Five Reasons Most Hunters Will Fail This Fall

Dang! I know what you’re thinking…here it is the beginning of hunting seasons for most of us and I’m already being negative and talking about failure. Truth is if we understand the reasons why we might fail it better enables us to achieve the success we ultimately all seek while hunting.

1. Lack commitment. There’s a big difference between acting committed and actually being committed. It’s not always enough to just go through the motions of being outdoors and carrying a firearm or a bow. The hunter needs to embrace an attitude which at times requires patience, perseverance and persistence. It’s never easy to rise at 4am on a day off and drive to the deer woods for the early morning hunt…but to consistently sleep in and only hunt the twilight hours shows a lack of commitment by the hunter.SuccessFailure

2. Failure to prepare/plan. The hunting season might only last for two months…but what do you do for the other 10 months of the year? Quite honestly the effort you put into your hunt during the off-season might be nearly as important as what you do during your hunt. Everything from clearing shooting lanes, scouting out new hunting territory, even developing a specific game plan for achieving success. The level of effort you put into your hunt is often directly proportional to the success you will eventually derive from those preparatory activities.

3. Improper focus. Just like the quarterback heading into the big football game who needs the proper mind-set to perform, the hunter is really not much different. Certainly keeping focus is not always easy because life throws so many potential distractions at us, yet the hunters who can maintain their mental edge will likely see and hear more game in the field.

4. Expectations set too high. This has become a big gripe of mine. Back 35 years ago most hunters ventured outdoors more for the experience of–well, being outdoors. Today things are different. Society has developed a certain entitlement mentality whereby everyone has certain expectations that are sometimes difficult or even downright impossible to attain. Indeed, there’s nothing wrong with setting big goals and working hard to reach them. The problem is too many hunters feel they are owed a certain experience during their hunt. These hunters are often guilty of measuring their success afield to celebrity hunters on TV or even their hard-core hunting friends. The hunter who enters the season with realistic hopes is the hunter who ends the season content no matter what transpires during the hunting season.

5. Missed opportunities. The reasons are varied…but the results are always similar. Some hunters are lazy and fail to capitalize on their given situation. A good example is a deer hunter who knows they need to move their portable deer stand but chooses to leave it be. Another example is the pheasant hunter who gets tired and doesn’t push the entire length of the slough before heading back to the truck. In both of these cases the hunters knew what they should be doing, but chose to give up prematurely. On the other hand, opportunities can be missed for reasons unknown to the hunter and out of the hunter’s control. Bottom line is the successful hunter needs to seize the opportunities they are presented with and learn not to fret about the ones beyond their control.

I understand how being critical as to why we sometimes fail is not always a gratifying task. In fact, doing personal introspection like that is never easy or fun. Still, it’s important for every hunter to understand they must own their hunting experience…and they will only get out of it what level of effort they choose to invest into it.   Make your hunting season a good one by avoiding these mistakes.

©2011 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

Hey, You Dang Deer…Don’t Eat My Camera!

Just a fun post showing a couple of videos taken with my new Cuddeback Attack trail cameras.   I’ll be blogging very soon about my product experiences using these new cameras…but in the meantime I thought I would show two somewhat humorous encounters where the deer is either trying to eat or lick the cameras.

Both of these videos were taken just a short time after the cameras were placed in the woods…so I suspect that once the human scent dissipated what likely remained was some residual salt from my hands.   That possibly could explain why they are reacting the way they are.

One other quick observation I made about deer awareness to these trail cameras is now abundantly clear to me while looking at the video.   Still pictures do not always tell the entire story.   Prior to seeing video of deer on these trail cameras I was convinced that most deer could care less about the presence of a camera hung in the woods.   That was a very poor assumption on my part.   In fact, while these particular deer (in the videos) seemingly were getting a bit passionate with my new toys…most other deer seemed very aware of the camera and often reacted somewhat leery of its presence.   Only by watching video could a person make this sort of behavior determination.

Nevertheless, take a moment to check out these videos if for no other reason that to judge for yourself the quality of the new Cuddeback video feature in their latest trail cameras.

and here’s another…

©2011 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

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Tell Me What You Think…Thumbs Up Or Thumbs Down

Okay, this promises to be a quick blog post.   One of the side benefits (I think) of being a blogger is folks will contact you with hopes you will write about their product.

Occasionally, I see a product that I absolutely must have.   At other times I see a product that could have some potential…but doesn’t really excite me enough to explore things further.   Then there are those times when I read about a product that simply has no value in the outdoors whatsoever.

Today, I was contacted by a product manufacturer called 5 o’clock Shadow which hails from Salt Lake City.   The concept being promoted is a hand-knitted face mask fashioned ala a beard.   That’s right…now hunters can sport that thick beard they’ve always been jealous they could not grow on their own.

Check out their website HERE.

Now, I’m going to be very honest with you.   At first glance I called a co-worker over saying “wait until you see this silly item.”   Then I started to think a bit more about it.   Heck, maybe these people are on to something…especially if a person wants to wear their favorite hat and that hat doesn’t allow for the more traditional stocking-cap style mask.

Help me out here…what do you folks think?   Do you give it  or  for a legitimate product with some value for the outdoors person.   Please leave your comments below.

©2011 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.