hunting-tips

The Importance of Scouting Thoroughly Every Year

By: Terry F. Townsend

Try to learn all you can each year about the deer herds in your hunting areas. In my case, I hunt eight different farms that are far enough apart that I am hunting at least eight different herds. There are certain basic rules-of-thumb that apply to all hunting areas when deer scouting however. One of the most valuable times of the year to begin your scouting for the next up-coming season is within the first month after the previous season ended. Shortly after the season ends each year and the rut is over, it’s not long before the bucks began to drop their antlers. The best place to locate these dropped tines is near trails between the food sources and the bedding areas. Naturally, they can be found almost anywhere but the best place to start would be in the area where they spend most of their time. As soon as the rut ends, they are still affected by all the hunting pressure and as a result hang close to the bedding areas. They are now concentrating on food sources to regain lost weight and nutrition from all the recent rutting activity. These two factors force them to travel back and forth between the bedding areas and food sources when they are most likely to drop their antlers. If you find a good set of antlers from a nice respectable mature buck or one that would probably be a taker in another year, document this in your notes. This buck will probably be back in the same area next year, so you can begin planning your strategy to hunt him. Also if you saw a nice buck and are curious as to whether or not he survived the season, look for his specific tines. If you find his antlers, then he probably was still alive after the season ended. You might occasionally stumble across dropped tines in the woods when you aren’t even looking for them. Remember to look for the trail leading to and from the bedding area and food source he was using when you do have this degree of luck. (Photo) In addition to finding dropped tines, another point in favor of scouting this time of year is that if you jump deer, it won’t affect your actual hunting. The previous season has ended and the next one is several months away from beginning. This time of year the leaves are still off the trees so you can see trails much more clearly and determine their current travel patterns. To a great extent, you can assess the effects of the previous seasons hunting pressure on the herds and how they might have changed from their routines during the season. Document what you learn from this post season scouting period. It will become invaluable later on in the year. You always want to scout in early spring also, since this is when there is so much new growth. Deer love to feed on the tender tips of new growth and this browsing activity is very obvious. Look for small saplings and other tender sprouts bitten off. Take note of their trails into and out of these areas. You can hang a stand on a tree and check numbers of deer sighted and the times and directions of travel and document this information. If you have clover; soybeans, or other leafy crops planted, place a small utilization cage in the middle of the plot so that you can monitor the feeding activity in this area. This can be nothing more than a three or four foot square wooden frame covered with chicken wire to prevent the deer from getting to it. As they feed on the rest of the plot, you can compare the size of this vegetation they are feeding on to the size in your cage, thus giving you an idea of the degree of feeding activity in the plot. (Photo) Try to scout in late summer when most of the plants are bearing fruit. You will begin to see increased activity in these areas from all the feeding activity. This is a good time to hang a stand and check the numbers of deer sighted, times sighted directions of travel and document everything. You should check these numbers in early morning and late evening. Now that the temperature is higher, they will be traveling to and from their water sources more, so this would be a good opportunity to check these areas for activity in and out. Early fall is a critical scouting period. This is the time when we begin to see some rubbing and scraping activity. The bucks begin removing the velvet from their antlers, even though they are still running in bachelor groups and sparring with each other in preparation for the up coming rut. This is the time of year when there is a great deal of obvious sign that will be very beneficial to the upcoming season. Hang a stand once more and check numbers of deer sighted, times sighted and directions of travel as well, in the early morning and late afternoon. Carefully begin to seek out the bedding areas, being very careful not to disrupt any deer in the area if possible. These are high priority pre-rut and post-rut hunting areas. While the bucks are still concentrating on food sources, and before the hunting pressure hits, the possibility of harvesting a good buck in route from his bedding area to a food source is best during the pre-rut period of October. You should do some light scouting the week before you plan to hunt, but do it either during mid morning or early afternoon, so as to disrupt the fewest number of deer. The ideal situation is to scout during this period without disrupting any deer. Pick your tree or trees, but don’t hang your portable stand unless absolutely necessary. The ideal situation would be to slip in early before any deer activity, quietly hang your stand, hunt and harvest your buck. If you hang your stand or stands in the area before you are ready to hunt, you will be leaving scent or something that is new and strange in the area. Unless you use a great deal of caution, you just might disrupt their activity. It’s a good idea to have a back up possibility depending on the weather conditions, especially the wind direction. Try to make your best choices for two different stand locations so you will have a better chance that the wind will be working with you on one or the other. Last but not least, you are just naturally going to be scouting every time you travel back and forth between your stand and camp or vehicle. I have had a great deal of success over the years, hunting over deer sign that I found while walking to or from my stand, or still hunting. Many of these situations involved finding the deer sign, immediately finding a hunting position or tree to hang my stand on and shooting a nice buck within an hour or two. To recap this chapter, here are the recommended scouting times, in order to gain all the knowledge you should need to be able to say you feel confident about what the deer in your area are doing when opening day arrives. 1) Scout within the first month after the season ends. 2) Scout in early spring when all of the new growth is first available to the deer. 3) Scout in late summer and early fall when most of the plants are bearing fruit, and when the deer begin rubbing, and scraping, and changing their summer habits. 4) Scout lightly the week before you plan to hunt for any changes, disruptions in the herd, weather damage, etc. 5) Scout every time you are in the woods or field, or on your way to or from your stand. Successful deer hunters scout in a variety of ways and different times of year and each of us have to pick what works best for us. Use this information as a guideline and as time goes by and you gain experience, and success, modify it, as you will to what works best for you. What works great for one hunter, won’t necessarily work for another. The bottom line is that no matter how much time you spend scouting each year, or when you do it, you must learn what the deer in your area are doing in order to successfully hunt them when the season arrives. You want to feel content in your heart that you have done everything in your power to learn where the deer are going to be on opening morning when you are set up to actually hunt.

Getting Busted

By: Ken Carrier

Getting busted in the tree and wheather you should lay off that spot and let it cool down abit or try something else? I want to share a quick tip with you to help you be invisible when these deer do happen to look up. I went back to that stand got in it with my gear on and had a buddy of mine take acouple of pictures of me on stand, at different angles. To really get a crisp veiw of what that whitetail might see. What an eye opener. First of all I was in with lots of pines, I was wearing a leafy light 3-d scent Lok suite light brown. Sure there are Oaks around but this tree was a large pine. This was the first time I had hunted that area, but new by the sign that it was loaded with deer. Anyway I took the photos to my local sporting goods store and matched the backround of the photos with a new camo suite. I went back into that same exact tree and went totally undetected.

Don’t Forget the "Must-Do List”

By: Terry F. Townsend

We all know that it takes all types of people to make up the world and by the same token, it takes all types of bow hunters to make up the sport of archery hunting. There are those among us who do not respect their quarry, the land they hunt on, the land owners who gave them permission to hunt, nor even their fellow hunters. If an accurate survey could be done, I'm quite sure these folk would be the same ones who will shoot at anything, spend little time searching for a wounded animal if it isn't easy to find, and take very few precautions prior to their hunt. Archery Hunting should be looked upon as a maticulate art, with no room for error. All of the must-do components should be learned and strictly observed before ever entering the field with serious intentions of harvesting an animal. This applies to all types of hunting with a weapon. My must-do list may be part or all of someone else’s list, but the things on my list should strictly be observed by any serious hunter. The list consists of the following: #1 Familiarity and competence with your weapon must exist, in order to deserve the right to take a fatal shot. #2 Every piece of equipment, especially your weapon and devices used to aid in the harvest of an animal should be in good working order. #3 Every article of clothing, piece of equipment, weapon, your body, etc., should be totally free of scent. Do a great deal of research in this area. My book listed below provides a great deal of information on this subject as well as Ken Carrier's Video. #4 The proper license, permission slips, contracts, handshakes, verbal agreements, directives, etc. should be acquired prior to entering a hunting area. Strive to maintain a good relationship with landowners, not only for your sake but our sport in general. Anti-hunters love to hear about a conflict between a hunter and a landowner to further their cause. #5 So you don’t waste your own time, and possibly screw up any other hunting possibilities, always do the proper amount of scouting and know where your possible buck is most likely going to be, so you can set up accordingly. Many hunters will thrash through a potentially good area to get to a bad one simply by not taking the time to look for the proper sign or learning what to look for. #6 Be on your stand in plenty of time to surprise your buck with the least disturbance possible to the area. Let the deer be late, but don't you be. If you’re late, you may as well stay at home unless you depend on luck for your success. #7 Know where the vital organs are located on the animal and strive to make the first shot hit home. This requires constant practice and should be a consistent effort all year long. Shoot from different positions, different vantage points, dressed in heavy clothes as well as light clothes, take quick shots and slow carefully aimed shots. Do all this to improve your accuracy, but strive to never take a shot that you don't feel confident about. #8 Exhaust every effort to find a wounded animal. My book "American Whitetail Deer Hunting Tips and Resources" offers a great deal of information on this subject along with search pattern diagrams. #9 Treat your harvest with dignity. Don’t parade it around on the hood or tailgate of your vehicle for everyone to see. There are many that might be offended at the sight and take your intentions the wrong way. Be proud of your success and the hard work it took to accomplish it, but don’t flaunt it. Whitetail deer hunting, especially with a bow, is one of the most captivating, addictive, and challenging sports an outdoorsman can pursue. If all that pursue it would follow the above rules strictly, it would be a much more rewarding and safe experience for everyone and assist in bridging the gap between the anti-hunters and hunters. Each harvest would be as humane a harvest as possible and therefore not throw up any red flags for the animal rights activist. Lets all have a great, successful, and honorable season. Great Hunting Terry F. Townsend - Outdoor Writer & Author "American Whitetail Deer Hunting Tips and Resources" (One of the most thorough books ever written on whitetail deer hunting)

A Few More Tips To Remember

By: Terry F. Townsend

1) Learn all you can about whitetails read read read scout scout scout

2) Know your food sources but know that acorns are one of the deers preferred mast crops and that they prefer them when they are actually falling. You should know that the acorns begin to fall from the trees on top of the ridges first and work their way down. If you hear acorns falling, this might be a good place to hunt.

3) When hunting downwind of a scrape or sign-post rub, try to hunt off to one side or the other of the direct downwind direction since bucks will tend to check their scrape or rub from the down wind position. If you hunt high they might not not detect you but if you are in line with the direct line of the wind they may check the scrape from downwind side of you and pick you up in this process

4) If you can avoid it never hang your stand the night before you plan to hunt unless you take extra precautions to camouflage the scent you left on it. Simply pick you out two good stand locations and mark with a glow tack or ribbon and hang your stand the morning of your hunt on the best one with regard to the wind.

5) When deer travel to a food source, their route is pretty direct to that location. (this trail should be your focus on where to hunt)For example when Ma Ma calls you to the dinner table, you drop what you are doing and hit the table, but when you get up from the table you may go watch a little TV, feed the dog, work on your car, ect. Well when deer leave a food source, they tend to do the same thing. They may go to their bedding area but in a very round about way, unlike their approach. They may visit a water hole, a mineral lick, another food source, etc.

6) It doesn't make any difference what time of day it is as long as the light conditions resemble those at dawn and dusk. When cloud cover, fog, light rain or snow reduces the amount of available sunlight deer feel secure moving and feeding during daylight. Throughout much of North America the sky is cloudy most of the time from November on, which often causes deer to move during the day.

7) When you are hunting in the afternoon or evening, the farther from the food source you are, without getting too close to bedding areas, the better your chances of seeing deer during the day.

Prioritize the Areas You Plan To Scout

By: Terry F. Townsend

Whether you hunt one parcel of land or several, one deer herd or several, try to focus your primary attention on the best areas first and in the order of their ability to produce a nice buck for you at the time of your hunt. You should be able to determine from the notes you take through out the year and your scouting trips, which areas would likely produce a good buck under a given set of circumstances. Know what these circumstances are, because if things such as wind, weather, hunting pressure, etc. are not right in your area of first choice when you plan to hunt, then you will quickly know where to fall back on for your second choice.

One of my favorite locations to hunt during the rut on opening morning is on a trail leading to or from a fresh primary scrape or signpost rub. I like to be close enough to see the location off in the distance, in case a buck approaches it from another direction. I prefer to be off to one side or the other of the downwind side. Quite often bucks will tend to check their scrapes from the downwind side without actually coming into the exact area. If you are set up directly in line with the downwind side, he may wind you in the process. Primary scrapes are pawed up areas on the ground about 3 foot in diameter. Normally, there will be a low hanging limb over it called a licking branch, and will often be bitten and chewed and just barely hanging. This is caused by the buck’s effort to leave scent above the scrape for wind to carry to the doe. Often when you find a primary scrape it is in conjunction with some smaller secondary scrapes. You will find these scrapes around field edges, the sides of old logging roads and down off the points of ridges, etc. Bucks, influenced by their testosterone levels attempt to mark their territory in this and other ways. Sometimes they rub trees, fence posts, thrash their rack against bushes, and limbs, etc. Primary signpost rubs are major rubs utilized by different bucks much like primary scrapes are. These are definitely hot spots for hunting during the rut, especially after a good rain. The bucks will tend to come in to freshen them up for the doe after a rain. They want these areas to be pushing their scent at all times. Consider this a good place to hunt but be cautious about it. Keep the wind in your face for the most part as much as you can.

When you are scouting and you find a rub line, that looks fairly fresh, check out the trail use. Is the trail a consistent route of travel? If so and the rubs are fresh, you might be wise to set up overlooking the nucleus of these rubs. If the trail is fairly well used, doe are probably using it also so you might catch the buck trailing the doe down the trail. But another way to play it would be to follow the rubs back toward the direction the buck came from when he made them. The side of the trees that have the most rubbing on them is normally the direction the buck came from. Depending on what time of day or night these rubs were made would tell you whether he was coming from or going to his bedding area. If the line of travel was pretty direct, in all likely-hood he was coming from his bedding area. When a buck is feeding and not over heated with sex on his mind, he will tend to take a direct route to his food source, and then when he leaves it to return to his bedding area, he will stroll around and go back many different routes. You actually have two additional options here to take advantage of this sign. Follow the rubs back toward his bedding area and set up strategically in this area, or follow the sign toward his food source and set up in an attempt to ambush him as he enters his food source. Under normal circumstances, he will be heading to the food source in the evenings, and to the bedding areas in the mornings, however there are variables that can alter this pattern, such as weather, hunting pressure, available food sources, etc.

Consider that your first choice for opening morning is a stand facing east on top of a ridge in a particular area, but you have a heavy west wind that would be blowing straight across you into the area you expect to see deer, this would be a bad choice. The deer would very probably pick up your scent. In another area, you have a good stand set up half way down the west side of a ridge over looking a heavily used trail leading into a soybean field at the bottom of the ridge. From this stand you would be facing west into the wind and the wind would be blowing across the deer toward you. This would be the better choice because the deer at the bottom of the ridge probably would not pick up your scent because of the west wind. All the scouting in the world will not help you if you ignore the prevailing wind situation. You must temper your hunting strategy based on your scouting, with a final decision based on what the wind is or will be doing at the time of your hunt.

Another example would be a stand location set up overlooking a giant oak tree at the bottom of a ridge but the only acorns falling are on top of the ridge above you. As a matter of fact, acorns begin to fall from the oaks on top of ridges first and then gradually work their way down the hill and fall from the oaks at the bottom of the ridges last. Deer prefer feeding from the falling acorns area so if you set up at the foot of the hill, you probably won’t be where the deer are. This is where last minute scouting such as the week before you plan to hunt, is important. You will know where the oaks are likely to be dropping their acorns, so place your stand in the most likely area for this.

Learn where all of the stand locations should be for the absolute best possible success at harvesting a nice buck under normal, good weather conditions. Good weather conditions also means low or no wind conditions. The best possible stand locations would include areas between bedding areas and food sources; funnel areas; heavily used trail crossings; downwind and not too close to a primary scrape, or a sign post rub. Signpost rubs may be trees, fence posts, telephone poles, or anywhere that several different bucks choose to rub their antlers.

A different type of sign post rub is one located on a trail, that let’s the deer know when they are approaching a unique crossing. Examples of this would be a low place in a fence where they can cross easily or a corner they can dart around to flee from danger, or a variety of other special areas such as these.

When prioritizing your hunting locations, you must consider the time of season you will be hunting a particular stand location. If you are hunting during bow season in late September or October, this is prior to the rut, so the deer are still concentrating on food to build up their body weight and endurance for the up coming rut. The big old bucks won’t stray far from their bedding areas for food. This time of year, you would probably be better off placing your stand closer to the bedding areas, providing you use a great deal of caution regarding any of your activity in these areas. Do not go near these areas any more than absolutely necessary and only when the wind will conceal your scent and sound from a possible buck in the area. You may need to go a ways out of your way in order to reach this area with out being detected. If you hunt here, you must do everything right, with no, and I do mean no mistakes. It’s very difficult to hunt in a bedding area without alarming the buck at some point. If you do alarm the buck, don’t go back until much later in the season and you may want to wait until the next year if the buck is a real trophy. If you disturb him once and don’t go back until much later, he will more than likely settle back into the area but if you disrupt him twice, he will more than likely be out of there and looking for a new bedding area.

If you are setting up to hunt during the pre-rut (week before the rut), rut or post rut (week following the rut), you will find that the bucks are strictly concentrating on breeding does. During this period, deer are likely to be anywhere at anytime, but a prime target to seek out to hunt would be a primary scrape. We will elaborate on scrapes in a later chapter, but bucks will be checking these scrapes on a regular basis for any visitors, as long as you use caution and keep your scent out of the area. During this pre-rut period, any doe activity is worth checking out as well because where the doe are is also where the bucks are going to be at some point. Any heavily used trails, funnel areas, prime food sources, etc., displaying recent activity could be a good place to set up to ambush a buck chasing a doe.

Take special note of the direction each of your stands are facing and document this information, so when you get your current weather forecast, including wind direction and speed, you will know which of these stands to avoid if the wind isn’t right. Document as many advantages or characteristics to each stand as possible, in order to help you decide where your most promising opportunity to harvest a deer might be. As I mentioned before, the direction the stand faces is extremely important, is it easy or difficult to climb into, is it easy to reach and climb into quietly, does it offer adequate concealment in morning and afternoon or only one or the other. You do not want your silhouette to stand out like a sore thumb and give your position away to the deer. Would the sun be in your eyes, is it near a highway with heavy traffic to restrict your hearing, is it a quiet stand or does it make noise when you move around to change positions, does it have a pull cord and hanger of some type to hang your bow or gun on, and other factors such as these, all need to be addressed and documented. You should also have a second group of bad weather stand locations that can offer you different advantages under, other than good weather conditions. For rain day hunts, if you don’t wish to tough it out on an open stand, you might have an old barn loft that you could hunt from in a good area, or have a cliff overhang overlooking a good trail, allowing you to stay dry while you hunt. Many hunters will build a permanent stand in a promising area with a modest roof over it to stay dry on rain days. You might also purchase a camo umbrella or rig a temporary tarp shelter from the rain.

The Best Can Out-Weigh the Worst Hunting Outing

By: Terry F. Townsend

During this past deer season here in my home state of Tennessee, I experienced one of the best and worst days of my hunting career during the same weekend outing. As always, I thoroughly checked the weather forecast for the period I would be hunting and expected rain. The forecast was for scattered showers through out the weekend, but most of the time that means a pretty good time to hunt. I belong to a family-hunting club in west Tennessee where we have eight different farms that we hunt. I arrived at one of my cousin’s home late in the afternoon on the Friday before I planed to be on stand the next morning. I had already scouted and was actually hunting a specific deer. There was a beautiful piebald doe that had been seen in the area by my cousin and me on two separate occasions. I would be on a new permanent stand that we had built overlooking a rye grass field. The deer had been frequenting this field quite often, so I expected to see several deer, but was hoping for the piebald to present herself. I got in my stand early and just after daylight, saw three doe cross the west end of the field but they did not enter the field. I suddenly got a good feeling about the day's potential and what it might yield. This was a very thick farm that had been clear-cut about five years ago and with the exception of this three-acre rye grass field and one approximately six-acre cornfield, there wasn't much else for the deer to eat. This was a bad year for the remaining hardwoods due to the terrible drought we had in Tennessee this year. We knew there was a great deal of deer sign on this farm because of the activity around the automatic feeder and mineral licks we had established here. I felt confident that even if the piebald failed to present herself, I still had a chance to see a good buck.

It was about 15 minutes after I saw the three doe cross the field, when it started to rain. It was a light rain at first so I didn't concern myself with it. It wasn't long, however when the bottom fell out and it began to pour. I immediately had to climb into my rain suit and hope that it wouldn't last long. I made up my mind that I would stay on the stand no matter how long it lasted, because after a rain quits, is one of the best times to be in the woods hunting for whitetail. When the rain quits, under most circumstances, is when they become active and began to move around. If it is during the rut, which this hunt was, bucks want to freshen up their scrapes and doe want to re-apply their scent to these scrape areas as well. They also have been bedded down during these heavy rain periods, so this is another reason they want to get up, move around and stretch their legs so to speak. The only problem was that the rain didn't stop and it got colder and windier, creating a very uncomfortable situation. I toughed it out all day, thinking it would surely quit soon, but this didn’t happen. The rest of the day was a wash out literally. At least, I did see those three doe just after daylight. No other deer showed themselves this day and that was a disappointment but there is always tomorrow if the Good Lord is willing. At this point, all I had on my mind was a large venison sausage casserole that my cousin's wife is so good at making. I couldn't wait to get back to his house for a great hot meal and plan my strategy for the next day’s hunt.

After dinner, and a discussion with my cousins about our hunting strategy for the next morning, I decided to hunt one of the best and most heavily deer populated farms we have. I shot a nice eight point there earlier in the season and was curious to see what buck had assumed the dominance role in the area since I took the previous dominant buck out. The weather forecast was calling for 60% rain and that was very disappointing to hear, based on the present day’s experience. Oh well maybe they would be wrong, so I set my clock for 3:00 AM and went to bed. When finally my alarm clock went off the next morning, I could hear rain on the roof outside, and when I walked out on the porch I saw that it was pouring down rain. I made a quick decision that I would not be sitting in a stand all day long this day in the pouring down rain and went back to bed. I didn't even reset my clock out of discouragement. I awoke about 6:00 am and walked out on the porch and noticed that it had stopped raining. I turned to go back inside and noticed two doe in the front yard, and then looked down through the woods at a food plot we had behind my cousin's house and saw two more in the food plot. I thought to myself that this was going to be a good day and wished that I had gotten in the stand early. I figured that I would go ahead and pack up and casually drive to McDonalds, get a cup of coffee, and casually drive to the farm. I figured I would stroll back to my stand and just see what I could see. Once I arrived at the farm, it would be a 2-mile hike to my stand, so I would hunt my way to the stand, just taking my time. I began to count all the deer that I was seeing on the way until finally I stopped when I noticed they were jumping like jackrabbits everywhere. I must have seen 30 to 40 deer on the way to the stand and then had several watch me climb into the stand. It was very overcast and calm and naturally the woods was very wet from all the rain. One surprising thing I noticed was that out of all the deer I jumped that morning, not one blew or snorted when they saw me, but simply ran off with that white tail flashing. I knew that I would not be able to stay on the stand much past 2:00 PM because of a prior commitment to return home by a certain time. During those several hours on the stand, there was never more than 15 minutes at a time when there were no deer in site. Most of the time I had 8 or 10 deer around me at all times. I saw several small bucks along with all the doe and noticed that it appeared that the dominant buck in the area so far was a pretty good size six point that had moved in to take the place of the one I shot a few weeks earlier. Well, I saw nothing on this day that I wanted to take, however it was one of the absolute most enjoyable days deer hunting I have ever spent in the woods. This was a perfect example of the fact that you don’t have to harvest a deer to totally enjoy the hunt.

Canada Whitetail Deer Hunting Tips

By: Tim

An important sport in Canada and the United States whitetail deer hunting. Whitetail deer hunting is ingrained in many local cultures and is a main source of economy for many sectors.

There are many resources that will help you go on a great hunt. It is very helpful to go with a pro deer hunting guide whether you are an experienced hunter or going on your first hunt. In fact, if you are going on your first hunt then it is most recommended that you take a professional guide when hunting white tail deer in Canada.

If this is your first time on the hunt then you should make sure that you know the area and all the rules and regulations that must be followed. Scouting is important too because it will help you find the good trophies.

You should know how to scout for your prize without putting too much pressure on the herd. Some professionals say that the best time for scouting is when the deer season is over. This way we can easily track where the deer travel and their feeding patterns when they are pressured.

Watch for clues that will point you to the patterns of your deer herd. If you scout enough then some hunters believe that the herd will be less alarmed by your presence.

There are many whitetail deer hunting tips available on the internet. Some of which can be extremely useful for a first timer going on a Canadian hunting adventure. The first thing that you should ensure before embarking on your hunt is safety.

You should check your hunting gear before you set off for your hunt. If you’re going to bow hunt there are some excellent sources for the latest compound bow equipment. Always keep a check-in system with you while you are out hunting on your own. Carry enough water and snacks with you so you’re prepared in case your hunting trip takes longer than expected.

You should also invest in some quality optics. This will help you stalk your deer. Another important piece of equipment is hunting boots. A nice comfortable pair of hunting boots will make the hunt not only easy but also much more enjoyable.

Canada whitetail deer hunting can call for some level of skill and it is a good idea to stay in shape throughout the year if you are aiming for a good prize. Practice with your rifle or bow as much as possible and take good care of it. If you are a bow hunter then make sure that you practice regularly at the local archery range. Also, it is a good idea to get your gun cleaned by a professional gunsmith to keep it in top condition.

Canada Whitetail Deer Hunting