Tips for a first-time deer hunter?

[Nathanael_Greene]

I'm going on my first-ever deer hunt in a few days. (The hunt will be here in North Texas.) I'll be hunting from a stand.

I've got my rifle all set--sighted-in, practiced with. I feel confident with it. (A Remington in .30-06.)

I'm a middle-aged guy who's done some bird hunting, but I don't have much big-game experience.

Can anyone offer me any tips? Besides the obvious stuff of rifle, ammunition, license, orange clothing, what should I bring?

Thanks, O wise THR members!

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

I hope your not going alone on your first hunt. It helps to have an experienced friend to get you set up.

Mostly just be still. Move your eyes to look around, move your head as little as possible. Go in early, leave out late. Pay attention to every sound you hear. Use some cover scent on your boots or on a drag to minimize the possibility of spooking the animal. Don't give up at noontime. Often the deer will get up to stretch and browse.

Carry a small bottle of water and some quiet snacks such as jerky or a powerbar and juice/milk. Carry a flashlight to help you find your truck. ( Something as simple as this almost made me spend the night in the woods, then I paid hell explaining where I'd been all night.)

Get a good knife to assist in field dressing in case you do harvest a deer.

 

[sumpnz]

I hope your not going alone on your first hunt. It helps to have an experienced friend to get you set up.

x2

This year will my first deer hunt, and I have a buddy showing me the ropes. He's got about 30 years of deer/elk hunting under his belt, so if he don't know what to do we're screwed.

 

[bp_cowboy]

Don't forget

to take a roll of Toilet Paper. It never fails no matter what you have eaten, you will have to take a massive dump and smear it all the way from your crack to the middle of your back.

 

[Lennyjoe]

If your hunting in a lock on, climber or any type of stand that isnt a box stand then wear a harness.

Take, TP, flashlight, knife, rope to pull up your rifle, snacks, and marking tape for blood trail should the deer not crash in his own tracks.

When your shot opportunity presents itself, take your time, control your breathing and place your shot well.

Buck fever will hit you the minute you see a flash of deer in the woods.

Expecially if he has a big rack

Enjoy your first hunt.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

bp_cowboy, thank you for the visual.

 

[Smokey Joe]

First deer hunt--I envy you.

You have such a world of adventure you're entering. All the advice above is good. Glad you've practiced with your weapon.

Safety and having a good time are what it's all about. Take your time, enjoy the whole experience. Even the bad parts, like soaked boots, easy misses, etc, will be good in retrospect.

 

[Mannlicher]

and best of luck. I have hunted deer for probably 50 years now, and every time I go out to the woods to hunt, the thrill and excitment is as vivid now as it was when I was a kid. Remember, the hunt is not always about taking game.

 

[Roadrunner]

bp_cowboy beat me to the TP. Yea, take it from personal experience bring TP and put it in a sandwich baggie. Wet, soggy TP is useless.

• Camera.
• Motorola walkie-talkies if hunting with friends.
• Cellphone.
• Fold-up chair if the stand dosen't have one.
• Deer cart, dragging a deer back to the truck sucks.
• GPS so you don't get lost.
• First aid kit.
• If alone in a new area, let someone know where you're hunting and approximate return time.

 

[Ivy Mike]

One thing I would add is a compass. GPS is nice, but what if it doesn't work.

At least with a compass, you can get your bearings and figure out how to get back to the truck. Other simple things you might want are matches/lighter, a good knife, enough cash to buy venison so that you'll have something to show when you come back skunked.

I've always brought a handgun as a back-up weapon on the few hunts I've done.

 

[Byron Quick]

I'm kinda fidgety. Therefore, I like to hunt from stands in two differents ways. A permanent treestand that is large enough for a folding chair and enclosed with camouflaged burlap...top rail makes a nice rest.

With a climbing stand I go into the swamps and get on one of old straight hardwoods. Then I climb high enough that I can move all I want. Heck, I could do the hula

If you are not in an enclosed treestand; the harness is not a suggestion, it is a requirement.

Toilet paper is a good thing. I'd think about taking along a thick trash bag, too. I've been up a tree when I couldn't make it down in time. YMMV

 

[MeekandMild]

What to bring?

For a deer stand, bring sunglasses. If you can see the deer he can see your eyes blink. Deer hate movement.

Also bring a good book. Nothing scares deer away quite as fast as snoring.

Use non odor or dirt-odor soap and laundry soap. I was wrong about snoring. Nothing scares deer away quite as fast as human smell.

Bring a urinal. Nothing scares deer away as fast as a guy climbing down from a deer stand to relieve his bladder and spread human smells beneath where he's hunting.



BTW, a tractor is a whole lot better for bringing out deer than either a pickup truck or a four wheeler, especially if you have one of those lift poles on the back.

 

[patentmike]

If you're on public land on opening day, stay put. Chances are pretty good someone will drive a deer right to you, especially when it feels like it's time to move- That's probably when the other guys start moving around. Stay.

 

[Smoke]

Let me give you the protocol for the hunters that lease some of my property. While not their first hunt, it will give you an idea of what's going on....

Arrive on property in a big loud 4WD loaded with useless junk and a 4 wheeler. Ride the 4 wheeler around all day "scouting" for deer and throwing beer cans on the ground. (Ranchers love that)

Show up at the ranch owners house half lit and tell him to move his danged cows 'cause they're eating all you corn you put out. (he won't mind.....really)

Sit up all nightt swilling cheap whiskey, cussing and making as much noise as possible.

Oversleep opening morning, puke, get your big 4wd stuck out in the pasture tearing up at least 2 acres of native grass. Walk the rest of the way to your stand. Pass out in the stand; waking every half hour to bang your way out of the stand to pee, throw up, or take a dump. DO all of this real close to the stand since you feel so bad.

Give up hunting and return to camp for help getting your truck out. Tear up another 10 acres of grass trying to get truck unstuck. Go to rancher and ask him if you can borrow his tractor to get your truck out.

When (if) he drags you out, be sure not to offer to pay him for his time, use of equipment, or damages to his property.

Pack up your stuff and go home bragging to your friends about the monster buck that you let go so he can grow another year.

Repeat every couple of weeks through out the season.

Wonder why the rancher won't renew your lease for next year.

Smoke

 

[Browns Fan]

Quote:
"Bring a urinal. Nothing scares deer away as fast as a guy climbing down from a deer stand to relieve his bladder and spread human smells beneath where he's hunting."

A Gatorade bottle with a wide mouth makes an excellent pee bottle.

 

[one-shot-one]

$0.02

all good advice, but if you want to leap ahead take a long hard look at each item that you think you need rememberyou have to carry it in and out and with you if you must track your deer. many items are better to have and not need than not have and need, are you familiar with the area you are hunting is it bordered on all sides by fences/streams/roads? if so you can probably take the compass and leave the gps. you may want to include some orange plastic marking tape. all of my stuff fits into a shoulder bag and weighs about 5 lbs. time will tell you what you need to carry and what can stay in the truck/camp.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Smoke, you forgot one. And this actually happened in Kansas a few years ago.

Don't forget to sue the rancher for putting a ditch across his property that you could drive into while drunk, thereby damaging your truck.

 

[beardking]

Something to treat the bug bites with. You can't put on a bug repellant because that's a pretty good deer repellant too, so you'll have to deal with being attacked the entire time you are out there. So when you get back to home base, put some itch stopping creme on so you don't tear yourself up like I did. Of course, if it's colder in your area than it was in mine, you might have better luck with the bugs.

 

[Smoke]

Larry,

I haven't seen that one yet, but it doesn't surprise me a bit.

Smoke

 

[Byron Quick]

smoke, I don't drink cheap whiskey

I used to do the urinal thing with the big Gatorade bottle. Then I read a story in a hunting magazine. I don't recall which one. Probably Georgia Outdoor News.
Anyhow, seems some University of Georgia wildlife biologists got interested in deer reaction to urine. So they had some from another ongoing experiment that were radio collared. They recorded their movement patterns before urine. Then they set various species' urine out, including human. The deer would smell it and go about their business. The biologists could find no difference in patterns of movement from pre-urine and post-urine.

After reading it, I said to myself,"Self, why not give it a whirl." Season before last I hunted a thirty acre field that is growing up in broomsage, scrub oaks, and volunteer pines. I hunted three different stands on this thirty acres. I urinated from each and every one of them every time I used one. I killed deer from each one. The limit that year was two bucks and eight does. I killed two bucks, both quality, and eight does.

If you are not hunting howling wilderness then the deer are smelling and hearing humans all year long. In agricultural country there ain't large enough areas to hold all the deer where they can't smell or hear humans. A lot of the herd is living cheek to jowl with humans. I live in town. I have to fence in my garden.

Oh, almost forgot. Those stands I was urinating out of?....I was smoking in them, too. A lot of the conventional wisdom...ain't.

Ask Art about camouflage

 

[MeekandMild]

Byron, I've got a great mental picture of what goes on at your deer stands!

Actually, I think that the movement may be worse than the smell. This year I've put a stand about a hundred yards behind my house so as to knock off the deer that my dogs bark at every morning and which eat my wife's flowers all summer. These deer must be used to human smells, but they run off whenever they see movement.

RE bugs, in the early season, if its not too warm I use a camo bug net face screen. It is like a green cheesecloth sack you put over your head.

 

[ezypikns]

A Gerber Bone Saw....

which I bought for 9.99 at Bass Pro. My nephew was lucky on opening day of black powder season in Oklahoma. This little folding bone saw made quick work of sawing through the buck's rib cage.
Also, if you're going hunting in a warm place, get some insect repellent called "No Stinking Bugs" from either Wal-Mart or Bass Pro. It's got an earth scent.
I've also got a bucket with a swivel seat top with a camo cover (Evans brand) which I got from Wal-Mart. You can carry extra clothes or gear in it and when sitting on it and turning to look in different directions, the swivel seat makes movement easy and quick.

 

[beardking]

Meekandmild, I was using the screen face mask, and it worked wonders for the face bugs. What I had (and am STILL having) problems with were the dang chiggers and other varmints crawling around the ground and getting up on my ankles. My ankles look like I put them through a freaking cheese grater right now.

 

[Phantom Warrior]

This little folding bone saw made quick work of sawing through the buck's rib cage.

Ditto that. My dad actually broke the tip off his knife a few years back trying to split the rib cage. I've used my friend's bone saw the last two years and that goes through the rib cage like butter. A great investment.

Also, a sling make it a lot easier (and safer) to carry your rifle up the ladder to your stand. Try climbing a bunch of 2x4s nailed to a tree, while bundled in five layers of clothing, wearing boots, and carrying a rifle...or get a sling.

 

[MeekandMild]

What I had (and am STILL having) problems with were the dang chiggers and other varmints crawling around the ground

Couple of old home remedies:

1) sulfur powder, like what you use to dust blueberry bushes. Putting it onto the socks and underwear slows down chiggers considerably.

2) vaseline or sweet oil (olive oil) also slows them down. My grandmother used to say it would drown them. Again, this must be put into or onto the socks.


To tell the truth, I've shot several deer with DEET on my socks and beltline, the unscented version.


Concerning smoking, I have read in several places that deer will ignore campfires too.