As we all know, there are a million different strategies, tips and tricks that can help you bag the buck of your dreams. But on the other hand, there are just as many, if not more ways to screw it all up. Hunting mature whitetails is an exercise in walking the thin line between success and failure. You can use all the latest and greatest gear, spend months preparing and devising a fool proof strategy, yet still throw it all away with one careless mistake. So today, rather than looking at strategies to get that big ole buck you’ve got your eye on, lets take a minute to discuss four ways you can ruin your season right now. (Spoiler alert: These are things you DON’T want to do)

Hunt Your Best Spots Now: Early season success can be had, thats for sure. But you don’t want to sacrifice possible success during the rut  (AKA whitetail superbowl), if you’re just hunting blindly early in the year. Plan to hunt a couple of your good spots once or twice in the very beginning if you must, but then leave those spots alone til that rut period. Hot rut spots include funnels between bedding areas, bedding areas themselves and primary scrape areas. Although they may look enticing now, hold off and then hit them hard the when the gettin is good. If you over-hunt them early, you’ll most likely blow them out before you ever get to capitalize on that awesome early November timeframe.

Walk Through Food Sources Before Your Morning Hunt or After Your Evening: Want a sure fire way to alert your local deer herd that you’d like to stick an arrow in em? Go ahead and walk across that alfalfa field the first morning when you go into your stand. Then when you leave at night, climb on out and hike back across to your truck. Those snorts, stomps and flagging white tails? Don’t worry about em. Thats just your 2011 hunting dreams flitting away. No big deal, right? Wrong. When you’re heading to or leaving your stand, you MUST have an access route that avoids deer activity. If you consistently blow out food sources, these deer will become more nocturnal or avoid the area altogether. Don’t let that happen. In the mornings, access your stand in a way that keeps you downwind of food sources and out of eyesight. In the evenings, try to have a easy access route that you can get to without walking the edge of any nearby fields. If you have to  hunt a field edge, at least try busting the deer out of there before you climb down and say “Hey, I’m a human! Been sitting here all night!”. One option is to have a buddy drive a truck or four wheeler near the field to clear it after dark, so that you can then sneak out with them gone.

Hunt The Same Stand Over and Over Again: You found a good spot, right? And I’m assuming you’d want to be there as often as possible, because it’s so good, correct? Well unfortunately this line of thinking is popular, but as they say, too much of a good thing isn’t very good. I’m very guilty of doing this in the past, as I’d sometimes get stuck on a certain area or spot. But you really need to space out your hunts in certain stands. The most succesful sits in a given stand are almost always within the first three. After that, you’ve left enough scent and caused enough commotion that any nearby mature buck is probably on to you. Plan as many different stand locations as possible, and rotate so that you don’t over hunt one spot too early and too often.

Don’t Worry About The Wind Because Of Your Carbon Clothing Or Scent Eliminators: A popular hunting clothing company once used a slogan of “Forget the wind, just hunt” to promote their clothes and boy did that backfire. Not only is that a bunch of bull, but they also got sued. Unfortunately the real travesty was the fact that lots of hunters believed it. And if you’d like to blow your chances on Mr Mossy Horns this fall, go ahead and do the same. But if you’re like me, and you’d rather eat venison than a tag, I’d recommend you keep wind top of mind. I use every scent eliminating tool in the book, but wind is still a key factor. No matter how much scent you eliminate, it can never takes care of 100% and even that little itty bit of human scent blowing down the draw can ruin your season. So practice all the scent control you can, but at the end of the day, make sure you’re playing the wind right too.

So please, if you’re looking to let your bucks grow another year older, follow these four tips to the “T”. I don’t think I’ve ever been more confident with a recommendation, so if you’d like to ruin your season, this is the recipe for success.

But if not. If you’d rather follow a few drops of blood on a frosty November morning with a tall tined rack at the end of the trail, I’d say you ought to avoid these four mistakes like the plague!

In the most recent issue of “Quality Whitetails” from the QDMA, Don Higgins wrote an article titled “6 Mistakes You Can’t Afford To Make”, in which he discusses several of the biggest mistakes you can’t make if you want to hold and kill mature bucks on small properties. It’s a great article and he made a few really important points that I thought I should share with the Wired To Hunt Nation. In addition, I’d also like to add my 2 cents on four more mistakes you can’t afford to make if you want to effectively hunt mature bucks on a small piece of land. Lets first examine Don’s six points.

1. Too Much Hunting Pressure: Having too many people hunting on your parcel of land is obviously going to make it more difficult to harvest an old timer buck. Pressure, or rather the lack of it,  may be the single most important criteria in holding and hunting mature bucks in a location. You absolutely have to minimize it in any way possible. Don recommends limiting the number of family and friends that hunt your land. If you’re goal is fun times with your fam and friends, then invite them all out. But just manage your expectations accordingly. You won’t be consistently killing mature bucks on a 40 acre parcel with 8 other people hunting it.
2. No Sanctuary: Mature bucks need thick, untouched cover to feel safe and move in the daylight. If you want these mature bucks to be moving around on your land, you need to provide that safety zone. Delegate a large piece of land to be a sanctuary and leave it alone.
3. Sanctuaries That Are Too Small: Having a sanctuary is great, but it also has to be substantial in size. You want a piece of land where deer can retreat to and not be bothered by people traveling around the outskirts. The bigger the better. Also keep in mind the quality of your sanctuary. The thicker and nastier you can get it, the safer a mature buck will feel.
4. Food Plot Issues: When it comes to food plots, you have to think strategically. Don points at errors in both crop choices and size as being the most detrimental to your success.
5. Too Many Trails: Having a property laced with frequently traveled atv trails and two tracks is not going to be conducive to holding mature bucks. This is just one more example of putting too much pressure on deer. You want to stay out of their hair, so they will feel safe and hang out on your land. Driving your atv all over tarnation is not going to make your bucks happy.
6. Failing to See the Big Picture: Look at the larger area surrounding your land and figure out where your land fits in. Is there significant agriculture on the adjoining properties, but no cover? You can develop your land as the top destination for bedding and great cover. Figure out what is lacking around your area and provide that for your herd.

So obviously those are all important issues to consider, but I thought I would throw in a few more for consideration.

1. Too Much Pressure On One Stand Location: So many hunter’s hunt the same stand over and over again. No matter where you hunt, this is going to significantly  hurt your chances of ever seeing a mature whitetail deer. If you’re hunting a small piece of land, your mistake will be that much more detrimental. There is very little room for error. Rotate your stand locations as best as you can and leave your hunting areas as unpressured as possible.
2. Not Thinking About How You’re Getting To and From Your Stand: It’s important when planning out your land or stand locations to consider how you will get to and from your hunting area. You need to be able to travel to and from your stand without spooking deer, so think through your travel plan strategically. Keep in mind wind direction and where deer will be at that time of day, whether that is bedding or feeding areas.
3. Not Considering Pressure on Surrounding Property: In addition to managing the pressure on your own land, you will need to consider what pressure there might be surrounding it. If you hunt a small piece of land, this issue is even more relevant. Consider where the hunting pressure might be coming from outside your borders and develop your hunting plan accordingly.
4. Hunting Your Stands At The Wrong Times: This ties back to over hunting a particular stand location, when you’re hunting a small piece of land or in a pressured area you just can’t afford to put too much pressure in one location. That being said, it is ideal if you have certain stands that are designated for specific times of the year. For instance if you have a great set up that is over a primary scrape area in a travel corridor, you may want to hold off on hunting this spot until the rut. Keep it free of human intrusion and hunt it only during the very best circumstances. Too many people find a great spot, but then hunt it over and over throughout the whole season. Save your best spots for the rut and hunt them strategically.

Remember these 10 “mistakes” when you are planning your hunting strategy on your small property and you will have much more success. A small piece of property can still be a great place to hunt mature deer, but every mistake you make is magnified. Play it smart and plan strategically. Your hard work will pay dividends down the road, hopefully in the form of giant racked bucks and bloody arrow shafts.

Do you have any other big mistakes that you’d like to add to the list? Please share them with the Wired To Hunt Nation!

Visit the QDMA website to download your own copy of Don Higgin’s original article.

Deer hunting sure isn’t easy and I sure haven’t made it any easier for myself over the years. We all have made our fair share of mistakes in the woods and I am definitely not immune to that. I for one have fallen asleep while hunting, just like the guy in this picture, although I hopefully never had a buck that big next to me! I’d like to highlight a few of my more painful deer hunting  mistakes and I how I learned from them.

1. I spotted the antlers across the stream right away and a large body slowly materialized as the tall 10 point buck waded across towards my blind. I was sitting in a portable ground blind I had built myself from camouflage fabric and old ski poles stuck in the ground. As the deer moved in front of me at about 25 yards I drew back and followed the deer with my pin as he crossed. Moving my bow from right to left along with the deer, I prepared to shoot, when without warning my arrow hit the ski pole, fell off the rest and proceeded to loudly clang against the side of my bow. The buck of my dreams immediately bolted and my hopes were dashed.

Lesson Learned? First of all I learned that I must be constantly aware of my surroundings and how they can effect a future shot. Secondly I learned the importance of having a contained arrow rest.  Since then I have bought a whisker biscuit arrow rest which contains my arrow quite securely no matter what I do with my bow, I love it. The whole “be aware of your surroundings” lesson truly came in handy this past year when I sat in a tree stand which severely restricted my ability to shoot to the right side of me. I realized this and practiced several times what I would do in the situation a deer presented itself in this problem spot. Low and behold a 7 point buck came along a trail to my right and having practiced what to do, I slowly rose from my seat, turned and rested my gun on the arm rest. 7 point buck down.

2. I had just called in a love struck buck with my doe in estrus call and he was coming in straight to my shooting lane. All he had to do was clear the brush he was behind, step into my lane and I would have a great shot. Well as soon as the buck’s head cleared the last large tree, he swiveled and looked straight up at me. I hadn’t moved, I hadn’t sneezed and he hadn’t winded me. But he did notice a large dark blob in a barren tree silhouetted in the morning sun.  The buck busted me and I learned my lesson.

Lesson Learned? Always break up your silhouette when setting up your tree stand or blind. Whether you’re on the ground or in a tree you need to have a backdrop to break up the shape of your body. When picking a tree for your stand, make sure that there are plenty of branches to mask the shape of you and your setup. Also consider setting up so the sun will be to your back, so that if a deer does look your way they will be staring into the bright light. If you’re on the ground, add lots of downed tree branches, leaves, logs and any other natural cover to make your blind blend in more. Remember to also set up your blinds as early as possible, if someone set up a tent in your living room you would definitely take notice the next day. Deer react the same way when you drop your pop up blind in the middle of the woods.

3. The buck and doe stood in front of me nibbling on some scattered corn and they were only 15 yards away. It couldn’t have been much better, except the doe was stubbornly standing in front of the buck and neither of them would move. After 10 minutes the buck finally took a step out from the doe and I was able to pull back. Unfortunately as I pulled back, my bow creaked and moaned and my buck yanked it’s head up to stare right at me. Another buck had busted me.

Lesson Learned? Check all the small things when it comes to your hunting gear. I’ve slowly learned through many mistakes like this, that it’s usually the small things that will in the end determine your success. Carefully clean and check out your gun at the very least once a year, make sure your calls still work properly, check all the parts on your tree stand and definitely double check all the parts of your bow. When it comes to quieting your bow there are many options, but to deal with the squeaks I encountered it is a good idea to go get your axles lubed. Remember the devil is in the details and that is even more true when it comes to deer hunting.

Although I try to learn from all my mistakes, there is still one I cannot figure out. For the life of me I have not been able to banish the occasional nap in the blind. I suppose I’ll never know what I’ve missed.

I know I’ve made plenty more mistakes then these, but I’m more interested in how you guys have screwed up! Got any big mistakes you’ve made? Learned any lessons the hard way? We’d love to hear about them.