Rec and Sports

Deer Hunting Tips for Advanced Hunters

The average deer hunter who has average skills and an average commitment to the hunt, usually get average results for his efforts. 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. The advanced deer hunting tips I’m sharing with you here are for the true hunting masters.

1. Scout Your Area In Advance. I’m not talking about where you’re going to sit when you arrive at your hunting spot — I mean be genuinely aware of the area that you are hunting in. In fact, my most successful hunting seasons actually began months before opening day.

Often, good hunters will scout their hunting areas months in advance of hunting season. Scout all the areas where you plan to hunt, being sure that you have permission to do that first. Do a “dry hunt,” where you just look at all the hunting sites you have available unarmed, with a camera, and find out where you can find the biggest bucks, and most movement, and a better buck to doe ratio. You can walk around the lease in the middle of the day, looking for big buck signs that I could see.

2. Recognizing The Signs Of Big Bucks – By knowing what signs to look for, you will be better prepared to find the area where the trophy bucks are located. One thing you want to look for are 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 there 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. If you see six or more rubs in 100 yards, that’s called a “rub line.” You’ll usually find rubs beside a tree on the side that the buck’s traveling from, so you can get an idea of where the deer is moving and mark it down, making it easier to find them.

Observe how big the bedding areas are once you find them. No bucks will go through that area without leaving signs!

3. Become An Expert In The Shooting Characteristics of Your Firearm – Learn more about the ballistics of the caliber and cartridge of your weapon. Figure out how to fire your weapon depending on how far your target is away from you, adjusting for other factors as well. Learn how well you can judge distance, and walk through the sighting areas before you start hunting, so you have a good idea about yardage; you’ll be able to more accurately figure out how far you are from the target and lift or drop your bullet accordingly.

4. Shot Placement – You’ll be much better at your shot placement when you know how best to aim your deer hunting rifle.

Personally, I prefer neck shooting. While many hunters do not agree with this technique, a properly placed shot anywhere along the neck will drop your deer instantly. If you hit the deer lower on the neck the carotid arteries will be severed. If you hit the deer high on the neck you will break the deer’s spinal column. Finally, if you hit the deer in the center of the neck you will get a combination of both of these effects. No matter what angle the deer is at, whether it is broadside, front or rear quarter angle, or head-on, the neck will be as large of a target area as the typical “behind the lower shoulder” targets. The difference is that the neck target is much more effective.

I don’t recommend attempting full rear shots unless you are trying for a trophy buck that you can’t pass up. Cleaning a deer that’s been shot in the rectum is unpleasant, to say the least. Make wise shooting decisions; a quick, efficient kill is the goal of the advanced deer hunter.

5. Attractants, 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 grazing.

Usually calling or rattling will only work occasionally and only during the rut. Occasionally I have been able to bring a buck in slowly and cautiously by rattling outside of the rutting season, but during the rut, they tend to rush right in. There have been times when I have almost been run over by a buck while I was rattling. With this in mind, if you choose to use this technique you need to be prepared to react quickly. It takes time to learn how to rattle and react proficiently. There is a learning curve associated with being able to actually mimic a call or recreate the sound of two bucks fighting. However, once you learn them, they can prove to be very effective.

While every deer hunter dreams of being able to display a trophy buck at some time in their life, advanced deer hunters are not satisfied unless they get a trophy buck each and every year. if you want to be able to regularly bag trophy bucks on a regular basis, you need to know and understand the deer hunting tips explained here.

If you really want to learn what it takes to be a master deer hunter, keep these deer hunting tips in mind when your next hunt comes up. And please visit us at www.Deer-HuntingTips.com to learn the secrets and deer hunting tips the pros know.