This is a great recap. As a 38 year old new hunter who's also not had much success finding a mentor after a few years I'm doing the same thing and going on an out-of-state mule deer and pronghorn hunt this month. Hearing your recap was helpful, thanks for sharing!
Newbie Trip Report: Nothing but sore and lessons learned
- Thread starter thatsjet
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Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Enjoyed the recap and also your positive attitude with the whole process. I hunted deer for many years before finally tagging one, and after that it became significantly more easy to replicate year after year. As you've seen, there is a big learning curve for many parts of the process such as gear/weather preparedness, picking out animals/movement from the landscape, managing energy expenditure (weight carried/pacing), and knowing when to plug away at a strategy or area vs. switch it up.
When you do eventually put all the pieces together and tag an animal the satisfaction is cumulative from all the previous failures leading up to that point, so glad to hear you'll be giving it another go.
One thing to consider - hunting hard all day every day for many days in a row is an unsustainable endeavor for almost everyone. I have the best success when I'm hunting no more than 2/3 of legal light, especially if the hunt is longer than 2 days. Building in breaks, taking time to rest, relax, take in the scenery, and eat well goes a long way to make my actual hunting time more focused and effective. In other words, keep my head in the game, avoid becoming overly fatigued, and reaching the point of no return when I just want to quit and hang it up.
When you do eventually put all the pieces together and tag an animal the satisfaction is cumulative from all the previous failures leading up to that point, so glad to hear you'll be giving it another go.
One thing to consider - hunting hard all day every day for many days in a row is an unsustainable endeavor for almost everyone. I have the best success when I'm hunting no more than 2/3 of legal light, especially if the hunt is longer than 2 days. Building in breaks, taking time to rest, relax, take in the scenery, and eat well goes a long way to make my actual hunting time more focused and effective. In other words, keep my head in the game, avoid becoming overly fatigued, and reaching the point of no return when I just want to quit and hang it up.
Focus
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This is sone excellent advice right here!!
fishing4sanity
Well-known member
Solo hunts can be tough, especially for your first hunt, but other times the solitude can be heaven. It's easy to get discouraged or start feeling guilty for things you could be doing with the family or work, etc. I've been there and pulled the plug early, then got home/back to work and knew I should have given it more time. Hopefully this is a good friend or becomes a good friend that you're going elk hunting with, the camaraderie out there hunting is the reason many go in the first place. I've got a few neighbors who go every year and rarely bring home critters, but they look forward to it every year. Good luck on your elk hunt!
