7 Tips to Make Your Hunting Trip More Successful and Memorable!

Hunting is a very popular past time in the US and is great practice for preppers and survivalists. Not only will you learn how to creep up on animals, track animals and learn about how adrenaline affects your use of a weapon, but it can also be a great time to practice survival with minimal supplies. Until the time comes when you are hunting because your life depends on it, you should have fun and learn through hunting. Though it may not be that close to big game hunting season in your area many of these things are pre hunt suggestions so they can help you prepare even now for your hunt.

Have the Right Equipment

This is a very important aspect of hunting. Though you need the correct weapon for the type of hunting ss198lf you are doing, having the correct equipment in your backpack is very important. When going out for a day hunt your backpack should really have enough for 1-2 days. It’s better to have a little more than you need than not enough. Here are some of the things I carry when hunting.

Backpack Equipment

Comfortable and Strong Backpack – First Aid Kit – Flashlight – Fire Starting Equipment – Poncho – Warm Hat – Long Johns – Gloves – Handheld Saw (to cut animal bone or tree branches for a blind or to start a fire) – Food and Snacks – Water – Water Purification Tablets – Glow Stick – GPS (Good to have a compass and map also) – Binoculars – Few Different Types of Knives (one for gutting and skinning) – Camping Eating Utensils – Leatherman – Survival Blanket – Foldable Shovel

Carry Equipment

Bow or Gun (whatever I am using to hunt usually a bow) – Pistol (For Self-defense if Archery hunting, make sure it is legal in your state) – Bugle Tube(If Elk Hunting) – Range Finder – Camo Hat, Pants,and Shirt – Warm Socks – Camo Jacket – Good Hunting Boots (Comfortable and waterproof are the best) – Pocket Knife – Wallet with Drivers License, Hunting License and Tag(for the animal I am hunting) – Car Keys – Cell Phone(Set to silent or turned off, If no service then you may not need it)

There are other things that I probably should have and hope to get before the next time I go hunting. There are also things that may fit your hunt that I have not listed. Every hunt is different so the equipment you need will change. If you are hunting for whitetail deer in Southern AZ warm clothes may not be necessary. Remember to tailor your gear to your hunt.

Do Some Pre-Hunt Scouting

To be successful in a hunt you must know where the animals are and how they are moving. There are many different ways to do this. I normally like to go to my hunting location a couple weeks to a month before the hunt to see how the animals are moving. I find game trails (actual trails used by animals, and yes they like to make things easy just like humans do) and walk them to find out if they are being used. Normally it is quite easy to tell. Just look for droppings and hoof or paw prints and assess when these were left. Scouting can be even more important if you really don’t know the area and never hunted. Scouting will also help you to know what types of equipment you should have. You will also be able to find less human traveled areas. This is important because many times after the first few days of a hunt there will be more pressure on the animals to move to a less hunted area. This is what happened last year on my elk hunt. We saw many elk the first 2 days in some of the areas we had scouted, then the 3rd day there was nothing and it was frustrating. We had to actually hunt about a mile away right where the elk had moved to. The hunt got much more fun at this point as there was much less people and a lot more elk. The one drawback to this is that the terrain was much more difficult in this area, but it offered more exercise, which is a plus.

Though I personally have never used a trail camera many people have them and swear by them. I don’t believe these can be used during hunting season so follow the rules. Also there are two big problems with them you can forget where you put them or they can be stolen. So here are two suggestions write down the exact coordinates where all trail cameras are placed and devise something to lock them to the tree to make it harder to steal. Much of the hunting I do is elk hunting so being able to track a bugle and being able to call elk in with your own bugle is important. As these are the main things I use to find elk I don’t really have as much need for a trail camera. I could see them being very helpful with other species of animals from deer to coyote to mountain lion.