Welcome to Deer-HuntingTips.com, your home for continuing information and discussion about one of the most enjoyable sporting activities of all time and your source for the best deer hunting tips online.

We will continue to offer the best deer hunting tips, tricks and little known tactics to help the experienced hunter as well as the absolute beginner. Whether you prefer to scale the great Rocky Mountains on majestic mule deer hunts, or hunt the  South Texas Muy Grande Whitetails, there is no other sport that will get the adrenaline flowing and the heart pumping quite like a deer hunt. We will be offering tips on the best deer hunting rifle, stories of whitetail and mule deer hunts, review and offer deer hunting videos, and introduce deer hunting outfitters and guides.

Welcome to your best source of Deer Hunting Tips online!

One of the most important decisions for you to make in your hunting career is what deer rifle you should purchase. The keys to achieving your deer hunting goals come in the form of the best firearm for you. When you go to pick out a firearm, you want the one with the best style, action, sighting, size, and ballistics for your hunting area and physical capabilities. Whether or not you make the kill is largely reliant on whether or not your deer hunting rifle matches up best with the criteria above.

Your Specific Hunting Environment

The two main types of deer hunting environments are the deep woods/dense brush and open range country. You may be hunting in an area that has a mixture of both these environment types. Every hunting environment has different styles of shooting and require rifles with different characteristics.

Deer Hunting Rifles for Deep Woods or Dense Brush

Deer hunting rifles that work best in the woods are rifles made for medium or short range shooting. Most of the time, you’ll only be shooting from a distance of twenty-five to two hundred yards. So, having a deer hunting rifle that’s relatively light (nine pounds or less, including the scope) with a short barrel length (twenty two inches or less) is best. It’s important to be able to move quickly and easily through densely wooded areas. You may also want to consider rifles that have automatic functions and are easy to reload. It’s fairly common, when deer hunting in rough country, that you end up needing to take multiple shots in quick succession in order to make your kill. I would recommend using heavy bullet cartridges, .270 caliber or greater, with at least a 120 grain bullet, in order to penetrate any brush that might be in the way of your intended target. Any cartridges that travel more than 2200 feet per second have a higher chance of being deflected by the brush, and are therefore not well suited to densely wooded terrain. If your hunting terrain only allows shots to be taken within 50 yards or less of the intended target, you may want to consider using an open sight. If not, I would recommend a scope with four power, or a variable scope that can get down to 3X. You may want to conduct a few experiments at your local rifle range to figure out whether or not open site shooting suits your hunting style.

Deer Hunting Rifles for the Open Range

The best deer hunting rifles for open areas are made for long range shooting, and most are best at shooting 300 yards or farther. In this situation, mobility is less important than being able to shoot accurately, and the ability to make long distance shots. That said, most open range deer hunting rifles are heavier than their deep woods counterparts, and have a longer barrel. The best calibers and cartridges for open range deer hunting, are flat shooting, and high velocity. 6MM (.243) calibers or higher will work well, and bullets from 100 grains or heavier will be best. When shooting larger caliber rifles, heavier bullets are generally best for accurate shooting. The minimum required scope for most shooters is a 6×9 variable scope.
Personal Shooting Style and Abilities

When you start looking for the best deer hunting rifle for you, you want to make sure that you keep the above considerations in mind. Make sure that you are comfortable with the way that you’re shooting, and how you shoot when using a high caliber or magnum caliber rifle. Do you really want to lug ten or twelve pounds of long rifle with you around your deer hunting terrain?

You can probably go to your local hunting rifle dealer and try out a variety of different deer hunting rifles, and get a better feel for what you want and what “fits” you.. You may also want to consider asking any successful hunters that you’re friends with what kinds of rifles they use, and their reasons for using them. If you’re really interested in learning about their firearms, you could ask your friends to let you hold and handle their rifles, and ask what they like and dislike about their rifle.

Choosing the perfect deer hunting rifle takes time and consideration. The type of shots available in your hunting terrain and your personal preferences all have to be weighed, but when you are matched with the perfect firearm you will feel the confidence to make your shots nearly perfect every time.

 Where to Start

For the modern deer hunter the proper choice of a telescopic sight to fit his rifle, hunting environment, and personal shooting style is second only to the deer hunting rifle itself in importance. When deer hunting season opens, avid deer hunters will want their rifle to be outfitted with the ideal  scope, one that suits not only his rifle, but also the area he is hunting in, as well as his own personal hunting and shooting technique. Some deer hunters may be in a situation where they will need to shoot from a great distance, and so for him the scope must be the very best that his budget will allow. Often hunters find themselves in a variety of conditions, and so they may prefer variable power scopes that allow them the options of general observation, close range or long range shooting.

When you are hunting deer, it’s important to choose the best telescopic rifle you can possibly get considering your shooting style and weapon, that the only thing more important is choosing a deer hunting rifle itself.

If you want to shoot from long range, you should invest as much money as you can in your scope, so you can ensure accuracy. Most hunters prefer to get an adjustable magnification scope so that he/she is able to preform general observation, closer range shots, and long range shots, all with one scope. When looking at the listings for an adjustable rifle scope, you will normally find the minimum magnification, the maximum magnification, and the diameter of the objective lens. For example: a “3x9x42″ scope will be listed with a minimum magnification of 3 power, a maximum magnification of 9 power, and a 40 millimeter objective lens diameter.

The Magnification Range

A scope in the 3 x 9 magnification range for deer hunting is pretty standard.  However, if you are hunting in thick woods and your shots will typically be 50 yards or less, you will usually do fine with a 4X scope. In open area long range hunting situations, a 4 x 12 or 4.5 x 14 is often preferable, especially when your average shot is several hundred yards.  If you are hunting on the plains or in open country, you will want your scope to be at a higher power. You can typically see all around you, with little chance of an animal surprising you.  There are alo instances where you will be shooting from one hilltop to another.

Objective Lens Size

They typical deer hunting rifle scope has an objective lens size of 40-44 mm. However, you can find some advertised objective lenses as big as 50, 56, or possibly 75mm. However, it won’t do you much more good to get these gigantic lenses. The larger lenses do not typically function much different from smaller and lighter versions, unless you are in very dim conditions and then they must be set at the highest power option. The pitfall is a lack of comfort and ease of eye alignment.  If your scope is mounted appropriately, all it takes is a simple shouldering of the gun and opening your eyes  and you’ll be able to naturally see through the scope, with no need to crook your head to any uncomfortable angle just to see through the scope appropriately. However, the large objective lenses make this impossible because the mounting height for the scope will put it at an unnatural position for your eyes. Having to mount your scope this high will cause you to have a rifle that is heavier, clumsier, less balanced, slower, and uncomfortable to shoot.

The Light Transmission Qualities

You won’t get as much light in your eyepiece if you turn up the magnification. As the objective lens increases, the light getting through your eyepiece will also increase. You’ll always lose some light as it goes through the lenses of the scope to hit your eye. You won’t get more than 98% of the available light through a scope, and even then, those are the priciest scopes on the market. Anything above 95% is considered great, and most quality scopes are around 90%.

Lenses and Coatings

Most all quality scopes are fogproof, waterproof, and have coated lenses.  There is a wide range of coatings available. It is very possible to have a scope with single coated lenses to greatly outperform a scope with multicoated lenses.  How well they function depends on what quality the glass and coatings are. Good quality does not come cheap.Coatings reduce glare, and loss of light due to reflection.  You’ll notice improved light transmission and better contrast with a greater number of coatings.

Field of View

How much you see out of your scope in terms of its entire area, 100 yards in front of you, is called field of view. This figure goes down when you increase the lens magnification of the scope. Likewise, scopes with lower magnifications will have greater fields of view. While a 3×9 variable scope may offer a field of view of just over 30 feet when it’s at 3 power, when you increase that power to 9, your field of view will shrink to 14. You won’t get better field of view with a bigger objective lens.

How To Mount Your Scope

The place where many mistakes are made is in the scope mount. The finest rifle and scope combination is rendered useless without rugged and reliable mounting rings and bases.  Often, a problem is not foreseen and results in a miss, or even worse, a wounded animal.  Installing bases and rings incorrectly leads to wasted ammunition, and you can often get flustered when you consider how easy the target would have been to hit if you had a properly aligned scope.

It is important to understand that if your rings and bases are not installed properly, you can have more problems than just poor accuracy. It can destroy scopes and damage rifle receivers and bolts, and can even be dangerous to the shooter.  It is well worth the money to have a gunsmith install the rings and bases as you will be ensured not only of accuracy but also of the safety of the shooter and anyone who may be around the shooter. If you don’t do it right, you’ll just eventually buy enough ammo to cover that cost anyway, because you’ve been missing so much. This can be frustrating as well as expensive. Shooting is supposed to be fun and a great way to relieve stress, not a source of frustration.

A professional will install the ideal mounting system which will keep your scope as low as possible, and will use as few parts as possible. More parts equal more opportunity for something to go wrong.  You can do well with aluminum mounts, but solid steel mounts are absolutely ideal. See through rings may look attractive, but they are weak and can break just from your rifle being transported. In most hunting situations, using the minimum power on your scope should prevent you from having to rely on the iron sights on your gun anyway.

We have offered some of our favorite advanced deer hunting tips for your education and use. Please read these and if you have any comments or suggestions, or if you have your own deer hunting tips to share with our community please fill in the comments section below or send us an email at john@deer-huntingtips.com.

The average deer hunter with only average knowledge and commitment, over time gets only average results.  Any hunter can bag a small buck once every year or two and might occasionally get lucky, but bringing home that majestic trophy buck with regularity takes commitment and knowledge.  The true deer hunting masters know the following advanced deer hunting tips I am about to share with you.

1. Scout Your Area Ahead of Time – This is probably the most important deer hunting tip I can offer. When I say scout your area I don’t mean look for where you are going to sit when the truck drops you off, I mean really get to know the area you are hunting. Some of my most successful hunting seasons were started months before opening day. I would ask permission to go to the lease I was going to hunt on and scout all the areas. I would survey all the available hunting sites and “dry hunt.” Act just like I was hunting but not bring a gun (only a camera) to evaluate which areas had the most deer movement, biggest bucks and highest buck to doe ratios. I would also walk the lease during midday noting the signs of the big bucks, and speaking of the signs of the big bucks:

2. Know the Signs of Big Bucks – Knowing what to look for allows you to zero in on the areas where the trophy deer are. Look for tracks. Note the size, quantity and direction of the tracks to indicate the size, quantity and movement patterns of the deer. Look for Scrapes – areas where bucks scratch the ground accompanied with urination to mark territory and attract does, typically below low hanging tree branches at the border of heavy brush during the rut. Look for Rubs – Areas on trees or posts where bucks rub the velvet off their new antlers or mark their territory during rutting season. A “rub line” is a series of rubs, six or more within about a 100 yard space. The rubs are typically on the side of the tree that the buck is traveling form so noting which sides of the trees have rub marks in a rub line gives clues as to the direction of movement. Also scout for and note the size of bedding areas. No signs of bucks means no bucks!

3. Know How Your Firearm Shoots – Know the ballistics of the caliber and cartridge you are using. Realize and be able to adjust for the distance you are shooting; the rise on short shoots and the fall on longer shoots. Practice judging distance and if all possible walk off the probable sighting areas ahead of time so if you are making a 400 yard shot you know it is 400 yards and you know the drop your bullet will realize at that distance and be able to adjust.

4. Shot Placement – If you master the aim and ballistic characteristics of your deer hunting rifle, you can be more concerned with exact shot placement. A lot of other hunters don’t agree with me on my preference, but I am a “neck shooter.” A shot properly placed anywhere on the neck brings down your deer, right then, every time. If your shot lands lower on the neck you have severed the carotid arteries, high on the neck and the spinal column is breached, hit the center of the neck and you get a combination of these deadly effects.  From a broadside, front or rear quarter angle, or head-on angle the neck target is as large as the traditional “behind the lower shoulder” target and much more effective. I don’t recommend full rear shot attempts at all unless you are looking at a trophy buck you just can’t pass up; cleaning a deer that has been shot up the rectum is not a pleasant task to say the least. Always make wise shooting decisions; making a fast, efficient kill is be the goal of all advanced deer hunters.

5. Attractants, Calls and Rattling- Without being able to go into too much depth here, the last or our advanced deer hunting tips involves attractants (natural food plots, salt licks/mineral blocks, feeders, and flavored blocks) , deer calls, and rattling techniques. The food related attractants require previous preparation. Planting food plots takes time ant attention much as any gardening does. Continuous feeding of an area should start weeks or even months ahead of the hunting season so the deer get used to the location and timing of their free meals. Calling or rattling up bucks is a hit and miss technique that normally only works during a rut. I have had bucks come to my rattling slowly and cautiously out of curiosity when they were not in rut, but typically when it works well they tend to come rushing. I have almost been run over by bucks when rattling in the field, so if you become proficient at this technique be prepared for quick action. And proficiency is required and often slowly learned. To effectively mimic the call or re-creation of realistic fighting sounds of deer has a learning curve, but can become very effective once learned.

Every deer hunter wishes he or she could display a trophy buck at some time during their hunting career, some of us are not happy unless we bag at least one monster every season. If you are going to join the ranks of the elite hunters, then you need to know the advanced deer hunting tips the elite hunters know.