I learned that money spent on quality gear that keeps you in the field longer is a better investment than sinking more dollars into your gun. (actually I already knew this but saw it illustrated when I was able to out-hunt others in my party that didn't think this way) Comfortable water proof boots and quality insulated coveralls made all the difference on my last hunt.

What hunting tip or trick did you learn this year to improve your success?

I am going to take the 3-500 yard shots at monsters, started really practicing about mid december, saw the largest buck of my life, and didn't take the 420 yard open shot....

You are correct on gear, I laughed at people with Under Armour until I tried cold gear a few years ago. It is the bomb for starting a layering process.

I am also a firm believer in have a well built and designed pack, and hunting all day....

Absolutely, if you are confident in your weapon and set up.. Take the Poke

That the property I hunt hardy has any deer.

Don't wait for Muy Grande to show up. If a deer shows up that is one you would like to have, take the shot. I didn't and got Muy Nada for the season. Still enjoyed the time spent hunting...

Charlie

Sometimes it works that way, doesn't bother me though. What does bother me, is how hard I tried to get the wife on a good buck, it would be her first, only to have equipment failures the two weekends she came out. Out of 8 hunts, we saw 5 deer, none of which were shooters.

I hesitated on a 300-350 yd shot and that split second of hesitation cost me a big big buck. Luckily a nice 10 showed up shortly after that.

I learned to listen with my heart. I have learned to speak Sanskrit and I can now divide by zero.

Oh, we are talking about hunting.....never mind.

Couple of things. Zero control when it comes to landowner's and Mother Nature. 2013 & 2014 the owner of our lease sold off the timber right's to a logging crew.

Everything was clear cut.

2015. Mother Nature said let it rain and it did. Sulphur River at Talco is still above flood stage. No access to the property.

3 strikes.

We're out.

I wanna know what colt.45 learned...

I learned pics on the deer with cameras may or may or may not do justice and seeing in person is a whole different story sometimes. But the outdoors and the hunt is what its all about.

I learned that I don't know how to hunt. I know how to sit in a stand and watch a feeder.

I learned that moose meat is awesome.

-That sometimes what a landowner says he wants you to do one day can directly contradict what he told you 24 hours before.
-That a "family lease" brings challenges all its own and that it takes effort and compromise to keep "drama" off a lease. (I knew this really; just had a "refresher course.")
-That a few days with your grown, married daughter can reassure you that she's still your little girl and, she likes it that way.
-That all tires are not equal in the Chihuahuan desert.
-That if you want to eat blue quail, your method of acquiring said quail might require bending the rules of what's "cricket" as far as sportsmanship.

I learned that when the forecast shows the temps to dip into the 30s with bluebird skies that I need to go hunt. Seemed to be something worth shooting on multiple cameras every day we had like that this year.

I learned I can get a freezer full of deer meat w/o firing a shot.

Learned:
*That my wife can take out an entire sounder of pigs, and their children, and their grandchildren... (pigs learned that running off deer from a feeder was not a good idea)
*That if given the opportunity to shoot three bucks, my wife will shoot... three bucks
*That if the wife puts three deer down right where they stood, she will give me grief for having to track one

I learned that game camera pics can be very deceiving. I learned over the last few years that having my young children hunt with me every weekend is better than me shooting big bucks. Especially when one of them harvests a deer.

I can still get buck fever. And I can still make the shot regardless.

I see more and better deer when I focus more on hunting heavily used trails and funnels.

Save your kitchen passes for good weather patterns.

I've come to realize that my dream of going to Africa isn't likely to ever happen. Every year it seems I start saving money for a trip to the dark continent and every year I wind up spending it on something for my kids or my wife or the house! Oh well maybe I'll learn this year but I doubt it!

Oh yea one more thing. Since moving to Louisiana I'm surrounded at home and at work by duck hunters who all claim to know how to prepare and cook duck so that it's awesome. Duck is still damn nasty tasting to me! I'll stick to Axis.

that deer dont like dogs!!!!!!!!!!!! and I'm beginning to dislike my new neighbor

When it floods like it did this year, even the hogs disappear.