What did you learn this season and try to improve on?

[trad4life]

Now that the 2014 archery season has concluded I am able to reflect on the season and review my notes and data. After rereading my initial notes, I have created a list of things that I seemed to have done well and things that could be improved or essentially eliminated to increase my opportunities as a bowhunter.

Personal note.
1. Hunt as a team. Meet with your group not just at deer camp, but throughout the year to enhance your knowledge and to make sure you do not become one dimensional. I gained valuable information about what was happening in certain areas and what each person was focusing on. I found out what was working and what was not. Team work, team work, team work.

Gear.
1. My leather shooting rest makes noise when drawing carbon arrows, need to put on a felt rest.
2. Tape. I need to put duct tape on my sticks to silence the noise in the woods.
3. Use another strap to secure my stand the the tree. Either another cinch strap or a ratchet strap.
4. Feathers. I need to use colors that contrast well with the time of the season and conditions. (bright pink, white, neon yellow)
5. Therma cell is a great investment.


Stand placement.
1. Instead of sitting higher in a stand find trees that conceal me both back-cover and front cover.
2. I found that I am better able to swing to my right, so I need to be aware of how my stand is positioned to allow for my most comfortable shot.

Entering and Leaving my spot
1. I had a difficult time entering and departing my spots in a efficient manner, so I should find routes during the spring that are paths least resistant and allow me to be stealthy.

Hunting tactics
1. I should not overlook early season. First time hunting it this year, saw plenty of deer that were not pressured.
2. Can call (doe bleat) is most effective on a windy day.
3. Stalking is a great early season tactic.

[Edcyclopedia]

You can have an equally pleasing season w/o filling a tag!
Take a KID Hunting...

[Brad]

I didn't learn a lot of new earth shattering stuff this year, but rather confirmed some things I had questioned or wondered about before based on my phone encounters. I had encounters with two mature bucks killing one of them and missing the other. You always learn something every time you go out, but a lot of times it's just more proof supporting theories or that sort of thing or getting yourself to step back and question why something happened.

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[Master Chief]

This was a pretty important learning season for me. Before this year I had never had a shot at a 4.5+ I blew my first opportunity with a miss. I killed a limb and an arrow.

My next shot was a success though-and a big one. It was with an ole Knight LK93 on my avatar buck. I guess I learned from that what it is like to kill a big buck!

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[PK_]

Put lock tite on my scope mount screws. Missed a chip shot at a thumper yesterday morning with my slug gun, couldn't figure out what happened until I got back to the truck and realized the scope was loose!

[exojam]

I am noisy when going through leafs and ice covered snow.

My chair squeaks on the tracks when I go through water. I am wondering if I can spray some of that stuff people use on squeaky car belts to stop that.

My chair motors make a clicking sound when I try to first start moving. Not sure if I can put an sound damping material on them, just nervous they may not allow heat to transfer out of the motor.

[checkerfred]

I've learned a little more about Hill travel patterns. I have had decent luck going in blind by learning to read maps better. Still learning more. Learned that I'm gonna have to scout hard in the off season. Learned I need to be more prepared for deer removal from deep in the woods. Still haven't got that figured out yet. Still learning to find beds... Not having a ton of luck.

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[Zona]

What I learned....

1. More time in the stand doesn't mean more success.
2. KNOWING a target buck is in a certain area is key to a successful setup.
3. Setting up close to does in bedding areas is good practice for setting up on mature bucks.
4. Targeting and putting a tag on a doe is good for morale when you have gone 15 straight sits without seeing a buck.
5. Some people ARE just lucky.

Improvements.....

1. SCOUT.....SCOUT.....SCOUT....
2. Get over my fear of rejection and ask for permission to hunt on some good properties.
3. SCOUT.....SCOUT.....SCOUT....

[Dhurtubise]

I learned a few impotant things this year.

#1. Hard cold late nov and dec temps with lots of snow (-20 C ~ -15 F) will drive even the biggest bucks to food in daylight. I observed this several times last year. But when there is little snow cover and the temperatures remain moderate like this year (-5 - -15 C / 23 - 0 F), food is fine if you're interested in a small buck or a doe, but you are wasting your time if you hope to kill a good buck. I did see good tracks around my bait sites, but always downwind of the food 20 - 100 yards. My trail cams pics were so poor I never bothered to hunt any of my prepped sites until the end when I was fine to take a few does off of them. I had a total of two mature bucks on camera out of 4 different sites, and they just passed through once (didn't stop for a nibble). I believe this to be good information for those seasons when winter turns bitterly cold early. By the way, I had the first 3 year old + buck in daylight at my backyard feeder today in well over a month. The temperature this morning was -32 C with a windchill of -45 C/ -50 F and it's been cold for about a week. This is no coincidence and I expect to see more in the coming weeks with the cold temperatures likely to endure.

#2. Tracking is not just a lot of fun and can put you on deer you would otherwise never see, but it confirmed for me many of the bedding and traveling propensities of mature bucks often discussed in this forum. Seeing it with my own eyes to such a degree will allow me to put the pieces of the puzzle much more easily. I encourage this practice as a means of education.

#3. When hunters talk about quartering away shots as the best bow hunting option, they are talking 10-30 degrees. I had some trouble with all three of the deer I hit with a bow each of which I shot at angles >30 degrees. The target, with their bellies sticking out gets very hard to hit as the bellies cover much of the boiler room. Two of my deer were hit quite a bit further back than I wanted but died of a liver shot hours later (23 yds, 13 yds) and the other one was hit in the shoulder and never recovered (14 yds). I don't have a problem hitting my 3" target even at 35 yds normally. Anyways, I'll be looking for a more broadside shot next year.

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[justin84]

3 and half months goes by way too fast. Never squander an opportunity to get in the woods.

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[mheichelbech]

I learned that I really need to get into better shape. I also confirmed what I already knew which is that if I really want to be more serious about shooting mature bucks then I have to get more serious about killing mature bucks....hunting smarter, be more patient and live with the frustrations better.

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[Tennhunter3]

Being more patient .Never go without a spare crossbow battery it running out mid hunts really bad. Never hunt from a summit viper yes cost me a nice 8 it creaking from frost on it at 11am buck ran off as I was raising rifle.Bought a assault next day summit footrest fits perfect on assault 2 treestand. Hunted more areas and didn't hunt any stand more then twice all season. Did get one nice buck but felt if not for mistakes I might have another at the taxidermy . Biggest don't forget a deer sled or 4 wheeler. Learn from mistakes I've made in the field.
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[Peeps22]

I think the biggest thing I learned was that in order to really see success from using beast tactics, you must abandon any previous tactics, work your happy little tush off and realize you can't cheat the system. Also, I think one of my hardest things to conform to was going from hunting 100% pre set stands to about 90% mobile hunting and sitting a new spot every time. Now that I've been almost completely mobile for a full season, I could never go back to hunting just pre set stands again and I feel it has upped my odds tremendously at getting a crack at big, mature deer.

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[Stanley]

My days of packing a stand in hill country are over. I'm glad I don't have to decide right now as to what I will do next year. I'm thinking pre sets only? Knees & feet are shot. Heart is weak as well. So I learned to make the best of this year cause you never know when your last year of hunting will be.

[HoosierG5]

I learned hunting "suspected bedding" and "scouted bedding" are crazzzzy different. I spent hours mapping out hunting locations based on wind directions and topos in the off season. I shouldve ditched the computer and put on my boots! Scouting, regardless of your favorite tactic to hunt is always your best bet.

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