"Be the Best Hunter You Can Be" - How to Approach the Mental Game this Season

Television and YouTube hunters

In this day and age of outdoor TV shows and YouTube, people get to experience more hunting in an afternoon than they might otherwise in a lifetime of hunting on their own. I think too often hunters will look at the personalities they see on TV as experts on hunting, and then try and compare themselves to that personality. A lot of hunters will assume that somehow the personalities are better hunters and that they can’t possibly measure up to them. It might be easy to think that way because after all they have shot a lot of big bucks. Don’t get caught up in all the hype. Not to say that anyone you may see on television is not a good hunter, but after all they are going to the very best places to hunt and the best time hunt there. I guarantee that if any of you had the same opportunities, you would have a wall full of big racks too.

Hunting is not a competitive sport

My best advice to any hunter, especially a new hunter, is not to compare yourself to anyone else. Hunting is not a competitive sport. Hunting is about you and the animal you are hunting period! Sure, there are other aspects of hunting, like sharing a camp with fellow hunters and swapping tales of the hunt. It’s also about taking a first-time hunter out and bringing them into the fold of the hunting community. But when a hunter steps into the woods in pursuit of game, he need not worry about how he compares to anyone else. It’s up to each of us as individual hunters to hone our skills and be the best hunter we can be. We don’t have to look at hunting as being better or worse than anyone else.

Know your strengths

I believe each and every one of us has a God-given talent or gift. Some of these talents can be used for hunting. These gifts might be anything such as patience, endurance, good vision, good hearing, balance, sense of direction or just a better natural woods instinct. Whatever it is you are blessed with, use it to your advantage while hunting. We all know people with natural talent that never use it for anything. I know a guy that can take a slab of wood and carve a scene from a photograph to exact detail but the only time he carves one is to get enough money to buy beer. What a shame, to waste the talent he had been given. Don’t waste your talent. Figure out what it is that you are good at and put it to use as a hunter. By using your gift, you will overcome any other shortcomings you might have.

Anyone who knows me knows that patience is my biggest shortcoming. Over the years this has cost me my chance at many big bucks. I just always figured that I had enough gifts for me to be able to kill a buck in other ways. I know a lot of big bucks are killed hunting from a stand, especially in the Midwest and farm country. I also know I just don’t have the patience to hunt that way.

Develop your skills in the woods

We all have gifts, but that doesn’t also mean that we can’t develop skills and put them to use in the woods. You’ve heard the saying; there’s more than one way to skin a cat, well there’s also more than one way to kill a buck. Sometimes hunting and deer hunting in general can be tough. So is life, but don’t give up like the average hunter might do. If you use the tough times to challenge yourself to become a better hunter, I guarantee that you will be rewarded for your effort. You may not see the reward immediately, but you ‘will’ see it. Be the best hunter “you” can be.”

For those just getting started hunting, Hal Blood's book "Hunting Big Woods Bucks" is a good place to start.