The Top Tips for Successful Deer Hunting
Day 4: Hunters Who Dress Properly and Hunt As Much As They Can Pay the Price for Deer Hunting Success
Editor’s Note: There’s more to taking deer than just walking through the woods with a gun slung over your shoulder. Here are my rules to hunting deer the right way.
The way a hunter dresses to hunt is often one of the most-overlooked keys to successful hunting. If you’re too hot or too cold, you’re uncomfortable or being attacked by insects, your concentration will be broken. Your attention will be zeroed-in on your physical condition rather than trying to see and take a deer. The way you dress, the amount of odor you put-out and your comfort determines your success as a hunter. To hunt right, dress right. This includes a pair of boots that are comfortable and that also provide warmth. When buying a new pair of hunting boots, try them on with the socks you’ll be wearing when hunting. If you’re ordering boots from a catalog, order either a half-size or a size larger than what you normally wear to accommodate thick socks. Choose the best underwear you can purchase, because underwear keeps you warm. I’ve known sportsmen who’ve spent $300 on heavy-hunting coats but only have bought $20 cheap underwear, and almost frozen to death. Underwear keeps a hunter warm by retaining the heat from the body and wicking moisture away from the skin. Choose underwear like polypropylene and thermal wear that has the ability to hold body heat while wicking-away moisture. Dress in layers, and choose clothes that are quiet, as well as warm.
Successful hunters spend more time hunting and less time talking about hunting. From daylight until dark and often from before daylight until the end of legal shooting light, the sportsmen who hunt right are in the woods either scouting or hunting. The rest of the hunters are eating breakfast, taking lunch breaks, sitting around the campfire or going to and from the places they plan to hunt. The woodsman who hunts correctly usually will be on the stand 30 minutes to an hour before daylight and remain in that stand until legal shooting light is over. If still hunting, be in the area you plan to stalk hunt before daylight, and continue the stalk until the last minute of legal shooting light.
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