Deer hunting rookie… suggestions?

[two70]

As somebody who owns land that adjoins public land, thank you for bring this up.

I grew up hunting next to the HNF, "lost" hunters claiming "the map shows that I'm on the HNF" were not exactly rare.

 

[phylodog]

My advice would be to enjoy the hunt. Killing a deer is my second least favorite part of deer hunting right after field dressing one. I get frustrated when I spend a ton of time in the woods and feel like I've got no chance at even seeing one but almost all of the time, effort and money that I spend is all done for the quality time and memories in the woods with my best friend. I don't base success just on a kill, if I (we) can get close to a mature buck without being spotted or smelled I am a happy guy. Every great once in awhile we get lucky and shoot one of the big boys which is just icing on the cake.