So you have six months?

[ETNyates15]

If you guys are familiar with Tim Ferriss he is a master of learning incredibly difficult things in a very short amount of time. His theory is he finds people who are not your normal prototypes in every professional level activity and studies them to find out the best and quickest way to achieve a mastery (top 10% in general population) level. An example would be a super muscular or slightly overweight person who regularly competes and does well in the Boston Marathon. Or a vertically challenged person that is playing QB in the NFl (Think Russell Wilson, Drew Brees). Most of the time these people had to work around their limitations and typically have tons of tips for success more gifted people don't have. I think Dan and The Beast crew are an excellent example of this for deer hunting due to the fact that they aren't hunting professional hunting land and places to kill old bucks.

Finally to my question to Dan, Moderators, and other wise individuals on this site: Lets say for instance I was going to compete in some unrealistic competition where my family's survival was predicated on me killing a 4.5 year old buck this fall. What are the strategies you would give someone who was a complete novice hunter to get them to achieve that on public land or permission private land? I understand this is very difficult because you wouldn't know the part of the country, the time allowed to hunt, etc, but given the situation what would you do? Could be a great learning experience for some.

[magicman54494]

the simple answer is to go to the most target rich spot you can find.
That being said, I see hunting as a journey, not a destination. I'm enjoying the ride and not in any hurry to get there. I believe you would lose a lot by being in a hurry.

[headgear]

Interesting question, assuming you can't get to or spend the $$$ to hunt a target rich environment then you would probably need to spend as much time as possible scouting. Glassing, shining, in season scouting, running cams and anything else you can think of. I really can't say its going to work but that is what I would do, of course lets say you get on a good buck a lack of experience might blow the whole works but its worth a shot.

[dan]

I would tell you to hunt a different tree each time, and to make sure a hunt is thrown at every section of the hunting area... Skip over nothing, the buck your after is most likely going to come from a spot a novice or even an average hunter would not expect.

[ETNyates15]

the simple answer is to go to the most target rich spot you can find.
That being said, I see hunting as a journey, not a destination. I'm enjoying the ride and not in any hurry to get there. I believe you would lose a lot by being in a hurry.

I agree with you about it being a journey of discovery, however the question interests me from the standpoint of learning tactics from "the best" as part of that journey much like a hunting mentor would give you.

[ETNyates15]

I would tell you to hunt a different tree each time, and to make sure a hunt is thrown at every section of the hunting area... Skip over nothing, the buck your after is most likely going to come from a spot a novice or even an average hunter would not expect.

Thanks Dan, could you also overview a six month prep on property evaluation, scouting, etc.. I mean if this was a real life or death situation I assume there would be a few more steps.

[tgreeno]

If there's not a 4.5 year old on the land you're hunting the task will be impossible. You need to make sure the land you're hunting is holding the quality of deer you are wanting to harvest!

[Jonny]

If there's not a 4.5 year old on the land you're hunting the task will be impossible. You need to make sure the land you're hunting is holding the quality of deer you are wanting to harvest!

Yep. This would be step one

[ETNyates15]

If there's not a 4.5 year old on the land you're hunting the task will be impossible. You need to make sure the land you're hunting is holding the quality of deer you are wanting to harvest!

Yep. This would be step one

Ok so best ways to identify this in one spring/ summer?

[magicman54494]

memorize everything on the beast in 5 months then go hunting. lol

[tgreeno]

If there's not a 4.5 year old on the land you're hunting the task will be impossible. You need to make sure the land you're hunting is holding the quality of deer you are wanting to harvest!

Yep. This would be step one

Ok so best ways to identify this in one spring/ summer?

You need to get boots on the ground, and make sure there is mature buck sign!

[Dhurtubise]

[ETNyates15]

memorize everything on the beast in 5 months then go hunting. lol

I guess that ends up being the point of the question, concatenate everything in Dan's head and condense it into the top 4 or 5 things he would suggest for success. Though the situation is fictional, I feel like the simplistic approach is typically the best so I just wanted to hear what Dan or others would do in the given situation if they were novice and needed to kill an old buck regardless of circumstances.

[Jonny]

If there's not a 4.5 year old on the land you're hunting the task will be impossible. You need to make sure the land you're hunting is holding the quality of deer you are wanting to harvest!

Yep. This would be step one

Ok so best ways to identify this in one spring/ summer?

I would start walking. Cover lots of ground dark to dark, and spend time when its not light out looking at aerials and topos of new areas, and documenting what you found. Come hunting season, you should have spots for every wind that you feel confident in.

Reading up on the beast is also a good idea

[GoInLight]

I would suggest you be mobile and very efficient at being mobile. When I say mobile, I mean find fresh sign and hunt it right now. I would say spend the majority of your time scouting and only hunt when you have a high probability of success. Also put basically everything else in your life on the back burner, in other words build your life around whatever it takes to kill big deer. No one likes to say it, but in order to be consistently successful, other parts of your life will suffer. In my opinion that's why unless you have a burning passion for this sport, you won't be willing to do what it takes.