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buck460XVR · March 14, 2013, 01:02 PM

I think what skills are important depends on where and how you hunt. For folks that hunt on small parcels with limited or no access to the surrounding areas, the amount of skills needed for relative success is much lower than someone hunting large areas of public land with varying terrain and natural food sources. This is especially true if the small parcels are in Ag type land or bait/feeders and food plots are used. In the larger areas of varied terrain, basic outdoor/woodsmanship skills are the most important, as not losing your way, and reading the woods itself are utmost. Knowing how to read impending weather is as important as reading animal sign. Small areas of 200 acres or less, where you can always see a road, a house or a fence, losing your way, even in the dark is impossible and dragging a deer out generally means gettin' the truck or ATV. If a nasty storm rolls in, one is safely home or in their vehicle in a matter of a few minutes. Small parcels, stand placement is generally not near as important, because you can generally cover the entire acreage with one or two hunters, or at least see where on the land the animals are moving from even a poorly placed stand. This is not the case on areas that are measured in square miles or sections. Again, in these scenarios, basic outdoor/woodsmanship skills will show you if and where the animals are and how they move from one area to another. This does not take deer specific skills. Same goes for tracking/blood trailing. If you can see where a squirrel has run thru freshly fallen leaves, tracking a deer thru snow is pretty easy. On small parcels, deer movements and travel lanes change little from one season to another. If they do, there ain't much you can do about it cause most times you have to hunt there anyway. On large parcels, where the animals are, can change in miles from one year to the next...again, basic woodsmanship skills will tell you this. Folks have been makin' money, sellin' books and magazines for years tellin' us that they have a new secret for being a successful deer hunter. Most times it's the same ol basic knowledge that's been around since man hunted them with stick and string only.

March 14, 2013, 01:02 PM	#4
buck460XVR Senior Member Join Date: December 28, 2006 Posts: 4,342	I think what skills are important depends on where and how you hunt. For folks that hunt on small parcels with limited or no access to the surrounding areas, the amount of skills needed for relative success is much lower than someone hunting large areas of public land with varying terrain and natural food sources. This is especially true if the small parcels are in Ag type land or bait/feeders and food plots are used. In the larger areas of varied terrain, basic outdoor/woodsmanship skills are the most important, as not losing your way, and reading the woods itself are utmost. Knowing how to read impending weather is as important as reading animal sign. Small areas of 200 acres or less, where you can always see a road, a house or a fence, losing your way, even in the dark is impossible and dragging a deer out generally means gettin' the truck or ATV. If a nasty storm rolls in, one is safely home or in their vehicle in a matter of a few minutes. Small parcels, stand placement is generally not near as important, because you can generally cover the entire acreage with one or two hunters, or at least see where on the land the animals are moving from even a poorly placed stand. This is not the case on areas that are measured in square miles or sections. Again, in these scenarios, basic outdoor/woodsmanship skills will show you if and where the animals are and how they move from one area to another. This does not take deer specific skills. Same goes for tracking/blood trailing. If you can see where a squirrel has run thru freshly fallen leaves, tracking a deer thru snow is pretty easy. On small parcels, deer movements and travel lanes change little from one season to another. If they do, there ain't much you can do about it cause most times you have to hunt there anyway. On large parcels, where the animals are, can change in miles from one year to the next...again, basic woodsmanship skills will tell you this. Folks have been makin' money, sellin' books and magazines for years tellin' us that they have a new secret for being a successful deer hunter. Most times it's the same ol basic knowledge that's been around since man hunted them with stick and string only.