What is the BEST piece of hunting advice you've been given?

[DWB]

Only shoot when you are comfortable.

And then my favorite saying is: When in Big Game Country, carry a Big Gun!

 

[wiltznucs]

I did my first real solo international guided hunt when I was an early twenty something.

When I arrived to camp; I was far and away the youngest hunter in camp. I ended up sharing a room with a hunter who had just retired. 65+ years of age.

He told me something that really didn’t sink in at the time. He said that he wished he started earlier. That I was smart to be out at a young age. He’d put off some of his dream hunts and now that he had the time and opportunity the legs and body just weren’t there to do them. Dreams he’d now never fulfill.

A couple of decades later and with plenty of aches and pains I get it.

So his advice was to not put off those dream hunts until tomorrow. Check the boxes when opportunity presents itself.

 

[gillettehunter]

Make the first shot count. It may be your only opportunity.
I'll also echo the start your adventure hunting early. Your body tends to be the limiting factor later.
Bruce

 

[Berettaco]

Some great advice so far - most of these are at the very top of my list. I’ll add choose your hunting companions carefully, they can make or break a hunting trip

 

[Sika98k]

“Always hold on hair”

 

[browningbbr]

"Keep shooting until the head goes down."

This was duck hunting, but I have found that it applies to all hunting.

 

[Randy F]

3 things…
Patience
Patience
More Patience

 

[Rick HOlbert]

As an old instructor of mine used to say, if you can get closer, get closer. If you can get steady, get steadier. Listen to your PH. He knows the area and the animals. And practice every chance you get and then some more.

 

[shootist~]

"Never aim over an animals back."

Good advice, too. Using a range finder, I've found that almost everyone (me included) will over estimate distances. Usually by a lot.

 

[Boyd Brooks]

“You don’t eat the horns”. Also never pass up an animal on day one, what you would be glad to see on the last day.

 

[Bonk]

Always wait until you're sure you can make a clean kill before you shoot. If you're not 100% sure you can make the shot DON'T shoot. No guessing. No hoping. The hunting Gods may intervene after you shoot but that's outside of your control. I've gotten almost as much satisfaction over the shots I've passed on as the ones I've taken. What's that old saying? Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching. That's a huge part of hunting in my opinion.

 

[MS 9x56]

Go slow, but shoot fast. Keep the wind in your face, look 3 times more than you move. My Dad.

 

[JPetroni]

I believe it was mentioned in a longer form,

Hunt and travel while you can, time is always chasing us.

JP

 

[MS 9x56]

Nobody gets out alive. Enjoy it while you can.

 

[JPetroni]

One more guys, as a young man my Father told me,

Always remember, as we get older that life takes away more than she gives.

JP

 

[Scott CWO]

Never, ever give up. Always have a PMA. Each day is a new day. On a tough hunt, go the last day as hard as you did on the first day. This has served me well many times as a guide and a hunter.

In 2017, another guide and I had four hunters for mule deer on a six-day hunt. Three were tagged out with big bucks after four days. We had seen another big buck but it got away from us and we were still looking for it. After the sixth and last morning, our last hunter decided to quit and head for the airport a half day early. We tried to talk him into staying. He refused to stay despite my vigorous urging. I also had a tag but I rarely get a chance to hunt due to my guiding schedule and I never hunt in front of or before my hunters. The other guide, one of our landowners and I decided to go out and try one last afternoon to find the big buck. Sure enough, just a hour before dark, we found the big buck when he popped out of an unpicked cornfield we had all been watching for a few days and I got him. He was 32” wide and scored 232 Boone & Crockett. If I had been the client that left early, I never would have left early knowing a buck of that caliber was in the area. Never give up.

 

[lockingblock]

do it while you are young and physically able.

 

[Tgood1]

Domestically: do your best to be a fast good shot.
Internationally: listen to your guide/ph,,,, always.

 

[Colorado Luckydog]

1. Keep the wind in your face.
2. If you are hunting in the mountains, the wind will come down hill first thing in the morning. Later in the morning it will begin to blow uphill. Keep the wind in your face.

 

[fourfive8]

Hunt slow, hunt close, shoot straight, make it real.