The deer season is over and you’re left with an empty freezer and an unfilled tag. Now is the time to sit back and reflect on your performance. You may ask yourself, “What went wrong?”
To truly learn from your mistakes and grow, you need to dive deep and conduct a complete post-season assessment.
This may feel tedious, but breaking down the reasons for your struggles is essential. For years, when the season ends without a filled tag, the answers are often more obvious.
If you’re ready to conduct your own assessment, here are the hard questions you need to start with.
Were My Standards Realistic?
Many hunters eat their buck tag because they are waiting on a deer that simply isn’t there. I understand the need to maintain harvest standards, but modern outdoor media often sets unrealistic expectations.
For example, if you are waiting on a 160″ buck, but the biggest buck harvested on your property in a decade was 130″, you may be waiting a long time.
A better approach:
- Suggest an age mark, not an inch mark. This provides a more realistic idea of the trophy-buck standard for your specific property.
- Depend on trail camera surveys and property history to determine what a true “shooter buck” is.
You must have realistic standards when you enter the woods if you want a chance to harvest a buck every year.
Did I Practice Enough?
There is no worse feeling than missing an opportunity to fill a tag because you failed to prepare. Things happen, but most misses could be avoided by sending more arrows down range.
I can plead guilty to this as much as anybody. Practice makes perfect, and just a few arrows a day can exponentially improve your readiness.
The harsh reality is that the majority of bowhunters simply don’t shoot their bow enough, both during the off-season and in-season. It’s easy to get caught up in the early mornings and late nights of the grind, but make sure to take some time to shoot often.
Did I Marry a Spot?
It is easy to fall in love with a particular setup or property and never want to leave. This is fine if the potential is good, but often, the best option is to cut and run.
History is a great reference, but overplaying it can hurt you. If your hunts, scouting trips, or trail cameras tell you that you aren’t on the “X”, then you need to form a new plan.
- Cellular trail cams and frequent scouting can tell you exactly where to be.
- Wait out a spot if the potential is truly building, but if the evidence says you need to move, don’t marry that spot.
Did I Scout Enough?
Pre-season and post-season scouting are great, but in-season scouting is king. Deer are constantly changing their patterns, food sources, bedding areas, and priorities.
If you keep a watchful eye on these changes, you’ll stay in the game. Getting lazy on your scouting can keep you from making the appropriate adjustments and following the deer.
You may worry about increased intrusion, but with cell cameras and good scent-control practices, you can accomplish more than you realize. The key here is not to get complacent or lazy.
Did My Physical Fitness Hold Me Back?
You don’t have to be an ultramarathon runner to be a successful whitetail hunter, but there are situations where adequate physical fitness improves your chances.
If you can’t carry extra gear, climb certain sets, go the extra distance, or scout appropriately, you are not optimizing your success. This goes double for public land hunters or mobile hunters.
- You don’t need a marathon training regimen.
- Walking, rucking, or jogging a few miles a week and incorporating some light strength training could make a huge difference in your hunting health.
Being in good shape during hunting season will allow you to get up earlier, reach your hunting spots sooner, hike farther, sit longer, and be ready for those heavy drags out.
Final Thoughts
Nobody likes to ponder their shortcomings, but there is immense value in self-reflection. If you aren’t happy with how your archery season turned out, ask yourself these hard questions.
It’s not enough to just pose the question—you have to answer it and be willing to put in the work to bring about change.
