mt008 wrote:1. Confidence - for a long time I thought hunting and killing a mature whitetail was 80% luck and 20% skill. lack of confidence that I could actually learn and pattern mature whitetail behavior
2. Understanding or thinking about why - when I was young I was happy seeing deer, but outside of food sources and some wind pattering I did not understand or think about why deer where moving through the areas I was hunting. And I certainly was not thinking about bedding as much as I should have been.
3. Mobility - spent a lot of time hunting in the same stands, on the same properties, in the same locations year after year. It was not until I got out of my "home" confort zone that the learning curve started to pick-up. Once I started moving sets on the fly, and changing the frequency of hunting those properties, things started to change.
4. Timing - using the time of year to more effectively pattern deer movement and behavior. Maybe it was just the people or circles I hunted in but there was never much talk about early season bachelor patterns, or change in patterns in early October due to food source turn over, or pre-rut, rut, and late rut.
5. Wind / Thermals - thinking about and studying wind and thermals more. Understanding how deer use this as they enter and exit fields since I hunted a lot of farmland as a kid. Entering at the lowest point of the field to gather in all the scent that is pulled down into the valley.
6. Hill Country Bedding / travel - I hunted in hill country as well as a kid. Would have been great to understand in greater detail how the deer where manipulating this. Bedding advantages, use of the 2/3 elevation. The thermal tunnel, and how bucks run the ridges during the rut.
In the end I cherish the experience and time I spent hunting as a kid and I am grateful everyday that my Father introduced me to the outdoors and hunting! I have some great memories hunting with family and friends over the years.
You said it way better than I could have!