Your last minute tips for deer hunter rookies

What last minute tips do you have to offer the newcomers to our sport? Here are a few of mine...

A well hit deer can still run a surprising distance before collapsing or simply laying down before it expires. Pay close attention after the shot to see which way it ran and do your best to notice specific trees or other markers so that you can trace its exit path. Also, plenty of deer have been found with no found trace of blood behind them.

While 9am can be the time when many hunters begin heading back to camp, it can also be about the time an old buck leaves his bed. You might be surprised at what you see between 9 and 11am.

Never be the guy who only brings enough for himself to eat and drink at deer camp.

Be the first to volunteer to help when the opportunity presents itself.

Nobody gives a toot about how much lead you can blast out the end of a barrel or the price of your scope. However, they care a heck of a lot about whether or not you can hit what you’re aiming at with a bullet. And in many deer camps, if you draw blood but don’t recover the deer, subtract one deer from your lease quota. It may happen to everyone, but some folks don’t view themselves and their fellow lease members as everyone.

And finally, if you don’t know or have doubts, ask, no matter how simple the question. No one came out of the womb knowing how to deer hunt.

Good stuff Dan.

I will also add, be patient after the shot. Take your time before going to search.

There is no need to whisper after firing your gun.

Always keep gun muzzle in a safe direction.

It's all a gamble, don't second guess what stand you will be in.

Don't spend to much time looking down at your phone in the blind.

Bring a nice urine bottle. I prefer to rotate orange juice containers.

If other hunters, respect their are with proper ingress and egress routes.

Listen, listen, listen. I hear more deer walking thought the woods than I see. Sometimes you think it's a a huge deer and its a squirell.

Fyi due to time change now, 9 am is like 10 am on opener. So stick around until 11. My best buck was at 10:35 am in December. Saw nothing earlier. It's all about patience or play another phone game and look up.

And if you are on my old lease, shoot the first deer you see since you will see nothing afterwards. That lease sucked!!! Then some knucklehead took his grandson there the next year, fell asleep and killed a 150 inch. You just never know.

Yes, pure luck carries a lot a weight in deer hunting.

TP. Carry TP.

Dont shoot the first deer you see, unless it's a bigun . If you see deer looking back in the woods, hold your fire. Big boy could be on his way. I've shot lesser bucks, only to have a monster run out and run off.

I would stress gun safety. Keep your weapon unloaded except when you’re in your deer stand. Be aware of where the muzzle is pointing at all times. I am constantly on watch for proper muzzle discipline from others. Even hunters with decades of experience can sometimes not pay attention in which direction the muzzle of their rifle is pointing.

Have fun and enjoy the experience even if you don’t shoot or see a deer. Harvesting an animal is but a small part of hunting.

True. Killing a deer, to me at least, is just a small part of being in the deer woods.

Know which way the wind is blowing.

Be careful with your rifle when you are in camp and by yourself. Make sure you unload it before you get into camp. If you carry it to your blind loaded then unload it before you get into your blind. Especially if any climbing is involved. Just be careful with it.

Bore sited doesn't mean anything, Double check your zero before you hit my feeder.

I lost a shirt in Colorado because I failed to heed this rule

Stay until END OF SHOOTING LIGHT! It's amazing how many bucks I see in the last 30 minutes of light.

"Have fun and enjoy the experience even if you don’t shoot or see a deer. Harvesting an animal is but a small part of hunting."

I like to get wall hangers as much as anyone else, but I truly enjoy the experience and the campfires more than the kill and I try to instill that in my kids. Enjoy what nature has to offer even if that day is just birds and the occasionally rabbit running out in the mesquites.

Look closer. Look for movement. Look longer.

Practice, practice, practice. Know your weapon like you know yourself. Fire it before you go into the field. Study your trigger pull and your point of impact and last but not least, breathe then squeeeeze, don't yank the trigger.

I have some sleeveless t shirts for this very reason

I read one time, and it works, don't look for deer.... look for parts of deer, nose, tail, legs, ears... great book, wish I could remember which one it was, probably "Shots at Whitetails"... a great read for every deer hunter

I was told by an old hunter to look for horizontal lines. He said in nature everything grows vertical and to look twice at anything horizontal. Found many a back and belly of a deer standing in the bush that way.
Also told by a old woman hunter to always look as far as you can. She said your eyes will pick up any movement between you and where you are looking. And she was right.

or the last 15 min.


I've got 3 animals on my wall that appeared in the last 15 min of shooting light.



Of course I've got like 9 others that were killed with plenty of light left but you get what I'm saying

Put those crosshairs on a specific spot on the deer, not on "the deer". The most common cause of a gut shot or lost deer is centering the whole deer in the scope.

Baby wipes.

I was told those things when I was kid. The horizontal thing is absolutely true.

Know your legal shooting times for each day. Carry a pen and whatever you intend to use to attach your tag to your deer before you move it. Don't hunt stands if the wind is wrong.

When you get in the stand open all the pop tops on the beer cans so you don't spook anything later.

This becomes much easier with enough target practice so the mind is well conditioned to focus on a specific point. Otherwise, the mind often struggles to overcome the realization that you’re shooting at a animal, which can bring on an overwhelming case of “Buck Fever.”

It’s also important to visualize the path of the bullet as it passes through the animal to ensure it will hit the heart and lungs. Depending on how the animal is standing relative to you, you may need to adjust the aim point for that reason. However, shots from the direct rear are never ethical because of all the tissue the bullet must travel to reach the heart and lungs. And frontal shots must be more precise to avoid hitting the stomach. There is nothing worse than having to clean a gut shot deer and it will result in points being deducted from your camp scorecard.

or the last 15 min.


I've got 3 animals on my wall that appeared in the last 15 min of shooting light.



Of course I've got like 9 others that were killed with plenty of light left but you get what I'm saying [/quote
Lol! Thanks for the laugh! Totally get what you’re saying

But the beer goes flat.

Hard to teach experience. But that's why they invented 16 oz screw offs. And makes a good pee bottle if you don't overflow it...

If you're "dumping" in the woods, cover your TP with leaves - landowner does not want to see TP scattered around property.

That's why I use camo TP! Reminds me I need to get some more.

Aim small, shoot small.

Make sure what you're shooting at is what it is. Identify.

And make sure your set ups have a good backstop. Know you target and what is behind it.

For guys who don't hunt A+ properties, I offer this nugget.....

If you would shoot it January 3rd, shoot it November 3rd

I offer this: if you would not shoot it on November 3rd, don't shoot it on January 3rd. That's killing for the sake of killing. Let it grow and shoot it on November 3rd of next year when there is no question in your mind..

be quiet.
be still.
pay attention to where the deer will be, you've already scouted
and know where that will be, right ? forget what's behind you.
put your phone away. put your paperback book away. put your gameboy away.
you can diddle with that stuff any other day of the year, or at night at camp.
watch for deer. you can't deer hunt every day of the year. use that time wisely.
if you don't know for sure that you can make the shot, don't try it.
learn from your mistakes and try your damndest to not do them again.

If you hunt in open country, you should spend A LOT of time with your binoculars glued to your face. And look for shiny things in the woods. When the sun is right, a deer will really shine.

Also get in the stand at least 30 minutes before first light in the morning.

Stay late last hour is the MAGIC HOUR. Having said that try to make sure the deer have left the area before you exit the stand. You do not want to "educate" a smart ol buck.

Don't come to the property and sight your gun in the day before the season opens. Show courtesy to fellow hunters and neighbors with quiet time.
If you get a deer early opening morning, don't drive back and forth and disturb other hunters till an agreed upon time.

You're drinking to slow..

One more.

The more you walk the more you see. Do your best not to tip the deer off that you’re coming after them.

I think the previous reply about November 3rd and January 3rd was not about desperation but about taking good opportunities as they come.
I past on 150ish main frame mature 10 point three or four seasons ago on opening evening of gun season. About 89 degrees and sunny. Kept thinking about how hot it was, and about all the bigger ghost bucks we’d seen on camera.
He slipped away and I never saw him again. Didn’t harvest a trophy buck that year. Never pass on a buck on the first day of the hunt that you would shoot on the last day of your hunt.
Probably the fourth or fifth time I’ve learned that lesson.

Bring a Pen/zip tie and Tag and fill the log out immediately after shooting.

One more for deer camp: Everyone has a favorite rifle, and what matters is that you're both comfortable with the rifle and caliber and shoot accurately with it. Don't be bragging about your sniper-setup 300WM with the scope that allows you to see the capillaries in the buck's eyeball and has a stock custom-carved by blind artisans. There are old-timers at that camp that have killed more deer than CWD with their trusty 30-06s or .243 and either iron sights or scopes the diameter of a pencil. The same goes for all your high-end gear and KUIU gear. It's cool, but rarely necessary and it definitely doesn't make a good hunter. Most of us were taught by old timers in jeans, ropers and the surplus army jackets or red/black plaid coats!

If you hunt around the Bandera area don't stay out too late at the Silver Dollar or 11th Street Bar.