Preparing for Hunting Season

[Fremmer]

Deer season is almost here. I've practiced with the rifle, and made sure the scope is good to go. I need to buy some warm hunting gloves, and another box of the ammunition the rifle likes, so I'll probably do that today.

How do you prepare for deer season?

[Art Eatman]

Sort through camping gear. Sharpen knives. Think up new old lies to tell around campfire.

Clean up hunt camp. Repair any stands/blinds. Remember past successes and forget failures unless it was somebody else. Scout around hunt area, checking for tracks, scrapes and rubs. Lay in firewood. Lay in a bit of booze to lubricate tongue for lies.

Get hunting license. Get groceries. "Seventeen cases of beer and one loaf of bread? Wottinell are we gonna do with all that bread?" Adjust spring on scale so it reads twenty pounds heavier when weighing deer. Remember another good story for campfire. Get more firewood.

And sit down and try to remember whatcha forgot--BEFORE opening day!

, Art

[Fremmer]

Good reminder about the knife.

[Big Yac]

I may be just weird but I like to be very organized so pretty much all my stuff is ready year round. I keep my knives sharp, all my hunting clothes are hung and organized in my 'hunting closet'. I shoot all my guns year round so I know they are all shooting very well. Also, since I reload, I usually make up some hunting load which differ from my target only loads a bit, meaning that rifle and hadgun amm uses a hunting bullet instead of a match bullet, and shotgun ammo is loaded with #5 shot instead of 7.5. Again after making these changes in my loads I test them again to make sure they are still shooting good.

[Trip20]

Good reminder 'bout the new old lies...

[MeekAndMild]

Wait until after midnight and then when your wife is asleep open up the family deep freezer. Take a couple of big boxes and load them with bags of frozen beets, Brussells sprouts, yellow squash and other inedibles, plus a couple of petrified fruitcakes and leftover wedding cakes. Take these all to the local homeless shelter.

MOST IMPORTANT: take boxes equal in volume to the frozen stuff removed and put them in the bottom of the freezer so it still looks full. Otherwise she'll fill it with late season zucchini and pumpkin and other nasty stuff before you can dress out your first deer.

[chemist308]

Uhh, Meek get a bigger freezer before your wife waits till you're asleep and has a little trip to the pawn shop...

[bergie]

Well, since I bought a new house last December, I have to completely go through the garage and the basement and finish unpacking and sorting the boxes that got stacked everywhere. Actually, the heck with it. I know where my rifle and my sleeping bag are. I've got knife on my belt. I'm ready now!!!
bergie

[N.H. Yankee]

All year long! I wash my clothes 2 weeks before opener and hang them out in an open shed so the sun wont fade the camo. I start to practice with my rifles a month before,first making sure it is zeroed in. I then use a lifesize deer target and practice offhand shots as most shots here are fast and moving. I also wait for a cold morning and see where the first shot hits as temperature and a cold barrel can make a difference in point of impact. I then set up my ground stands and 1 tree stand clearing brush and raking leaves. I also take time out to look for sign and if I see a really good place I my need to move my stands and clean all over again. I find that the deer here are always on the move so a stand may be good 2-3 days and be lousy for a week, but then they circle back around. last but not least 2 month's before season I have my wife go over her honey do list and have her bring the priorities to the top so hunting season is MINE ALL MINE!!!

[Art Eatman]

Some say "anal retentive"; I prefer "organized": Make a list, based on last season's actual use and problems. Do this at the end of the season. Then, as you clean the gear you used, go on and replace worn-out or used-up stuff. Repeat after me: "Put it all in one place!"

Saves a lot of waste motion.

, Art

PS: I might actually try doing it that way, one of these years...

[Big Yac]

yup...all year long. Like I said I shoot year round because I enjoy shooting so all my guns are shooting great. I keep my clothes all ready in my closet, along with my other gear like knives and such. Just last weekend I went and checked my stand and the area around it...everything is looking good

[NRA4life]

Part of my preparation every year came last week when I opened up my freezer and did the once annual "Holy %^$& hunting season is around the corner and my freezer's full and I got 6 tags this year". So this last weekend I liquidated 38 lbs of frozen deer meat into jerky, canned meat and some homemade salami. Yum.

[john in jax]

Vehicle maintenance is a biggie for me I probably put half of the annual miles on my jeep during hunting season.

[mdhunter]

+1 on the rifle sight-in and the knife sharpening.

I also make sure I have deer tags, string, and pencil/pen in a plastic ziploc bag, so I can tag the deer in the field as required. And, I make sure I have a camera and film, to record the event for later years when maybe I'm too old to get out and hunt.

Already have the tree stand up in the woods, so good to go there. Will try not to be upset if I'm able to bag a buck with my bow BEFORE rifle season starts.

Michael

[FrontSight]

Does lack of sleep due to excitement count?

[Joven]

The best time of the year.

[22-rimfire]

A few months before the season opener, I think about things that I need and get them. This year, it was a new wool hunting jacket. I like the nature of wool and I'm reverting back to my youth when I wore a Woolrich coat and so forth.

Make sure I have an orange safety vest if I am not wearing safety orange clothing. Make sure it fits over whatever clothing I plan to wear. I have several for different temperature ranges.

A week before the season opener I go through all the clothing, get things organized and hang them outside to air them out. I check to make sure things are reasonably clean, sharpen knives (several-one in the truck, two on me), and begin to collect any other odds and ends that I might need. I put all of this stuff (less the coats and pants) into a rubbermaid basket which is what I transport things to the field in. It is all in one place and I don't have to search for the stuff after I inventory everything.

Guns get wiped down lightly and I decide what gun I going to take with me. I keep a gun cleaning kit in the truck in case of something getting lodged in the barrel.

When I think I'm done, I go through it all again.

Nght before, I do a quick check of the stash and I'm ready to roll. Ammo gets placed with the stash the night before as do guns and other necessary items.

[roger1shot]

Hey,
Just like most hunters,the night before opening day I can't sleep.So maybe I'll get 3to 4 hrs of sleep.Then it's up, eat,drive about 2 miles, and then get walking in the woods.I've got about a 2 mile walk in the woods.Last year I was half a sleep,walking to my stand.Then after only about 1/4 mile down the trail, I thought about my bullets. %*#****.Back to the truck for the bullets.
I always thought about those guys who had the bullets on their belts as just for show.But not any more I've got a 5 round bullet holder thats on my belt,the night before I try to sleep.
Good thing I thought of the bullets before I got all the way to my stand.

[9mm1033]

I may be just weird but I like to be very organized so pretty much all my stuff is ready year round. I keep my knives sharp, all my hunting clothes are hung and organized in my 'hunting closet'.

Big Yac, you're not weird. I do the same. If I didn't, I'd forget half of my stuff.