Blood drained by mosquitoes. Fell in a marshy swamp. Tired and exhausted. Hundreds of miles walked. Sun burned. Some shots, not a single kill.

[8mm Enthusiast]

Admittedly, I am having a very rough start to the hunting season. I just don't know what beginner mistake I am making. I feel perhaps I am doing these three things:? 1. High expectations. 2. Hunting areas with no animals or highly pressured animals. 3. Revealing myself and getting spotted. Of course, I have come across lots of game that isn't in season and when the season starts, they magically disappear.

Perhaps I am not putting in the extra effort?

I'd like to hear about some techniques that experienced hunters here have to break a "dry spell". Currently feeling a bit depressed, mentally and physically drained.

 

[sako2]

That's why it's called hunting and not killing. It all starts the second you park the vehicle. Be quite when your getting ready and move slowly through the woods. Pay attention to squirrel'swhen going through the woods if your spooking them your moving to fast. Sit in a area where your in the shade. As for insects get something like a thermacell they work good. Don't expect to harvest something everytime out. Everytime out is a learning experience. Most of all keep your chin up. It's not easy. We've all been there. I've spent many days in a treestand from a hour before light till dark without seeing anything and have had days I wasn't in the woods 5 minutes and shot a deer. ! day I dropped my youngest son off and drove a 1/2 mile up the road Iwas getting ready when i heard him shoot. I didn't even get to load my gun that day.

 

[Wolfshead]

You are attempting something that has no absolutes.
You don’t know what you don’t know.
Are you basing success on making a kill?
As far as a technique for breaking a dry spell the best one I can give you is persistence.
The more you hunt the greater the chance of making a harvest.
We have a saying in my family that “you can’t get them sitting on the couch”.
I would suggest keeping a journal which you add to after every hunt.
Include;
Whether successful or not, why do you think this was the result, reflect on what worked, what didn't, and why.
Keep asking questions and learn what questions to ask yourself.
Document wind, weather, deer observed, sign found, and your tactics. This builds up a reference to which you can go back and look at.
There are SO many variables to being successful and a some of the time, even with “successful” hunters it comes down to luck.
Most importantly, DON’T GET DISCOURAGED!
It is so easy with social media and the internet to see everyone’s success. Understand that even the most successful hunters spend hours, days, weeks, in the field and only harvest one or two deer a year, and sometimes quite possibly no deer.
Understand you are just starting out. The best hunters will tell you it took them years to get where they are.

 

[sako2]

Don't look for the whole body of the animal your hunting. Study the area and watch for movement. The turning of a head, twitching of a ear, or fickering of a tail.

 

[NYDAN]

As far as a technique for breaking a dry spell the best one I can give you is persistence.
The more you hunt the greater the chance of making a harvest.
We have a saying in my family that “you can’t get them sitting on the couch”.

Yes, persistence is key. You can't get anything from the couch.

If I may offer an additional perspective, I would say, relax.
For some reason, it seems that in my experience, the more I "had to" take an animal, it harder it became. Also, I ended up shooting lesser animals. When my emphasize was on harvesting instead of hunting, hunting was more like work. Later, after I had taken a few animals, I started to enjoy just "hunting". The act of being out in woods, trying to learn about the animals, and enjoying being "away from work" things started to change. The activity, rather than the outcome, became more of my focus. It was like the old saying, "The trip is about the journey, not the destination."

I swear, as odd as it may seem, that once I relaxed and was happy enjoying the experience, my "luck" improved, and game (along with better animals) came more easily. I can't explain it.

 

[xphunter]

Sounds like you are doing the majority of your hunting by walking, is that accurate?
If so what kind of set-up s do you have for sitting, kneeling, and standing shots?
Rifle, chambering, scope???
Did you see a good number of animals? Assuming deer???

 

[JD338]

More information would be helpful.
What are you hunting?
Where are you hunting?
How are you hunting?
What kind of hunting pressure?

JD338

 

[RL338]

Admittedly, I am having a very rough start to the hunting season. I just don't know what beginner mistake I am making. I feel perhaps I am doing these three things:? 1. High expectations. 2. Hunting areas with no animals or highly pressured animals. 3. Revealing myself and getting spotted. Of course, I have come across lots of game that isn't in season and when the season starts, they magically disappear.

Perhaps I am not putting in the extra effort?

I'd like to hear about some techniques that experienced hunters here have to break a "dry spell". Currently feeling a bit depressed, mentally and physically drained.

I feel your pain. I had high hope on this year’s bear season and so far it’s a bust. When I started baiting I have 4 different bear coming in and they were eating me dry. Starting in mid August they pulled up shop. Now I’m lucky to get one hit a week. With only a 40 acre woods there isn’t a lot area to work with. JD has given me some advice on my bait and I’ll have to see if it pans out.

 

[Blkram]

Hunting is a game of patience and persistence.
And it is a learned skill.
This means it takes time! And without the time and effort put in, you will not learn to appreciate the wins as much when they are actually accomplished.
As mentioned above, a change in perspective can make it more enjoyable.
Enjoy the outing and the experience, and relax your expectation that you are going to be harvesting your targeted species everytime you go hunting. This is not realistic! (Again, hunting, not killing.) This will lead to less frustration and depression, as you learn to put less pressure on yourself, and the environment.
We are lucky in that we have other sources for sustenance (grocery stores), and we aren't busy working hard for many hours every day in trying to source our food for the day and the coming weeks (other than working our jobs to earn the funds to do so). If we didn't we would be out there every day trying to get any animal or other food source (plants, roots, nuts, berries, etc.) to keep us fed and healthy. When our ancestors had to do this, they had to work harder and be patient and skilled to survive, and they definitely did not come home with fresh meat everyday!

If you ever watch the nature shows, watch the difference in the behaviour of the prey species when the predators are nearby and just being casual vs actively hunting. All of the animals are more relaxed, even if they are wary, and they will give off fewer alarms, and it seems as though they allow the predators to get closer without the same tension and fuss. If we mimic this while we are out there, we too may be able to raise less alarm from the other animals in the environment so that it is more relaxed, and we won't blow the prey we are after out of the area.
I read an interesting item in the book Hunt High about hunting sheep and goats. It talked about not letting your prey species see you, but that this is not always possible. If they do see you, act natural, and not like a hunter (bent over and being sneaky that raises alarm from that hunting posture). This means walk erect, and casually, and stay in the open where they can see you. Walk in a normal relaxed manner, but on a path that will angle you past the prey animal, and/or other animals that may be between you and your prey, or that have spotted you, even when your prey has not, and not directly at them. This will relax the pressure that they will feel and allow you to get closer while not necessarily blowing them out of the area. (Note that this won't happen with over pressured animals, and not all of the time, as some are more sensitive and have less tolerance of interlopers.) This is a great lesson that applies in all other hunting scenarios. I have hunted areas were the whitetails were always nervous and left as soon as they became aware of my presence. In other scenarios, they were aware and tolerant of the intrusion and did not leave. And then again, in other scenarios, some of the deer would leave, while others would let you pass within yards of them without any indication of alarm., although you were aware that they were still observing you while they continued about their business as you passed by.

I have hunted hard from August through to December and have only taken a few grouse in a year, where in other years, I was able to take several big game animals of multiple species. This meant days of hunting, thousands of miles travelled, and a considerable expense for fuel, food, and energy and effort expended, etc.
I hope to be successful in a harvest, but even when I am not, I have been just as successful, if not even more so, in the fact that I have been out in the bush enjoying life, nature, the sights, sounds and smells, that cleanses the soul and carries my day-to-day life worries and challenges away from the forefront of my thoughts. And the enjoyment of time afield with friends and family. This is a huge success in and of itself!

But do not quit, or you'll never be successful. Keep at it. Each day in the field is a success, as you are still learning from your experiences, even if it does not feel like it.
As someone once said, if you have never failed, you have never learned (or something to that effect).
The fact that you are asking questions is a good thing. Take the time to reflect on what you did, and why it worked or didn't work.

Are you in the right area for that targeted species? At the right time of year?
Does your targeted species migrate throughout a territory, or is it their full time home range?
Are you there at the right time? What is their targeted food source at this moment of the season? Or at the right time of day? Is it their winter season area, or their breeding area? (They may have been there all summer, but now that the season has changed, their behavioural patterns may have changed too. Whitetails may have a home range of a square mile, but will travel 5 miles or more during the breeding season to find hot does, where mule deer can and do migrate from on area to another throughout the seasons, as do elk. A bear may have a territory, but they move throughout it as different food sources wax and wain throughout the season, or they are travelling to find the sows whose areas overlap the boar's during the rut.)
Are you there while they are out feeding and need to wait for them to pass back through to their bedding area? Or did you blow them out of their bedding area, and they may not return today, or for the rest of the season?
Are you watching your wind properly? Or the moon phase and how it impacts their daily movement?

This is but a short list of items to consider...hope it helps!

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

That's why it's called hunting and not killing. It all starts the second you park the vehicle. Be quite when your getting ready and move slowly through the woods. Pay attention to squirrel'swhen going through the woods if your spooking them your moving to fast. Sit in a area where your in the shade. As for insects get something like a thermacell they work good. Don't expect to harvest something everytime out. Everytime out is a learning experience. Most of all keep your chin up. It's not easy. We've all been there. I've spent many days in a treestand from a hour before light till dark without seeing anything and have had days I wasn't in the woods 5 minutes and shot a deer. ! day I dropped my youngest son off and drove a 1/2 mile up the road Iwas getting ready when i heard him shoot. I didn't even get to load my gun that day.

The squirrels have all disappeared unfortunately as soon as September started. Only time I saw squirrels last time was in the spring of this year when I was scouting without a rifle or shotgun. Even when I move slow, very slowly through the forest, I do not see any squirrels. During my "slow" still-hunting walk, the forest and fields are usually very loud with birds making a lot of noise. When I am walking normally, trying to get from point A to point B, the environment is significantly quieter.

I take it as a sign that when it's loud, they're less alert or afraid of me — and when it's quiet, they're more cautious. But it's such a tedious game as this could be the exact opposite. When the birds are loud, those might be warning calls alerting others of my presence and when quiet, it could be the opposite.

Maybe the squirrels are still out there but they freeze and don't move so they don't get spotted. They'll magically reappear when it's gun deer season. Along with other species.

To your point, I am just relying on persistence as an equalizer at this point. The more persistent you are, the luckier you get. It's the one thing that will give me an advantage over the animals and other hunters (public land).

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

You are attempting something that has no absolutes.
You don’t know what you don’t know.
Are you basing success on making a kill?
As far as a technique for breaking a dry spell the best one I can give you is persistence.
The more you hunt the greater the chance of making a harvest.
We have a saying in my family that “you can’t get them sitting on the couch”.
I would suggest keeping a journal which you add to after every hunt.
Include;
Whether successful or not, why do you think this was the result, reflect on what worked, what didn't, and why.
Keep asking questions and learn what questions to ask yourself.
Document wind, weather, deer observed, sign found, and your tactics. This builds up a reference to which you can go back and look at.
There are SO many variables to being successful and a some of the time, even with “successful” hunters it comes down to luck.
Most importantly, DON’T GET DISCOURAGED!
It is so easy with social media and the internet to see everyone’s success. Understand that even the most successful hunters spend hours, days, weeks, in the field and only harvest one or two deer a year, and sometimes quite possibly no deer.
Understand you are just starting out. The best hunters will tell you it took them years to get where they are.

I have hunted so far all days in September and missed maybe around 3 days. The week days are all brief trips after work. More than a thousand miles accumulated on my car. Certainly I am trying to leave the couch mindset behind. I guess my mind is just playing tricks on me. I do sometimes wonder if the success I see on social media is the result of people making what could be described as "pre-planned kills".

Private land, scouted day in and day out to absolutely make sure the animals show up at that spot and at that time, nearly everyday. Rifle zeroed to perfection, hot coffee blind setup at a perfect pre-scouted spot. Go in, get setup with the camera, shoot, kill, and post it on social media.

Perhaps I should just drive around and try to bump into stubborn groups of animals that never leave a spot and then just hunt those instead of trying to spot and stalk in areas where I have seen a group or flock before.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

Don't look for the whole body of the animal your hunting. Study the area and watch for movement. The turning of a head, twitching of a ear, or fickering of a tail.

Agreed, and I do try to implement this. Step one foot, plant it slowly, head up always, scan at at least 180 degrees, pause for a little bit. Listen in, scan for any signs of movement. Raise the back foot slowly, and continue.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

Yes, persistence is key. You can't get anything from the couch.

If I may offer an additional perspective, I would say, relax.
For some reason, it seems that in my experience, the more I "had to" take an animal, it harder it became. Also, I ended up shooting lesser animals. When my emphasize was on harvesting instead of hunting, hunting was more like work. Later, after I had taken a few animals, I started to enjoy just "hunting". The act of being out in woods, trying to learn about the animals, and enjoying being "away from work" things started to change. The activity, rather than the outcome, became more of my focus. It was like the old saying, "The trip is about the journey, not the destination."

I swear, as odd as it may seem, that once I relaxed and was happy enjoying the experience, my "luck" improved, and game (along with better animals) came more easily. I can't explain it.

I have experienced this. It is odd. I feel that animals can sense energy and emotions in us. You are right. Sometimes all you have to do is just focus on enjoying the experience rather than being dead focused (pun intended) on getting the kill. That's why, on a lot of these short trips where you didn’t really plan ahead but just have the shotgun in the trunk and stop at a property to scout, you end up running into game and getting a kill.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

Sounds like you are doing the majority of your hunting by walking, is that accurate?
If so what kind of set-up s do you have for sitting, kneeling, and standing shots?
Rifle, chambering, scope???
Did you see a good number of animals? Assuming deer???

It's been dove hunting so far. Mostly on foot but I have added decoys to the mix recently. Standing and flying shots. 12 Gauge, over under, choked IC and MOD. I see a decent number of animals. No massive flocks but on any given day I'll see 30+ birds.

All of my shots have come from flushing them from nearby trees, fields, or bushes on foot without decoys. With the decoys they just sit in nearby trees or powerlines and never fly close enough or land near the decoys.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

More information would be helpful.
What are you hunting?
Where are you hunting?
How are you hunting?
What kind of hunting pressure?

JD338

1. Doves.
2. Public land managed for doves with corn and sunflower fields.
3. On foot, also with decoys where I am setup in a natural vegetation blind.
4. Ground is littered with spent shell, wads, and what looks like dove feathers from people plucking or skinning them. Occasionally, I'll run into other hunters.

Yesterday:

1. Fall turkey.
2. Again, public land where I run into other hunters sometimes. Mostly deciduous forest, plenty of cover with scattered corn and alfalfa fields. I have seen a flock of turkeys in this area before along with numerous tracks and feathers. A little over 200 acres.
3. Spot and stalk. Moving incredibly slow. An area that takes me 30 minutes to cover, I'll cover in 1.5 hours. I should probably setup and use decoys with calls however I have flushed turkeys before on foot well within range so that's why I am doing it like this.
4. Not many turkey hunters or spent shells here. I do run into hunters sometimes but they rarely are going deeper into the property than I am.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

I feel your pain. I had high hope on this year’s bear season and so far it’s a bust. When I started baiting I have 4 different bear coming in and they were eating me dry. Starting in mid August they pulled up shop. Now I’m lucky to get one hit a week. With only a 40 acre woods there isn’t a lot area to work with. JD has given me some advice on my bait and I’ll have to see if it pans out.

It is stressful but perhaps coming back empty handed is a part of hunting. A BIG part of hunting.

 

[8mm Enthusiast]

Hunting is a game of patience and persistence.
And it is a learned skill.
This means it takes time! And without the time and effort out in, you will not learn to appreciate the wins as much when they are actually accomplished.
As mentioned above, a change in perspective can make it more enjoyable.
Enjoy the outing and the experience, and relax your expectation that you are going to be harvesting your targeted species everytime you go hunting. This is not realistic! (Again, hunting, not killing.) This will lead to less frustration and depression, as you learn to put less pressure on yourself, and the environment.
We are lucky in that we have other sources for sustenance (grocery stores), and we aren't busy working hard for many hours every day in trying to source our food for the day and the coming weeks (other than working our jobs to earn the funds to do so). If we didn't we would be out there every day trying to get any animal or other food source (plants, roots, nuts, berries, etc.) to keep us fed and healthy. When our ancestors had to do this, they had to work harder and be patient and skilled to survive, and they definitely did not come home with fresh meat everyday!

If you ever watch the nature shows, watch the difference in the behaviour of the prey species when the predators are nearby and just being casual vs actively hunting. All of the animals are more relaxed, even if they are wary, and they will give off fewer alarms, and it seems as though they allow the predators to get closer without the same tension and fuss. If we mimic this while we are out there, we too may be able to raise less alarm from the other animals in the environment so that it is more relaxed, and we won't blow the prey we are after out of the area.
I read an interesting item in the book Hunt High about hunting sheep and goats. It talked about not letting your prey species see you, but that this is not always possible. If they do see you, act natural, and not like a hunter (bent over and being sneaky that raises alarm from that hunting posture). This means walk erect, and casually, and stay in the open where they can see you. Walk in a normal relaxed manner, but on a path that will angle you past the prey animal, and/or other animals that may be between you and your prey, or that have spotted you, even when your prey has not, and not directly at them. This will relax the pressure that they will feel and allow you to get closer while not necessarily blowing them out of the area. (Note that this won't happen with over pressured animals, and not all of the time, as some are more sensitive and have less tolerance of interlopers.) This is a great lesson that applies in all other hunting scenarios. I have hunted areas were the whitetails were always nervous and left as soon as they became aware of my presence. In other scenarios, they were aware and tolerant of the intrusion and did not leave. And then again, in other scenarios, some of the deer would leave, while others would let you pass within yards of them without any indication of alarm., although you were aware that they were still observing you while they continued about their business as you passed by.

I have hunted hard from August through to December and have only taken a few grouse in a year, where in other years, I was able to take several big game animals of multiple species. This meant days of hunting, thousands of miles travelled, and a considerable expense for fuel, food, and energy and effort expended, etc.
I hope to be successful in a harvest, but even when I am not, I have been just as successful, if not even more so, in the fact that I have been out in thee bush enjoying life, nature, the sights, sounds and smells, that cleanses the soul and carries my day-to-day life worries and challenges away from the forefront of my thoughts. And the enjoyment of time afield with friends and family. This is a huge success in and of itself!

But do not quit, or you'll never be successful. Keep at it. Each day in the field is a success, as you are still learning from your experiences, even if it does not feel like it.
As someone once said, if you have never failed, you have never learned (or something to that effect).
The fact that you are asking questions is a good thing. Take the time to reflect on what you did, and why it worked or didn't work.

Are you in the right area for that targeted species? At the right time of year?
Does your targeted species migrate throughout a territory, or is it their full time home range?
Are you there at the right time? What is their targeted food source at this moment of the season? Or at the right time of day? Is it their winter season area, or their breeding area? (They may have been there all summer, but now that the season has changed, their behavioural patterns may have changed too. Whitetails may have a home range of a square mile, but will travel 5 miles or more during the breeding season to find hot does, where mule deer can and do migrate from on area to another throughout the seasons, as do elk. A bear may have a territory, but they move throughout it as different food sources wax and wain throughout the season, or they are travelling to find the sows whose areas overlap the boar's during the rut.)
Are you there while they are out feeding and need to wait for them to pass back through to their bedding area? Or did you blow them out of their bedding area, and they may not return today, or for the rest of the season?
Are you watching your wind properly? Or the moon phase and how it impacts their daily movement?

This is but a short list of items to consider...hoe it helps!

Agree with all your points. Plenty of whitetails and turkeys have not fled from me when I was casually hiking or looking at my phone. A short portion of the long list of things to consider. I'll be out again with the shotgun in my hand. The grind continues.

 

[RememberBaker]

The way people hunt fall turkeys around here is to find a flock, break them up, set up near where you think they are and then call the young ones back in.
Doves are typically hunted by sitting in the field and shooting birds that fly by near enough, decoys can help if you can get them up where they are visible.

 

[Blkram]

Keep in mind that hunting shows and posts only show a few moments to approximately 13 minutes of film during a half hour program. It does not show the hundreds or thousands of edited minutes of film it requires to get those few moments and minutes that are aired.

 

[sako2]

1. Doves.
2. Public land managed for doves with corn and sunflower fields.
3. On foot, also with decoys where I am setup in a natural vegetation blind.
4. Ground is littered with spent shell, wads, and what looks like dove feathers from people plucking or skinning them. Occasionally, I'll run into other hunters.

Yesterday:

1. Fall turkey.
2. Again, public land where I run into other hunters sometimes. Mostly deciduous forest, plenty of cover with scattered corn and alfalfa fields. I have seen a flock of turkeys in this area before along with numerous tracks and feathers. A little over 200 acres.
3. Spot and stalk. Moving incredibly slow. An area that takes me 30 minutes to cover, I'll cover in 1.5 hours. I should probably setup and use decoys with calls however I have flushed turkeys before on foot well within range so that's why I am doing it like this.
4. Not many turkey hunters or spent shells here. I do run into hunters sometimes but they rarely are going deeper into the property than I am.

Are you calling while moving. When I said move slowly I didn't mean tippy toe through the woods. I meant take a couple steps then look around a few minutes. Don't walk in a pattern. Meaning change how many steps you take and how long you stand. Then there is over pressured areas. Hunting the same area over and over. Animals will pattern you and avoid the area. If you're seeing spent shells all over that may be the reason you don't see anything.