Advice for a 1st time bowhunter

[Huntingnut]

Stay positive. Don't give up. Things will go wrong and you will blow it many times (I still do that after 20+ years of hunting). Your attitude can make or break a hunting season. It's already been said, but have fun! Stick to that.

[toddster]

play the wind, be patient, practice, pick a small hair in the kill zone, enjoy the whole hunt, not just the Kill.

[darin putman]

All of the above but remember to enjoy the hunt, not just the kill,BEST OF LUCK!!!

[RC]

If you don`t expect to kill something from your "spot" you have not scouted enough.RC

[Johan van Niekerk]

I do just walk and stalk hunting. The number 1 lesson I learned? You can NEVER walk slow enough!
Try walking barefoot. It really slows you down, keeps you quiet, ensures you LOOK before put your feet down, AND most imprtantly slows you down.
Also spend more time LOOKING and LISTENING than moving.

[cbCrow]

No sense to keep repeating the good advice given so far, but I would like to add one important thing to help you become a better hunter; keep a journal of every scouting or hunting trip in the woods, note wind direction at that time of day, where the sun is at,# of game(even those your not hunting)seen, lay of land, access to spot, and the list can be as long as you want, you don't need a fancy journal just keep NOTES OF EVERYTHING!!

[Johan van Niekerk]

Forgot to say. Practice shooting wearing the ghillie. You'll be amazed how often leafy stuff on the inside of the arm ends up interfering with the string on a shot.

[RecurveRookie]

Hey Guys,  Thanks a lot for the big response and all the good advice, I appreciate it.  When I bag something y'all will never hear the end of it haha.  Also, when I finish the suit I will post pics and how I built it.   Cheers

[LimBender]

Originally posted by Huntingnut:
Stay positive. Don't give up. Things will go wrong and you will blow it many times (I still do that after 20+ years of hunting). Your attitude can make or break a hunting season. It's already been said, but have fun! Stick to that.

x2 - except for the 20+ years part.  

To me there is a big difference between being optimistic and setting your expectations too high or in the wrong place.  First year bowhunting is a whole lot of learning and fun.  The harder you work the sweeter it will be.

Good luck    

[Bjorn]

All the equipment stuff is secondary, and often just plain meaningless, technique and skill are everything. We focus way too much on the type of equipment. Try to hook up with folks who groundhunt-if you want to ground hunt. Read books and watch videos about stalking, playing the wind etc. It takes lots of time and practice to be able to close the last 20 yards on an animal without being detected-you can practice that anytime, even in the off season.

[Brazos]

Since you are hunting in TX I won't get into how to find deer as it typically is not hard.  My advice is to make sure you have shot the broad heads you plan to use out of your bow ahead of time to make sure they shoot with your field points.  Second if you plan to use a bow mounted quiver shoot with it on to see what it does to your groups.  These are the two biggest mistakes I run across at deer camp each bow season.  I have seen a lot of frustrated hunters scratching their head as to why their bow was shooting perfect all week and then they show up to camp and it is grouping 8" off center at 20 yards.  In every case I can point out one of those 2 items and it solves their problems.  Granted these are wheel shooters but the same applies to us.  These guys put their bow quivers on 2-3 weekends a year and run by cabela's the day before the hunt and buy the latest/greatest broad head they saw on tv.  As far as actual hunting advice, how to hunt, I will let you figure that out.  Learning how to outwit your prey is the fun part.