What is the one piece of hunting/shooting advice you would give yourself if you could go back in time

[birddog 68]

In my 30s I told my wife when you hit 40 I'm gonna start looking. She's been calling my bluff for years. She keeps getting older and I haven't wanted to go out looking yet.

Newer models may look better but doesn't mean they are better.

 

[marksman1941]

Spend more time doing and less time thinking. I'm a researcher at heart (and in training) so I have spent ungodly numbers of hours researching reloading, hunting, clothing, etc. a lot of that was really good time spent. And, I should have used some of that time to just go do it. Hunt more than a couple days a year, heavily use the gear I spent so much time researching and so much money buying.

Buy good boots. When you get more money, better clothes. Cheap gear makes hunting less fun.

Quit chasing 1/2moa reloads. Buy a bullet with known terminal performance, find a load that has a 3-4 grain accuracy window, and stock up on all the components of that. Buying 12 different bullets to test in a hunting rifle and chase an extra 1/4 moa when all shots are going to be inside of 400 yards is just a pure waste of money.

 

[Kiowa Cowboy]

Hunt more often before farmers wipe out the wildlife.
Pheasants are **** near extinct here now days and so are quail and jack rabbits.

What an ignorant comment! But for farmers, there would be a lot less wildlife. Nobody cares more about protecting the land than farmers. The better they take care of the land and water the better it yields for them and their livestock. Who hunted the buffalo to near extinction? Who hunted the migratory birds to near extinction? Who hunted elk to the point where their range it what it is today? Hunters no farmers. In the bad years where do animals go to water? Where do the animals get their winter feed? Answers: Form windmill, pond, and/or water tank installed by the farmer. From the crops growing in the field, hay and feed that the farmer uses to feed his livestock. Many of the wildlife that are in the panhandle of Texas Oklahoma, eastern Colorado, western NE, and SD, in huntable numbers solely because of Farmers!!! Let it go back to "nature" and see what happens to the wildlife numbers. They will drop dramatically. Just like they were before the farmer came!!!

 

[Calvin45]

Aim for the middle

 

[hesse]

Slow down enjoy the moment of tranquility of being in the woods. Oh Buy one time Cry one time. Great tiggers make a Huge difference in accuracy. Oh by the the best glass you can afford

 

[comen]

Funny things you pick up from a book when reading it, hence this thread.

If you had the ability to go back to the point your hunting/shooting obsession began, what is the one and only thing you would you say to your younger self?

I know it will be hard to narrow it down to just one, there are so many.

For me, buy components even if you don't need them.

My advice to young me would be quit partying and save the money for components!

 

[comfisherman]

Shoot more read less, don't scrimp on optics cheap always let you down.

 

[skipglo]

In my 30s I told my wife when you hit 40 I'm gonna start looking. She's been calling my bluff for years. She keeps getting older and I haven't wanted to go out looking yet.

Amazing isn't it.....only She keeps getting older!

 

[bdlesh]

Ditto....I would never make it. To old,to fat and a wore out body.

 

[vz_send_it]

Same sentiment expressed by many others: start collecting points and planning for good mountain hunts when I was younger. There were affordable DIY options I didn't realize existed, and that would have been the time to take advantage.

 

[41mag]

If anything I wold have tried harder to put money into some land. I however have had a blessed life with great friends, both young and older who I have enjoyed hunting and fishing with.

Going back I would have liked to have spent more time with my dad and uncles who passed WAY to early. If fo no other reason than to be able to take them fishing or hunting and repay the times they spent with me.

I don't have much fancy stuff, and what I do is only one or two. I learned from those folks how to take what I could afford and make it work like fancy and move on. I still shoot my pop's 03A3 he sporterized back in the 60's and it can still deliver a one inch group. IT ain't fancy but it gets r dun...

 

[436]

Listen closer to the older wiser shooters when they gave advice.
Cheers

 

[K.E.C.]

I am 55 years old and just now going on my first western states hunt. I always wanted to hunt pronghorn, mule deer and elk when I was younger but always convinced myself I didn't have the money.

Had I known then what I know now, I would have spent lots less money on "toys" that now mean nothing and would have at least been stacking up points. And truthfully had I not spent that much on toys I would have had the money and would have been in much better physical condition.

I'm with you brother, I'm only 63 and just starting to look into western hunts.
But I'm retired now, and looking forward to it.

 

[Weaver93]

Take up quilting.