Lessons Learned V1 - Nevada Archery Mule Deer

[Big Fin]

Like the Shop Stories we are doing, the crew has asked me to give lessons from hunts where I made mistakes and lessons from hunts where we did the correct thing. This is the first in the series and is our 2019 Nevada Archery Mule Deer hunt.

Honestly, I was dead tired before the hunt even started and I got lazy. I knew better than to do some of the things I did, but I hoped we could cut some corners and add some comforts and hopefully get luck to bail us out. Nope. Of all the people who should know better, it is me.

Hopefully folks watching this can relate to the chain of events that ensues when you make one wrong decision out of fatigue, laziness, lack of preparation, or whatever. That first key decision often leads you down a path that makes every other part of the hunt that greater of a challenge.

And yes, I know I should have used a black marker, but the crew likes to leave the caps off our erasable markers, making the black markers almost the writing usefulness of charcoal. So, you get purple diagrams.

 

[Tiohunter]

Enjoyed the episode. Something is always learned on a hunt. Any thought on doing a recap of every hunt?
Sequence could be:
-day by day hunt
-refined Amazon episode.
- then after Amazon have a follow up on YouTube explaining what went wrong/right and what would have been done differently.

 

[Big Fin]

Enjoyed the episode. Something is always learned on a hunt. Any thought on doing a recap of every hunt?
Sequence could be:
-day by day hunt
-refined Amazon episode.
- then after Amazon have a follow up on YouTube explaining what went wrong/right and what would have been done differently.

That is pretty close to what the crew has outlined. We just don't want to bore everyone with seeing the same content in too many formats.

 

[Lyfter1013]

Glad you posted a thread on here i watched the video this morning but couldn’t add a comment because I don’t have a YouTube account. I really liked it and I think it’s really beneficial when you point out what you could’ve done different so people can make sure they don’t make the same mistake. I’d like to see more episodes like this.

 

[Wildabeest]

Great episode! It’s equally important to know what not to do as what you should do. The only bad mistakes are the ones you don’t learn from. Thanks for sharing!

 

[2rocky]

You have made me think about how we are going to stay mobile on my buddy's hunt this August. I've already id'ed one backside ridge road.

 

[Shangobango]

I think these type of videos are awesome. Great information, thanks Randy.

 

[ida homer]

Love it. The temptation of the camper is real, especially when you’re wore down.

 

[Sziggy2.0]

I watched this tonight and thought it was very helpful. When planning my next hunt I will try to keep some of those lessons in mind. Thanks Big fin. Keep those coming.

 

[44hunter45]

Great Vid, @Big Fin

Too often viewers are planning a hunt by the WWRD method. I've done it, too. This video moves beyond, "Do what I do." to actual education on tactics and strategy.

I postmortem my hunts, but sometimes you don't know how much you don't know.

 

[Rodzilla]

Awesome video Big Fin! great to learn from such experiences. I hunted Nevada with my dad/rifle and made the#1 mistake on the video. We set up a big comfortable camping spot that was not very mobile. Out hunt was anchored to one side of the range that had little deer activity and made it very hard to go to places that would have been ore effective. I enjoyed the video!! I wish I could have the tag back, but happy I was able to hunt one more time with my old man (regardless that we left empty handed, we made great memories). Also enjoy that you share your failures, heck I wish I was successful most of the time, but most of the time I am not. But I learn a little more each time!!

 

[lodgepoleJoe]

Seems like every year after all the seasons are over I spend about a month thinking about all the things I should have done and could have done and how I'm going to do it different next year. Good idea on the videos Randy but if you want I could send you some new magic markers.

 

[Big Fin]

....... Good idea on the videos Randy but if you want I could send you some new magic markers.

If you sent them, the camera guys would leave them on the window sill, in the sun, lid off, and they would be ruined in no time. I went to Staples and bought five black markers the other day and I am keeping them in my desk drawer.

 

[TriStar Hunt]

This is really great. I especially like when during the end you share how you’re using 2019 to inform your e-scouting and tactics for 2020. Thank you!