Several years ago before a popular 10K running event in my town, a friend asked me what my goal was for the morning.
Goal? I had no goal other than to have fun. I didn’t plan to set a personal record, known as a PR in the running world. I had no goals for the first three miles or the last three miles, other than to clip one at a time. I had no plans for a negative run, meaning my last couple of miles would be faster than my first ones.
My goal was to have fun, enjoy the route and being around people, and pause to say howdy to friends I knew along the route who were watching from their yards. My friend looked perplexed, as if I’d said something crazy. But my goal that morning was simple: Just. Have. Fun.
I apply that same thought process to my hunting seasons. My main goal is to have fun, enjoyable outings whether I’m chasing a big buck in October or squirrels in February. I set a goal to learn something each time I go into the woods, which my father instilled in me 50 years ago on my first hunts with him.
“What did you learn today?” he would ask on the way home or, when I became old enough to hunt solo, when I got home. I always tried to learn something. It might be how squirrels reacted to movement, or how doves were attracted to water and gritty roads. That a deer would slip quietly through the woods, over leaves that would crunch under my feet, and so I’d have to be quiet to hear them. How ducks might not flare after the second or third swing, but if they kept doing it then something was wrong with the decoys or blind.
I have, on occasion, attempted to hunt a specific buck. I wasn’t successful. Big bucks are smart. I’ve had a couple on camera that I thought I knew, but I didn’t know beans. The hunts were fun. My goal was to outwit the buck and tip him over. He won, I didn’t.
However, my intent every time I go hunting is to kill a deer, duck, squirrel or something. I don’t go to sit in the woods listening to birds, watching sunrises or sunsets, failing to load my gun or unclip an arrow. If I did those things, I’d just stay home. My intent when hunting is to hunt and kill. Every time. My goal when I am fishing is to catch a fish on every single cast. Every time. I don’t make a cast without being ready to set the hook. Why would I do otherwise? I might as well be dabbling a rock in the water.
Does anyone ever go to Kansas or Saskatchewan for deer, or into the bear woods in Maine, or to Texas for big hogs, or maybe New Mexico or Colorado for elk, and just sit there relaxing while watching nature without any real intent to kill something? Nope. Duck hunters don’t go to Arkansas or Mississippi or West Tennessee to sit in a blind without loading their shotguns. You go with specific goals, and nine times out of 10, those include killing animals to bring home to eat, display, and remember.
Setting Goals
Everyone’s goals are different, of course. Some of you are probably doing the “Tsk, tsk, tsk” thing now about me. Eh, OK. We’re at different points, perhaps, in our hunting lives. I’ve not reached the point yet where I’m dressing in camo to watch birds and sunsets while claiming I’m hunting.
The great thing about goals is you can set them, pursue them and learn from them. Right now is the time to do it, with weeks to go before the first of several Southern state “velvet buck” seasons to help kick off the whitetail season. Deer season already opened the first weekend of August in south Florida (it’s hot!!!) and next is South Carolina, then Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and the floodgates open.
Some goals are easy. Do you need to kill a certain number of deer off your property to meet management goals? Are they bucks and does, just does, specific ages of one or the other? You should have an idea by now, perhaps after talking with your management specialist or state biologist, about what you need to accomplish. And if you need to get to a certain number, start calling friends now to come help. Spread the wealth, so to speak, or have a youth-only hunting day at your club or property. You can hit that quota pretty quickly doing that.
Maybe you want to hunt a specific buck all season. It’s cool, challenging, tough, frustrating and fun. Good luck! You’ll probably learn more about your property, the weather, the buck’s movements and your skills than you ever knew before. I think every deer hunter should do this at least once.
If you’re a duck hunter, perhaps you want to hunt only with a 28-gauge this year. Or you want to hone your calling skills. Hog hunting? Great for learning to stalk, woodsmanship and shot placement (especially with a bow). Maybe you have a big game goal in mind, such as saving for or finally getting to go on a hunt for mule deer, elk, moose, pronghorn or bear. Pinch those nickels and get it done!
Each time you go out, too, you could have mini-goals during the day. For example, you could take notice of the wind changes and directions, learn to read signs better, slow down, notice more, be quieter, and leave your phone turned off and in your pocket.
Don't forget to be realistic. You’re not going to shoot Booners and Popers every time you go out. You’re likely not going to put a limit of rabbits or squirrels or doves in the bag every time. It’s great to strive for a big buck, mess of tasty rabbits or a 10-pound bass. But be realistic. Set your goals based on what your hunting (or fishing) area is capable of producing.
One of the best bowhunters I ever knew (among several) years ago, was a laser-focused killer when he got into the woods. Everything he did had a purpose, from the routes he took to the tree he selected to climb and which way he faced in that tree. The sun, wind, direction he believed the buck would take to the bedding area … all of that factored into his decisions. He didn’t mess around in the woods, either. He went in, got set up and got ready. He killed a lot of big bucks, a lot of Pope & Young bucks. Every time he went out, his goal was to be “on” and to become a better hunter.
You can do the same thing, by setting goals and striving to meet them this year. Hunting season is just around the corner, one of the greatest times of the year. Good luck and get after it.
