Gear advice for newbie deer hunter

[spencer rifle]

Steiner entry level 10x32. Reg 469....discontinued model.....for 169. Sold out. Dunno if Doug at Cameraland will get anymore.

Think for general use an 8x might be better.

Rule of thumb for binoculars: should be powerful enough to do the job but not so much that you can't handhold them without magnifying the shake. That's usually 7 or 8 power. If you are using them in dim light, 50 mm objectives are better than 35 or 28, but also heavier.

 

[Hookeye]

I ran steiner commandos one weekend
Never again.
Need a trailer for those things.

 

[natdscott]

I have a plot of land out in Parke County. I have never hunted deer out there before, but I am doing it this year. Set up trail cams last season and figure out where the deer are moving through. Set up two tree stands this summer in the right places.

I have a rifle and scope all set up and ready to go. Also have a FIL who has all the field dressing experience and tools. But wondering what other gear you all would consider essential.

Regular camo clothes or scent blocker clothes?
Deer calls?
Doe scent?
Other things I have no idea about?

Not trying to break the bank on this hunt, but want to be sure I am going into it with the necessities.

1) Dry fire the rifle. A lot.

2) Dry fire more. Like 100x per day, in various "hunting positions"...standing, kneeling, prone, supported standing, supported kneeling.

3) YOU need to be set up with the rifle and ready to go. It would be good to be doing at least a box/week (20 shells) of live fire with the rifle. 50x is better. You also need good cleaning equipment if it is a factory barrel. Dewey, WipeOut, a pack of 3 bronze brushes, a bore guide, and a jag + a bunch of patches.

4) Camo: scent blocker doesn't block enough scent to be perfect, and you have better things to buy right now. Like ammo. And Gas. And wind puffers...one for every jacket you'll be wearing, and a spare in the car.

Keep the wind on your cheek, or in your face, be willing to MOVE locations via the wind forecast, watch the side and downwind anyway, and get really familiar with NOAA's forecast for Rockville.

If the wind forecast isn't something that agrees with your sensibilities or preference: tough sh*%. MOVE.

5) Calls: leave them at the store. You don't know enough to use them for anything but deer repellent. And that ammo comment still bears true.

6) Scent: same as calls. Never used it much myself, never shot or didn't shoot anything because of it.

7) Other things:
--learn to sit/stand/squat and shut up, andstop moving. You cannot spot movement or hear sound if you are moving and making sounds. Sooner you learn that, the better you'll be, and no amount of "gear" will solve that. (note that all your first questions were about the least important things? )
--Don't forget to use your nose.
--You no longer have the instinct or sense advantage in this setting, all you have is a better brain, so use it too.
--Don't get too antsy, if you've set up everything as well as it can be...deer don't wear watches, and they don't die on your schedule.
--Don't try to get away with stuff. It almost never works out, and I'm not just talking about the deer.
--L'arn this acronym: RTFP. Read the f'n program. Know the law down PAT, know your property boundary and get to know the neighbors, with phone numbers if possible (pies help), and get to know the local CO. For you, that would be Nathan Lutz, of District 5.


Most important of all: BE PRESEN. You have to show up, sure. But you need to be fully present in every moment out there. Put down the cell phone and silence it. Put down your world problems. Try to calm and free your mind, and breathe the cold air. I'm not going to say "have fun"...newsflash: it ISN'T always comfortable or fun. But it is a thing that can make you grow in ways you didn't know your brain needed to grow.

Just wait. You'll see.


-Nate

 

[BStarkey 46947]

Buy the best warm clothing and boots you can afford since you are planning hunting during firearms. If you are cold, you will move more and have less a pleasurable experience.
Carry your hunting clothing and boots in a tote in the back of the vehicle away from human odor. Makes great year round storage also.
Over the last several years I've been taking my teenage son, and during the training process we have migrated/transitioned to ground blinds on field edges and ambush points in the woods. They offer additional concealment of your movement and you are as comfortable as the chair you choose and block the wind.

 

[AtTheMurph]

You're gun hunting from a stand. Forget the camo and dress accordingly with a warm hat.

Use a harness! I have known 2 very experienced hunters who have fallen from stands. One broke his back and crawled 1.5miles to his truck and drove himself to the hospital. If he couldn't have done it he probably would have died that day.

You said you are hunting with a rifle and scope. It's going to be pretty hard to miss a deer sized animal from the normal distances you will be shooting, unless you are shooting across open fields. If so the camo is even less important.

If hunting when it's really cold, I wear a fur hat, use good hand muffs and make sure my neck is well covered. (I hunt is Wisconsin and have been out in -17 degrees and as warm as 74 degrees for gun hunting.) For gun hunting I'm also not that worried about wind direction, or the deer spotting me before I spot it. The distances you can cover with a rifle will make up for of your sins.

For boots I always go with much warmer footwear than is probably needed. I use pack boots most of the time in the stand. Wool felt liners are much better than thinsulate, no matter the manufacturers claims. Move slowly to your stand if it is cool or cold so as not to generate a sweat.

Wear orange. Lots of it.

I like to use a thin blade utility knife to dress a deer. Something like a typical kitchen knife set will have. It makes it easy to get the poop chute cleaned out from the pelvis without have to try to saw the thing in half. Just work the knife around the inside of the bone and slide the pooper out with the guts.

Most hunting knife blades are too thick to do that job.

Don't over think it.

 

[Indyal]

Walk into your stand at least 1 hour before legal shooting light so that you get settled and your scent has time to dissipate.
Wear the lightest top you can when walking in, otherwise you will sweat and then be cold when you cool off.
Use a harness with rope attacked to the tree at all times. Watch youtube videos on set up.
dryfire practice on a deer cardboard target so you can get used to an animal shape instead of a target shape. I actually use a deer figurine like the kind you get at rural king. This gives you the ability to see what different positions would look like through your scope.
disposable hand heaters are good. If your toes get cold, drop one inside your boots. Butane heater seem to give off an odor imo.
since you have no tracking experience, only take a standing broadside shot. I recommend through the shoulder blades so the deer drops on the spot. You will lose some meat but there is not that much on a whitetail shoulder. A deer shot through the lungs and/or heart can run off a long way and there is not always a good blood trail.
Your stands you placed in the summer may not be good come winter as the foliage/food sources change. I suggest you check the activity closer to hunt dates.

 

[Hookeye]

You don't shoot at a shape.
Should pick a spot on the animal.

But in doing so you have to think 3D.

The spot on the outside is the entrance to the vitals inside.
So, not every shot will be aimed "behind the shoulder" (like on 2D targets).

Basic stuff, but some folks don't know it.

There are on-line Hunters Ed classes. Think you only pay for when you take the test.
There is an age limit, folks born after a certain date HAVE to take Hunter's Ed (unless doing the "apprentice license" thing).