Deer Hunting Tips

For the experienced hunter the following deer hunting tips may seem obvious but the basics need to be reviewed often and for beginners they need to be learned well.  A successful deer hunt involves more than traipsing through the woods and shooting a trophy deer. There is a lot of preparation required, safety precautions to be followed and discipline needed, but by following these deer hunting tips you will greatly increase your chance of having an enjoyable and successful hunt.

Basic Safety Tips:

·    Avoid all alcoholic beverages before and during hunting.

·    Treat your gun as if it is loaded and ready to shoot; never rely on a gun’s safety.

·    Don’t climb a tree or stand, jump a ditch, or cross a fence with a loaded gun.

·    Never pull the trigger unless you are absolutely sure your target is a deer.

Tips to Get A Deer:

·    Start Early – While some hunters prefer to hunt an entire day, sunrise and sunset are the preferred times for finding game. Deer tend to come out of the brush to feed only in the early morning and late pre-dusk hours. Head out to your deer stand or blind well before daylight in the mornings and well before dark on evening hunts. This gives the hunter plenty of time to get set-up and be prepared before the deer start to be active. Nothing is more disheartening than arriving to your hunting area,  chasing away a magnificent buck while getting to your stand or blind because you arrived too late, and not seeing another deer the rest of the hunt!

·    No Scents – Always be aware and take precautions to eliminate any unnatural odors. What may smell good to your spouse or friends usually smells like dander to a deer. No deodorant, cologne, perfume, after shave, or scented/deodorant soaps. Wash the clothing you will be wearing with an unscented detergent or plain water before a hunt. Deer have an amazingly sensitive sense of smell and even the slightest hint of a scent can send them scrambling away.

·    Be Still – When you are in a stand or blind move as little as possible and very slowly when you do. I believe the hardest thing for me to learn was the technique of slowly looking from side to side for hours at a time while sitting in a freezing cold deer stand. Deer are extremely wary of any sudden motion.

·    Be Silent – Silence is essential to a successful deer hunt. I have often been amazed (and later disappointed) with the sensitivity of a deer’s hearing.  Deer are especially alert to human voice or any sort of unnatural sound. If you are hunting with a partner and must speak only do so in a very low whisper and use slow hand signals whenever possible. Always be careful not to knock your gun against the stand or a pair of binoculars.

These are just the very basics and there are a lot of other things to know before you can call yourself an expert, but following these few deer hunting tips will greatly increase your chances of bring home that trophy buck you have been dreaming of.

Advanced Deer Hunting Tips