Thought it would be fun for everyone to share some hunting lessons or advice they have gained over the years. I’ll start with some of the more embarrassing ones…
I shot offhand for YEARS in the field because I thought that was how everyone hunted and what you were supposed to do. I probably did better than I should have, but still missed a lot of shots. Get into a supported position, prone if possible.
I didn’t understand grain weights applied to bullets. Shooting a 270 Win, I thought the difference between a 130 and 150 grain bullet was something to do with more powder pushing the bullet faster or harder or something.
I’ve spent a lot of time, effort, and money trying to shortcut my way to success instead of focusing on the two things that would have made the most difference: practice shooting more and getting the physically fit.
I certainly agree that one should avoid offhand shots as much as possible. However I think it’s a good skill to learn, and will freely admit that I’m not great at it and really need to practice what I preach.
One day I was in the woods on an afternoon hunt in a climbing tree stand, and this particular brand has the hunter facing the tree. Then another 50 or so yards past the tree is where the bait is. It was really nice as you could use either the tree or a small branch of the tree as a rest for the rifle. A nice 8-point buck suddenly showed up from my 4:00 position and started moving his way towards my 6:00. I turned and he was looking right at me so he had obviously seen me. I twisted and contorted and took a really bad offhand shot at him, 50 yd maybe even less. I hit them but nowhere near where I was aiming, ended up breaking his spine just forward of his pelvis. So he was paralyzed in the rear legs but nowhere near dead. I had to climb down out of that tree as fast as I humanly could and take a dispatch shot at him from Level ground. Really hate to injure but not kill an animal.
My most embarrassing times, yes more than one, in the woods were when I got lost after dark. And mind you this is only just a few hundred yards off the road but when the Sun goes down I lose my peripheral vision and it’s amazing how important your peripheral vision is in terms of figuring out where you are and which direction is which. So I started making a habit of either making small marks on trees or leaning some broken limbs against trees pointing me in the direction out of the place so that I could easily spot them with my flashlight after coming out of the tree stand at night.
I am also guilty of not understanding grain weight. I thought that same thing
I started hunting in my mid 30s, so I was a very old rookie to some things that are fundamental.
My oopsie moment was on the first white tail I shot with a bow, I was so excited that jumped out of my ground blind and ran to were my arrow was. I bumped the doe into tall grass, like 8’ tall. Never recovered.
Oh man, I like to go to the range a lot, and I’m guilty of failing to check my elevation turret before a hunt. Sailed one over a doe 2 years ago, from 100 yards, because I was set on 9moa smh.
Most hunters are road hunters and dont stray too far from the road. I hike in a couple miles minimum off the roads a lot less pressure. Use OnX for scouting an area you want to hunt and get boots on the ground to verify that its good territory. Buy less gear and more tags.
Have your gun COMPLETELY READY to be deployed at any moment. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the scramble for the gun and a rest that just takes too long and the animal walks out of your life forever.
I believe it was Aaron Davidson who said something very similar on a recent podcast. He was asked what it is that a long range hunting/ shooting School taught that would make the biggest difference in a hunter’s success. He said getting the rifle on the target very quickly is by far the most important thing. It would give someone the most bang for the buck so to speak