Great Deer Hunting Tips
Please read these deer hunting tips carefully. The average deer hunter with only average knowledge and commitment, over time gets only average results. It’s likely that every hunter will manage to bag a small buck every year or two, and maybe will even get lucky and hit his target more often. But it takes a deep understanding of hunting and the dedication to do whatever is required to bag a majestic trophy buck.
In order to help you become a better hunter, I am going to provide you with the advanced deer hunting tips used by deer hunting masters.
1. Scout Your Hunting Area – This does not simply mean know where you are going to sit while you are hunting. It means to go out and truly get to know your hunting location. In fact, my most successful hunting seasons actually began months before opening day. I developed the habit of getting permission to check out the lease where I was going to hunt, then I scouted out the surrounding areas. I surveyed all the potential hunting sites and then did a “dry hunt” — went through the motions of hunting but without a gun, so I could get to know the areas that had the most deer movement, the largest bucks, and the best buck-to-doe ratios. I would also walk the lease during midday noting the signs of the big bucks, and speaking of the signs of the big bucks:
2. Know the Signs of Big Bucks. When you know what you’re looking for, you can zero in on the spots where the trophy deer gather. Spot any tracks. You want to look at how big the tracks are, how many tracks there are, and in which direction the tracks are going. This will allow you to understand how big the deer are in a given area, how many there are, and what their movement patterns are. Look for Scrapes. These are the areas where bucks scratch against the ground and urinate to mark their territory and attract does. Usually scrapes are beneath low-hanging tree branches along the edges of heavy brush. Look for Rubs. These are the spots on trees or posts where bucks rub the velvet off their budding antlers, of where they mark their territory in rutting season. A “rub line” is a series of rubs, six or more within about a 100 yard space. Most often, rubs are on the side of the tree that the buck came from, so knowing which sides of the trees have rub lines will tell you which way the bucks are going. Observe how big the bedding areas are once you find them. If you are not able to find any signs of bucks, it means there are no bucks in the area.
3. Know Your Firearm and Ammo – You need to know the ballistics of the bullet and cartridge you shoot. Know the distance you will need to shoot and be able to make adjustments for geography; for example, the rise on short shoots and the fall for long shots. You should practice judging how far your shots are and maybe even walk off the distances to possible sighting areas. This will allow you to know if you are making a 400 yard shot and also know how much your bullet is likely to drop making this shot. Doing this will enable you to be able to adjust your aim to make a quality shot.
4. Shot Placement. If you master the aim and ballistics of your deer hunting rile, you will be more comfortable with precision shot placement. Personally, I am a “neck shooter.” While many hunters do not agree with this technique, a properly placed shot anywhere along the neck will drop your deer instantly. If your shot lands lower on the neck you have severed the carotid arteries, high on the neck and the spinal column is breached, hit the center of the neck and you get a combination of these deadly effects. If you’re shooting from the side, front, hindquarters, or head-on, the neck is the most effective target, even more so than the traditional “behind the lower shoulder” target. Don’t ever try a full rear shot, unless it’s the only way to get a fantastic trophy buck; you won’t be nearly as effective at bringing down the buck, and it’ll be very uncomfortable to have to clean a butt-shot deer. You want to make smart decisions when you take a shot. The best deer hunters make a fast and efficient kill.
5. Attactants, Calls, and Rattling – While we do not have time to go into a lot of detail, it is an important deer hunting tip to use attractants (like natural food plots, salt licks/mineral blocks, feeders, and flavored blocks), deer calls, and rattling methods. You have to do some prep work beforehand with food attractants. Just like any garden, food plots takes a lot of time and attention. You want the deer to get used to feeding in the area of the food plot weeks or even months prior to hunting season. This is important so you know when and where they will be eating their free meals. Calling and rattling are hit-or-miss techniques that usually only work during rutting. I have had bucks come to my rattling slowly and cautiously out of curiosity when they were not in rut, but typically when it works well they tend to come rushing. There were times when I was nearly run over by bucks when I was rattling in a field. So if you get good at this, be prepared for some quick action. And proficiency is required and often slowly learned. To effectively mimic the call or re-creation of realistic fighting sounds of deer has a learning curve, but can become very effective once learned.
Every deer hunter wishes he or she could display a trophy buck at some time during their hunting career, some of us are not happy unless we bag at least one monster every season. If you are going to join the ranks of the elite hunters, then you need to know the advanced deer hunting tips the elite hunters know.
If you want to learn more about deer hunting and get more deer hunting tips that can help you land the large bucks that get you trophy racks, go to Deer-HuntingTips.com and have a better hunting season than you’ve had in years.
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