Random Tips

[countyroad]

I thought I'd start a "random tips" thread. Lets hear some of your tips/tricks.

I'll add a couple.
For scent purposes make sure and throw in a couple bath towels when you wash your hunting clothes. You don't want to be drying off with a tide soaked towel after a scent free shower.
Think of putting a cover on your hunting vehicle's seat. We work in various environments and your auto seat may have collected grease, cologne, etc. on it that can transport to your hunting clothes.

[Big H]

Pay attention when setting up your stands and when you will be hunting it. For example, it really stinks to have your morning stand facing E., and you can't see on bright sunny mornings.

Kinda like the Outlaw Josey Wales movie, by keeping the sun at your back, it may give you a little edge.

[CritterGitter]

Don't hunt your rut stands in mid October. Just don't do it! Now, there are plenty of deer huntin opportunities for this time of the season. It's a great time to fill a doe tag. Go to the state park. Go to your buddies favorite spot, or sneak into your neighbors property(tongue in cheak fella's). Go fishing as the fall bite for smallies, saugeye and walleye can be awesome. Whatever you do, don't hunt your prime rut stands in Mid October!

Kyle

[DLC]

Do Not rush the shot! You have more time than you think. Wait for the proper angle and stay relaxed.

[Mohican]

Do not dress until you out of your vehicle and to your hunting setup and yes it can be cold standing in you skivies in January. Place several stands in a good location to take full advantage of the wind. Never go by the motto "forget the wind" Alway hunt downwind.

[deerhunter_matt]

Don't eat yellow snow?


Hehe, sorry. I was gonna say, make a list of everything you need in the field before you go. It's a PITA when you get to the stand and realize you forgot the rope to haul up your bow, or when you get to the deer and realize you forgot your knife. Check it off any time you go out, and double check before you hit the woods one last time.

Oh, and bring extra flashlight batteries.

[Milo]

Shoot a mathews!:cheeky-smiley-022::cheeky-smiley-022::biggrin::biggrin:

[TheCream]

How about an obvious one: stay within yourself. If you can't make a shot at a certain range during ideal conditions at a range on a 3D target, don't expect miracles in the woods on live animals. I catch a lot of flak from my hunting buddies because I am picky about what shots I will or will not take. Then again, I'm not the one searching for answers after losing a deer every year, either. :D

[countyroad]

How about an obvious one: stay within yourself. If you can't make a shot at a certain range during ideal conditions at a range on a 3D target, don't expect miracles in the woods on live animals. I catch a lot of flak from my hunting buddies because I am picky about what shots I will or will not take. Then again, I'm not the one searching for answers after losing a deer every year, either. :D

Good advise. My effective range was only 20 yards last year. I didn't have as much practice under my belt and I was shooting an old bow.

[Big H]

There is one thing that I do, haven't started doing it this year yet, but my wife thinks I am nuts when I start doing it. I will run out of the house, grab my bow, climb the ladder, get up on the barn roof, and take ONE shot at my deer target. I am trying to mimic the feeling you get when that monster steps into range.

[camptrav]

Try to keep your eye on the vitals of a big buck, if you look at the antlers too much you will get too excited and lose focus.

[mrex]

In my opinion, many hunters don’t factor in the effect that their presence can have on a mature buck. More than I’d like to admit, I’ve found a buck I wanted to hunt and set up shop in an area that I believed he would frequent, only to have him vanish. I’m convinced these deer haven’t necessarily left the area, but rather just changed their habits to avoid me.

[OLDHAT]

A great place for storing TP is under your foam insert on your quiver. You Never know when mother nature is gonna call and your TP is soaked/you forgot it. It is likewise a great place to store an extra truck/vehicle key.

Oldhat

[CritterGitter]

A great place for storing TP is under your foam insert on your quiver. You Never know when mother nature is gonna call and your TP is soaked/you forgot it. It is likewise a great place to store an extra truck/vehicle key.

Oldhat

Isn't that what extra gloves are for? lol

Kyle

[chopiq]

One thing I found while getting to my stand and don't want to get sweaty is I carry the hat or cap I'm going to wear. Your hat holds in alot of heat so it helps you keep cool, especially in the earlier part of the season.

[bowhunter1023]

Shoot a mathews!:cheeky-smiley-022::cheeky-smiley-022::biggrin::biggrin:

Best advice yet.

Alot of good tips on here. I keep my boots in a Rubbermaid container with dirt and pine branches from my farm. I dress outside at my hunting spot whether it is 50 or 5 out side. You'll warm up. I wash towels as well. I also wash my sheets and clean my vehicle regularly and spray the seats with scent spray when I get in in the mornings. Take a few small snacks. I like Fig Newtons, but take the out of the wrapper before I get to the stand and place them in a plastic baggies. Makes it a lot quieter. Take a bottle to pee in. Place hand warmers on your neck and liver area. I take extra gloves, face masks, grunt tubes, flashlights, and batteries. You never know what you will drop. Which is why you need TP as well ;)

[J Kearns]

Buy a "Heater Body Suit" you won't regret it!

[Big H]

Best advice yet.

Alot of good tips on here. I keep my boots in a Rubbermaid container with dirt and pine branches from my farm. I dress outside at my hunting spot whether it is 50 or 5 out side. You'll warm up. I wash towels as well. I also wash my sheets and clean my vehicle regularly and spray the seats with scent spray when I get in in the mornings. Take a few small snacks. I like Fig Newtons, but take the out of the wrapper before I get to the stand and place them in a plastic baggies. Makes it a lot quiter. Take a bottle to pee in. Place hand warmers on your neck and liver area. I take extra gloves, face masks, grunt tubes, flashlights, and batteries. You never know what you will drop. Which is why you need TP as well ;)


All good points except for the pee bottle, I just let it fly. In fact, I pee in scrapes when I come across them. OBH can give you some more info. on this if he wants to, complete with pics.

[bowhunter1023]

All good points except for the pee bottle, I just let it fly. In fact, I pee in scrapes when I come across them. OBH can give you some more info. on this if he wants to, complete with pics.

I think I'll pass on the pics. But I did pee in a larger primary scrape last weekend in the hopes of getting some early activity on it. I just can't bring myself to pee out of my stand.

[XX78]

I put my base layers on before I get into the car. I then put a set of oversized sweat pants and hooded sweatshirt of course scent free washed. When I get to my spot I spray down my hands and then take the contaminated outer layer off. I then dress up most of the rest of the way while at the car, depending on the temperature. I hate hopping around on one leg trying to get dressed in the middle of a pitch dark field. I feel it helps me get into the woods a little earlier.

[XX78]

Make sure the bottle is a wide mouth 1 liter bottle!

[bowhunter1023]

I hate hopping around on one leg trying to get dressed in the middle of a pitch dark field. I feel it helps me get into the woods a little earlier.

That makes me laugh just reading it. I've been right too:biggrin:

[Big H]

I think I'll pass on the pics. But I did pee in a larger primary scrape last weekend in the hopes of getting some early activity on it. I just can't bring myself to pee out of my stand.

:coco: :coco: The pics are of bucks coming in and working the scrape he made, NOT of him peeing.:coco:

[ohioflatlander]

I will NEVER....make eye contact with a Buck I intend on harvesting.

You may think I'm crazy but if they look up at me I look away and use my peripheral vision to see what he is going to do. Just wait till he looks down or goes back to what he was doing before you look back at him directly.

It's something about the predator/prey relationship. I've had them get real nervous and either sneak back the way they came or just skedaddle out when I've made eye contact with them before.

[ron]

Be as carefull as you can be on entry and exit to your stand sites. No matter how carefull you are some deer will be spooked by sight, sound, or smell, just hope it isn't the buck your after, or one bigger you didn't know was there.

[New Guy]

I always try to carry spares of the equipment I have to have to shoot etc. I keep an extra release in my fanny pack, I take an extra pull up cord, I have my good buck knife, a good folderstuffed in my fanny pack, and a knife that I can open with one hand clipped to my pants pocket. I dropped my release once and had to climb back down the tree to get it. Now I never go up with out having one on my wrist and one in my fanny pack. I also wear glasses and I keep an extra pair in the truck and wear a strap to keep the ones I'm wearing on my head. Good hunting, New Guy

[OLDHAT]

Although I have not yet figured out exactly why, but if you see a warm spell coming during the 1st week of Nov, and if you are going to get some fog, then you should plan on staying in your stand until at least noon. I have seen the best bucks ever late in the day during on those real foggy mornings. The better bucks were all seen between 9am-11.30pm, which is relatively "late" in the deer world. If you can, suck it up and stay on the stand a bit longer when you have one of those thick foggy mornings. Only thing I can make of it is that the deer possible think it is still "night/cover" and they are delayed by an hour or two in heading back to cover/thicker stuff/bedding areas.

Just a tip!

Oldhat

[Redhunter1012]

I will NEVER....make eye contact with a Buck I intend on harvesting.

You may think I'm crazy but if they look up at me I look away and use my peripheral vision to see what he is going to do. Just wait till he looks down or goes back to what he was doing before you look back at him directly.

It's something about the predator/prey relationship. I've had them get real nervous and either sneak back the way they came or just skedaddle out when I've made eye contact with them before.

I'm a firm believer of this as well. I've only had a couple does look up at me in a stand and it was because of movement, but I never make eye contact. I've had lots of deer try to pick me out on the ground, but like you said, use peripheral vision. I pass this info along alot and get wierd looks from people like I'm :coco:

[deerhunt45]

After your deer is on the ground, how you handle and take care of the animal dictates the quality and quantity of good table fare you will reap.
Besides field dressing the animal, ventilating the cavity to release body heat, all the way to skinning the animal to cool it, if the ambient temperature is above 50 degrees F for any length of time, the meat will start to spoil and when it does, decomposition is rapid. This leads me to my tip of the week, which comes from Buckmaster, who encouraged me to pass it on. Take some ice with you on those early season hunts! Here's Buckmaster's tip on how to do it:

Tupperware containers (or my company's parts bins) work great for making ice blocks. I build them like bricks. They last all weekend and can easily be stuffed inside a deer to cool it down quickly. Freeze a rope in the middle of the ice block and you can tie it between the hind quarters while hanging to keep the hind quarter cool, stuff another one in the chest cavity.

[harjo02]

I saw this on another forum but thought it sounded like a really cool idea.

Hang a crow decoy on a branch near your stand. If a deer sees movement out of the corner of his eye, he'll look up and see the crow.

Sounds like a cool idea. I'm a little hesitant to try it myself.

Has anyone tried this or heard of it before?

[Lucky]

Actually someone on here has mentioned that before.