Success, weakness & mistakes?

[jlh42581]

Like Moondude, I think my aggressiveness can be a weakness, but on the flip side it has paid off many times. There is not much good hunting ground left and with the high pressure, you need to get onto the target buck fast or someone else will beat you to it.

I have a spot I plant to hunt the first day of season. If it fails it fails but I know the neglect in planning from others locks this buck down the first week. After that hunt, I wont step foot on that property until next season.

[phade]

Paralysis by analysis.

I can game plan pretty good, but I'll hem and haw to the point I fail to strike while the iron is hot. Maybe I can best sum that by meaning my hunting style is passive agressive to a fault. If I could just make a decision based on the info I know and suspect without too much compromise...I'd be much more successful.

Case in point...figuring a particular location/buck out and only moving 50 yards when I should be moving 100 and blowing the opportunity.

This year I plan to do that.

[virginiashadow]

I make a lot of mistakes. I try to learn from them and move on. I try to kill a deer every single hunt....I don't have any "observation stands" as I don't have time to mess around. I realize I don't have the best hunting grounds, but I am extremely grateful to be able to hunt public ground so close to home. Otherwise I wouldn't have any place to hunt at all.

If I could narrow down one weakness I have and need to remedy it would be my entrance to my hunting set up for the day. I've learned that I can do a lot of damage by entering into the hill country I hunt from cruddy locations. Every year I seem to tighten up in that area but I still make many mistakes on where I think the deer are bedding and how I enter my hunting spot.

[dan]

Some great discussion in this thread!

[MOBIGBUCKS]

My weakneses last year far outweighed my success. I hunted a lot of new places that I previously had no chance to scout before season. I had to hunt hard and hunt a lot to figure how the deer in the area lived. As you know, hunting hard burns out properties throughout the season...It took me until December 23rd this past year, but I finally got "close" to shooting a 150 plus late season buck on the new ground. He never gave me a good shot and was 37 plus yards. Close but no cigar

I dedicated my offseason to major scouting but the snow really messed with my timetable. I got a lot scouted and found some monster bucks to set up on this coming year. I also integrated a nice percentage of public land into my scouting. Hunting the public will be a nice change of pace where I can focus solely on the Big buck beds I found and don't have to play by nobody's private land rules!

All in all I feel way more prepared for this season versus last season. Lots of possibilities this year...Can't wait

[keb]

I was very blessed to succed with a very nice buck under extreme adverse conditons including a personal injury during my hunt. The reason I came out on top was I was not going to quit short of being hauled away in a ambulance.

I trained my mind and body to be up for the challange by running ultra trail marothons, people under estimate the physical and mental side to deer hunting. I also no longer worry about the next guy, because 90 percent of them are not willing to do what I will for sucess.

This year I am behind the curb a touch on scotuing due to having surgery in Jan, but Im all in for this fall.

[keb]

Something else that has helped is the storys and tips given here about DIY guys and gals getting it done. That helped me really beleive that it can be done and that you dont need 1000s of acres of managed land to hunt.

Thanks to everyone posting there real world stories and tips.

[fishlips]

One major weakness I have is not planning enough time to get to my stand, so I rush getting there and make more noise. Had some sits on good spots that I didn't see deer but don't know if that is because they just weren't there or if I just made too much noise.

One success I had was hunting a couple of spots that I had scouted mostly remotely and had a feeling that they would be good. They looked good from the aerial and I had walked one of the spots. both spots produced nice buck sitings, although I only connected on one of them. Definitely need to improve my killing percentage (another weakness).

[BWilk]

I think I need to do a better job of giving myself a better chance at success. I have been guilty too many times in the past of seeking out for beast on tracts of land that they simply do not exhist. I need to put myself on land that holds these brutes. I have to hunt close to home on mostly small tracts of land in an area that definitly not known for big bucks. I need to change that every chance i can, as most know it's tough when on a tight budget with limited time. I know it's pretty tough to win the game, if i don't even go to the ball park.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[BWilk]

I am also working on improving my understanding of how thermals work in hill country and using them to my advantage. I have learned quite a bit on this topic in a short time on here. I can't wait to put this to use.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[dan]

Bump for the new year...

[Terry]

My mistake was not being aggressive enough during bow season. The woods I hunt was logged in between seasons and I didn't scout enough to make up for it. By the time I figured it out, gun season was upon me. I did get my buck, but I think it would have been easier during bow.