrise until 7:00 am while it rained steady. When the rain ended I decided about 7:30 to get down and go on a walk about since I was the only one on the 110 acres that was hunting that morning.

With the wet ground I knew I could quietly walk the trails and check a few other green fields from a distant vantage point. Well I should learn to walk more slowly and scan the trails ahead of me at every corner with my binoculars. Had I done that I would have seen the two does sitting on the edge of a green field before they saw me. As it was I walked up on them in the quietness of the wet trail and didn't see them until they were about 15 yards away and bolted for the deep cover along the creek bed without offering me a shot. I know for a fact I could have spotted them with my binoculars from about 50 yards away had I taken the time to look.

My hunting season ended with me taking one mature doe in early December and missing out on a nice buck and a possibly a second doe. Safe to say I'll be more careful this year should I find myself in the same circumstances!

[Cut N Run]

I learned to let the little bucks walk. 100% of bucks that are killed will never grow any bigger (except in someone's mind or their stories). When I worked in a Sports Shop that also served as a game check-in station, I quickly discovered that the guy who complained the loudest about never seeing (or taking) any big deer usually checked in small 1.5 year old bucks. He also usually arrived to check his deer fairly early in the morning, meaning he probably shot the first buck he saw.
 
I also learned that you can't be too scent free to deer hunt.  I hunted as a guest with a group who cooked elaborate breakfasts before the hunt while wearing their hunting clothes and some even smoked afterwards.  I didn't change into my hunting duds until I was about to hit the woods.  I saw more deer than all of them combined every time I hunted with them...closer too.
 
Patience, patience, patience.  When you think you can't sit any longer, go an extra 15-30 minutes.  It could be the difference in the opportunity at the biggest deer of your life and going home empty handed.
 
Know the people you hunt with. I have seen reckless, dangerous, un-safe practices, and was lucky not to have been killed by someone I didn't know who was hunting the same piece of woods.
 
Use your doe tags.  I've hunted places that were over-run with does because nobody tried to control their numbers. Any buck with the littlest antler growth on his head was liable to be shot down in a hurry, while the does got a free pass, even if they had a bigger body size.
 
Spend a little time in the woods on stand before the season opens to get yourself in hunting mode before the season opens. When it is "Game On" you will be more ready for it than if it was your first time in the woods.
 
Take time to help another hunter if he or she needs it. A deer is easier to drag with two people than alone. I have helped several people find deer that were either poorly hit or the shooter could not find. Venison is too good to waste.  Buzzards have to eat too, but they would enjoy roadkill just the same.
 
Jim

[JOEL]

great post cut n run

[John1961]

Thats a very good post Jim Thanks

[bwhntr]

Work harder in the off season, and I'd rather be lucky than good. Whitetails are not on a schedule like we are, they pattern us more than we pattern them. I've always heard that we make our own luck, and I think it comes from hard work, whether scouting, setting up stands(I like to set mine or move them right after hunting season) if you don't, they will know something is different in their living room, etc.

Pray hard, work hard and most of all play hard.