If you heed these deer hunting tips carefully you will find your hunting success multiply rapidly. As a deer hunter, you’ll only succeed as far as your dedication and knowledge will take you. It is easy for the average hunter to be able to get a small buck every year or so, but being able to bring home that beautiful trophy buck on a regular basis requires more commitment and more knowledge.

In order to help you become a better hunter, I am going to provide you with the advanced deer hunting tips used by deer hunting masters.

1. Scout Your Area Ahead of Time – I don’t mean analyze where you are going to sit when the truck drops you off, I mean really get to know the area you are hunting. The most successful hunters actually start hunting months prior to the first day of the hunting season. Get permission to be on the lease you intend on hunting and scout out all the potential hunting spots. I surveyed all the potential hunting sites and then did a “dry hunt” — went through the motions of hunting but without a gun, so I could get to know the areas that had the most deer movement, the largest bucks, and the best buck-to-doe ratios. It is advisable to scout the lease during midday as well in order to find any signs of big bucks. Speaking of which:

2. Learn to Recognize Big Buck Signs – In order to find out where the trophy bucks reside, learn what to search for. Spot any tracks. Look at how big the tracks are, where they’re going, and how many there are, and you can see where the deer are moving. Look for Scrapes. These are the areas where bucks scratch against the ground and urinate to mark their territory and attract does. Usually scrapes are beneath low-hanging tree branches along the edges of heavy brush. Look for Rubs – Areas on trees or posts where bucks rub the velvet off their new antlers or mark their territory during rutting season. A “rub line” is a series of a half-dozen or more rubs within a 100-yard area. The rubs are typically on the side of the tree that the buck is traveling form so noting which sides of the trees have rub marks in a rub line gives clues as to the direction of movement. You will also want to look for bedding areas, noting the size of the beds. If you don’t see any bedding, there aren’t any bucks!

3. Know How Your Firearm Shoots – Know the ballistics of the caliber and cartridge you are using. Realize and be able to adjust for the distance you are shooting; the rise on short shoots and the fall on longer shoots. Take some time to practice estimating distances. If possible, walk around the likely sighting areas ahead of the hunt, so you’ll know what length of shots you’ll be making and what sort of drop your bullet will make at that distance.

4. Know Where To Place Your Shot – Once you fully understand the aim and ballistics of your deer hunting rifle, you will be able to concentrate on where you are going to place your shot. Personally, I am a “neck shooter.” While many hunters do not agree with this technique, a properly placed shot anywhere along the neck will drop your deer instantly. If your shot lands lower on the neck you have severed the carotid arteries, high on the neck and the spinal column is breached, hit the center of the neck and you get a combination of these deadly effects. No matter what angle the deer is at, whether it is broadside, front or rear quarter angle, or head-on, the neck will be as large of a target area as the typical “behind the lower shoulder” targets. The difference is that the neck target is much more effective. Taking a full rear shot is not advisable unless you have a trophy buck standing there and you just can’t leave it. If you have to clean a deer that has been shot up the rectum in not at all pleasant. Make wise shooting decisions; a quick, efficient kill is the goal of the advanced deer hunter.

5. Attactants, Calls, and Rattling – While we do not have time to go into a lot of detail, it is an important deer hunting tip to use attractants (like natural food plots, salt licks/mineral blocks, feeders, and flavored blocks), deer calls, and rattling methods. If you are going to use food related attractants you need to prepare it in advance. Just like any garden, food plots takes a lot of time and attention. Start your food plot a few months before the hunting season begins, so that you can get the deer accustomed to that food you are giving them. Usually calling or rattling will only work occasionally and only during the rut. Bucks will mostly be attracted to the rattles and calls because they’re curious if not in rut, but while rutting they’ll rush toward the noise, which is far from an ideal situation. You could run the risk of getting run over by bucks if you rattle, so make sure you are prepared to act quickly if you want to do this. It takes time to learn how to rattle and react proficiently. There’s a learning curve involved in knowing how to effectively mimic the calls or recreate the fighting sounds of deer. But once you learn how to do this, it’s a very useful skill.

While every deer hunter dreams of being able to display a trophy buck at some time in their life, advanced deer hunters are not satisfied unless they get a trophy buck each and every year. If you are going to join the ranks of the elite hunters, then you need to know the advanced deer hunting tips the elite hunters know.

You are welcome to use these deer hunting tips in the coming deer hunting season. We also welcome you to visit Deer-HuntingTips.com to get more useful deer hunting tips to help make this your best deer hunting year ever.

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