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

[curtism1234]

Take your 1st good shot

 

[Jay T]

Its not the gun you carry. Its the man who operates it that makes the hunt. My grand father went to Africa for a year afyer WW 1. My father went for 15 months after WW2. I went for 3 years after graduation. I have enough memories for a lifetime.

 

[Justhunt]

Two things my Dad told me: "sometimes you have to slow down and let the game catch up to you", and "don't get excited before the shot, get excited as you want after the shot is made"

 

[kevin masters]

Its not the gun you carry. Its the man who operates it that makes the hunt. My grand father went to Africa for a year afyer WW 1. My father went for 15 months after WW2. I went for 3 years after graduation. I have enough memories for a lifetime.

That is way cool sir!!!

 

[Woodcarver]

"Don't forget my rifle next year". My Grandson after having to shoot his deer with mine, lol

"Aim small, miss small. Squeeze, don't jerk the trigger." My Dad, every time we went shooting or hunting.

 

[Vintageguy]

Pick your hunting trip companions carefully 24/7 can strain relationships and suck the fun out of the trip if folks can’t check their tongues.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

The hunting day is all 24 hours, not just the second you squeeze the trigger.

 

[Andrew62]

Pick your hunting trip companions carefully 24/7 can strain relationships and suck the fun out of the trip if folks can’t check their tongues.

Great advice! Of my 30+ hunting trips I’ve only done one trip that was 2x1, I’ll never do that again!! Last year was the first hunting trip in 20 years I let anyone go on a hunt with me and I made sure they had their own guide! Lots of ‘buddies’ go on safari as friends, then come home enemies!!

 

[Philip Glass]

Years ahead of my first leopard hunt I was at SCI visiting with some seasoned PH’s on the subject. Hound hunting was the specific topic at the time. Thankfully I was told “the leopard is not like a mountain lion, when the leopard sees you he‘s coming to kill you!” I could not have dreamed that I would so heavily rely on those few words to save my life and that if my PH one day.
Listen and learn as much as you can as you plan a DG safari. This is my best advice.
Regards,
Philip

 

[outwestidaho]

From the second you walk out your door until you return , treat the whole trip, good parts and bad parts as an Adventure. Have that great attitude and your trip will be great.

Some of the best Africa stories I hear are when things didn't go right. It's all part of the adventure. Don't let the bad things that happen bring you down.

 

[Kowas Adventure Safaris]

"Shoot straight & Stay Alive"

 

[rookhawk]

@Kevin Peacocke and many others already took the #1 answer. “Hunt close”.

So I’ll give you the best safari rifle advice as it relates. The most popular question asked about rifles is irrelevant, “how accurate is the gun”. If you’re taking good hunting advice and “hunting close” it doesn’t matter, the best and the worst all put the bullet where its supposed to go anyway. The question about safari rifles that is always overlooked which should be #1 is “How does it feed and cycle?”. No one ever died from an inaccurate rifle on safari but they sure the hell died from a jam or a short-stroke.

 

[Reed Thoma Outdoors]

As a younger member on here who has some, but not a lot, of hunting experience, I really appreciate all this advice! Trying to get some international hunting trips planned and I will definitely try to remember all this info.

And if I had to give advice from my past experiences it would also be keep shooting until the animal stops moving. Where I deer hunt here in MN the properties aren't big, so you want to see them drop on your properties and not keep running to the neighbors.

 

[thriller]

1. Make sure to take your time to shoot you have all the time in the world to take a good shot but you cant take back a bad shot.

2. Only hunt with a gun you are comfortable with, and if you are not comfortable with your gun practice with it until you are (or get a new gun).

 

[Art Lambart II]

Take your Kids Hunting

 

[gbflyer]

Only use a .35 Whelen.

 

[C.W. Richter]

The best way to become a good Hunter, is to Hunt-as much as possible! By doing just this, you WILL learn and succeed! Not by watching tv and buying the "latest, greatest" Hunting widgets for sale at every turn, and talking about hunting like it's a football game. (There are weekend warriors and then there are true hunters that dedicate a portion of every day of their lives toward nature conservation and all that involves.) It's less a sport than a lifestyle choice (or naturally DNA-ingrained for many!) Drove 5 hrs in a blinding snow and ice storm yesterday and spent a considerable amount of time and money, for the future of wildlife and nature, with a smile in my heart the entire time. Use the patience acquired via true hunting, to endure and conquer any situation. Do all of that, and teach your children (and even neighbors and fellow hunters, by good example), to do the same. The good things that come out of hunting often translate to good things in life, not simply for you, but for everyone around you...

Buy Quality. Accurize your rifle(s), unless of course you bought a custom rig (in which case you can skip that step!) Use quality ammo. (Handloads are of utmost Quality!) Practice! Read. Travel. Work hard. Don't make excuses. Make time, and make it happen!

 

[rookhawk]

Take your Kids Hunting

Absolutely this one @Art Lambart II

We drive anywhere from 6 hours to 28 hours to gain access to land so kids can hunt. A lot of people, in fact nearly everyone has the attitude "F them, they can afford it, just go buy a $20,000 hunting lease" as that is the mentality of deer hunting landowners in Southern WI and Northern IL.

My reply is a simple one: When you take a kid hunting, ANY kid hunting, you are "Normalizing" hunting for as many as 300 classmates at their grade school or middle school. The goal of taking kids hunting isn't to make hunters, the fact of the matter based upon data is very, very few children that hunt carries on hunting past the age of 18. College or trade, plus time, plus building a career, and a myriad of other things statistically result in a "dead zone" where very few kids sustain their hunting passions into early adulthood. The whole R3 initiative focuses on reactivating thirty-somethings back into hunting again because of the statistical facts related to twenty-somethings leaving their hunting passions fall away.

That isn't the point of why you take a kid hunting: The selfish goal of taking kids hunting is to indoctrinate hundreds of their acquaintances at school that hunting is A.) Normal, B.) Common, C.) Ethical. You are indoctrinating hundreds of people that will vote to either ban or keep legal hunting in the years to come when you take a single kid hunting.

 

[VertigoBE]

I’ll add one:
you are likely to regret more a shot taken, than a shot not taken.

And I also echo bringing non hunters, be it kids or friends along for a hunt. Or perhaps that group of friends that are a bit critical of hunting, invite them for a bbq or something. I’ve never heard someone being hateful against hunters with a wild boar sausage in their mouth.

 

[Pheroze]

The best way to become a good Hunter, is to Hunt-as much as possible! By doing just this, you WILL learn and succeed! Not by watching tv and buying the "latest, greatest" Hunting widgets for sale at every turn, and talking about hunting like it's a football game. (There are weekend warriors and then there are true hunters that dedicate a portion of every day of their lives toward nature conservation and all that involves.) It's less a sport than a lifestyle choice (or naturally DNA-ingrained for many!) Drove 5 hrs in a blinding snow and ice storm yesterday and spent a considerable amount of time and money, for the future of wildlife and nature, with a smile in my heart the entire time. Use the patience acquired via true hunting, to endure and conquer any situation. Do all of that, and teach your children (and even neighbors and fellow hunters, by good example), to do the same. The good things that come out of hunting often translate to good things in life, not simply for you, but for everyone around you...

Buy Quality. Accurize your rifle(s), unless of course you bought a custom rig (in which case you can skip that step!) Use quality ammo. (Handloads are of utmost Quality!) Practice! Read. Travel. Work hard. Don't make excuses. Make time, and make it happen!

Great advice here.