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Keys to success

OneCam

OneCam

Well-Known Member
What are your keys to success?

A few of mine are accuracy, preparation and allot of luck.

I've learned to many hard lessons about not being ready for a shot, now my bow hardly ever leaves my hand/lap.
Sometimes the further you are caught off guard multiplies your anxiety or "Buck Fever" you face while trying to get the shot.

Please share some of your keys.
 
As soon as I have decided its a shooter buck, my focus is on body movement and the small spot I want to hit....not the antlers.
 
My main key to success is going out with the right attitude. If you go out there thinking you are going to see a big buck your chances are the same as if you go out there telling your self you won't, but in my opinion you hunt better if you have the confidence.

Also you need to go out and have fun. I know guys that want to shoot a big buck so bad that is all they think about and the pressure just gets to them. That is not my idea of having a good experience deer hunting.

The last thing that I am still learning but getting better at is patience, once I see the animal and decide I want to shoot. Deep breathing and letting the animal decide what my next step is going to be. Old habits die hard and having grown up with a duck and goose call in my mouth it was only natural for me to give er the old high ball when I would see a shooter buck. I still remember the look I got from a buck when I grunted at him at about eight hundred yards. I swear he rolled his eyes and never broke stride...
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As usual, good thread Chris.
 
Attention to detail, and patience.

Don't put up a stand if you can only cover 1 trail, don't cover 2 trails if you can cover 3 etc...I learned this lesson after watching a nice buck cross just out of bow range and after further scouting I found I could have easily covered both trails.

I think more nice animals are wounded or missed completely because of a rushed shot. Try to be calm and take your time. Ohh yeah, once you decide you are going to shoot a particular buck focus on his vitals and don't look at his rack again!

Pupster
 
My number one key to repeated success is one thing. TIME, you can not kill a good one watching T.V. or sleeping in because it is too cold. Sure some guys get lucky once in their lifetime and shoot a good buck, but the guy that shoots a nice deer year after year put in his time, whether it is scouting, shooting his bow or gun, or knocking on doors until he has a good place to hunt. Good luck to all, and am I the only one here that can never get enough time in the outdoors?????
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As pupster noted above, attention to detail. In a bucks living quarters, you can bet he will pick out anthing out of place. Also to scent control and wind direction and not hunting an area if these things can't be minimized.

Learning from my mistakes has been crucial to my success but cost me numerous record class bucks in the process. Do I still make mistakes, you bet but keeping a positive outlook on things allows me the courage to get back in the stand the next day and put in the time I need to effectivly hunt Mature whitetails.
One more key factor is not ending my season too early on Marginal bucks that are 3.5yrs and younger. By letting them grow up and reach thier genetic potential, I can have a larger crop of mature animals in my area (pending other hunters do not get a chance at them)......many more keys to success but not enough time to list
 
After the past few years I always talk to the landowners on where they're seeing bucks. Last October the landowner told me of a buck within 100 yards of his house. I got that buck the first night I set up on him because I actually listened to someone!! Another key I think is what Limb has for his signature quote: "Go early, stay late" The aforementioned buck I went in on around noon on a warm October day. I watched him get up from his bed several times when he was only 80 yards from me. Had I came in at a nromal time I would've spooked him.
 
The number ONE thing that help me start to harvest quality bucks is to hunt where they live !!
You see I'm from Vermont and we have few quality bucks to hunt and that may just be making it sound a little better than it really is here !
So I now travel and hunt 2 or 3 different states a year. I enjoy many different type of buck hunting. While my number one love is bowhunting for MONSTER BUCKS if you have never spent a week tracking large whitetails in the Vast northeast you are for sure missing out on one real fun hunt ! It's a hard hunt but very rewarding .
I have to stick one of those big north wood hunts in every two years or so now when my butt gets sick of the tree stand. BEST OF LUCK TO ALL.
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MXZ
 
Scout from afar scout from a gravel road with binoculars and landmark the tree or fence post that the majority of the deer cross and note wind direction time of day etc.. I know this kind of goes out the window when trying to pattern a buck during rut but if you can pattern some of the does in that area you will see the bucks in rut if you know exactly where the does enter the fields. This is a good way to scout when it is close to season it is not a cure all for scouting every spring but it helps out and doesn't spook anything close to season. Another trick I like to use prior to season is spotlighting(which is legal in Iowa if there is no bow or firearm in your possesion) when it is early and those bucks stay in the timber until dark you can really see what is there to hunt for bucks if you hang the light out the window once in a while while driving past your hunting spot. That is my keys to finding them now actually being successful that is a whole different story.
 
i like to live and learn, hunt a spot see where the deer are moving and move there, and give it a little rest, and my main key is hunt the wind, i set up many stands that are good for different winds and i never hunt them if the wind is wrong. another thing i live buy is get in and get out, dont walk around the woods much while hanging a stand, just sneak in and put it up, that is how i usually have my best luck, and speaking of good luck, good luck to all of you this upcoming season!!!
 
Scent Control, Hunt where they sleep, travel or eat, more scent control, and alot more luck. My bow and release never leave my hand (unleess I am rattling etc.) more often then not they are there before you know it. Be ready for the oppurtunity they are far and few between.
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Reading every post on Iowa Whitetail.com and becoming a PMA member so this site stays solvent.

These are the keys to my FUTURE success.

The 'Bonker
 
i think your own personal "urban camo" that you were wearing at the rendezvous would be your "ace up the sleeve". they'd be blinded so you could sneak up on them or else they'd think you're a fruit bowl and come up for a bite to eat!!
 
Muddy have you talked about your avatar yet. I know thats not your wife but how do you explain that picture to her.
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I just noticed it the other day and think its pretty cool
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1. Try to think like a mature animal when selecting a hunting spot. Pick spots that offer travel security and are just a bit "off". I have shot big bucks within 100-200 yards of the road/farmers house/etc, that others "passed by" hunting the "big timber".

2. I will often select a stand site that doesn't have as much sign as what can be found elsewhere, but offers some sort of strategic advantage. I often place stands at or near ridgetops adjacent to crop fields where a finger or point of timber/brush extends out into the field. I hunt just inside the timber opposite the point. Deer will dash across the narrow opening and then relax a bit inside the cover right below me!!
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IMO big deer will cross an open field in these types of places. These spots can be identified easily with aerial photos/topo maps, in addition to actual scouting.

3. Get in and out of the stand without disturbing deer in the area. ( Much easier said than done BTW.)

4. Have fun, enjoy the nature in front of you, observe and learn. I usually only shoot at 1 deer for every 10 or so that I have in range. Pay close attention to them and learn from them.

5. Don't be afraid to move your stand as you learn more, I have even moved my stand late in the afternoon during what could be considered prime time and been well rewarded sometimes as little as a few minutes later. I can't say I have never spooked a deer either, because I have, but I would rather put my best foot forward and be satisfied with that than to be 10 yards off and wish I had done something.

6. Control your scent, I use predominantly HS Scent Away products. Always play the wind.
 
My keys to success, are all year round scouting, shed hunting, and glassing. my tactics for early season is to find a mature deer, and fined out where there core areas are and hunt them hard and aggresive, hunting a few differnt places a day going into a small area for deer to cover in during the day and do series of grunt/bleat combos, just basically all hit miss during the mid day hours so you can jump him and only this time he charges right for you. mornings and evenings i hunt funnels leaving a food soarce. When rut is in full swing who knows whered you fined me, if the bucks are moving i'm moving. always in a funnel though, playing around with scents and bleating periodicly. These tactics have been successful on shooter bucks in my area every year.
All the replys above are dinomite, I was reading a quete and I felt as though we all will apply "We are observers all the time and less then a second we become preditors".
 
My keys yo success have been mainly good scouting with the element of surprise and timing.My nicer bucks I've arrowed all came from the first time I hunted a paticular stand.So with that I try not to overhunt any stand and I use a climber alot to be mobile.
 
excellent topic. there are many things i feel that have helped me be successful: <ul type="square"> first..... a deer is your best friend. you can learn so much from them it's ridiculous. the biggest thing i have learned from them is pay total attention to there body language. everytime i film deer i watch the video over and over and study there body language. i try many things while filming them, sometimes i'll sit out in the open to see how they act when they know i'm around and sometimes i will conceal myself to see how they react when they don't know i exist. this has allowed me many times to be able to somewhat tell when a deer moves into my area how safe he feels just by watching the way he walks, flips his tail, or turns his ears. if i notice by his movements that he doesn't feel safe i will do whatever it takes to make him feel safe. it kinda gives me a heads up. also i pay attention to how deer react when they are feeding in a field and other deer are approaching, they react a certain way to certain deer, so if a doe is standing in the field and she gets antsy or starts flipping her tail a lot and looking behind her constantly this usually means a buck so therefore she has given me the heads up. so therefore film deer as much as possible and study there movements.[/list]
  • second..... patience is your second best friend. "WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, YOU GOT TO GAT TOUGHER". the people i hunt with here get very frustrated when they aren't seeing deer while bowhunting on stand, if thay aren't seeing any they don't step foot in the woods for a week or so. i do everything i can to spend every moment in the woods, you never know when that big one could be right around the corner, and we all know if you aren't out there where that big buck is you'll never get him.
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Stay in your stand until the deer are gone. Ive learned to stay put after dark until I can get out my stand undetected.
 
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