It is finally November and all the gun hunters are getting ready to hit the woods on opening day. But before you leave to hit the woods, you should know about these 3 gun hunting mistakes that can be easily avoided.
If you can avoid these gun hunting mistakes, you will have a greater chance of harvesting a deer this gun hunting season.
- Sight in Your Rifle/Shotgun/Muzzleloader
- Always Have Extra Ammunition.
- Pick a Good Gun Hunting Spot
Gun Hunting Mistakes #1 – Sight in Your Weapon
Even if you are running late to deer camp or haven’t had the time to sight in your weapon before gun hunting, you should sight your scope.
Many people will just assume that since they sighted in their weapons last year, they are all good for this hunting season too. Wrong!
That gun hunting mistake cost one of my hunting buddies a nice 8-point a couple of years ago.
He had borrowed his friend’s gun to come up and hunt for opening day. His buddy told him that the gun was sighted last year and should be good to go.
Well, opening morning came and a shot rang from inside the woods. We all thought that he had shot a deer.
Turns out that the gun was shooting the slugs over a foot high. He missed.
This gun hunting mistake could have easily been avoided. All our friend needed to do was take the night before and double check that the scope was completely sighted in properly.
How Often Should You Sight in Your Scope?
I do almost no hunting with my pump 20-gauge shotgun except during gun hunting for whitetails.
I always sight my gun in once a year. November 14 around noon. Right in between my last archery hunt before all hell breaks loose in the woods.
By doing this, I allow myself the undoubted confidence that my weapon will perform exactly how I need it. I make sure my scope is sighted in, the barrel is decently clean, plenty of ammunition, and my gun sling is connected for the long walk into the woods.
That is how I avoid gun hunting mistake #1.
Gun Hunting Mistakes #2 – Always Have Plenty of Ammunition.
Having enough ammunition in your backpack is a must. The gun hunting mistake that many hunters will fall into stems from lack of preparation. You must be prepared to miss your first shot. It happens to absolutely everyone!
Here is a good article on Ammunition selection to check out. https://www.norma-ammunition.com/en-us/norma-academy/dedicated-hunting/deer-hunting/ammo-selection-guide-for-white-tailed-deer
It is not much for me to elaborate on when it comes to this gun hunting mistake. You just need to be prepared to have many rounds of ammunition in the field with you while you are gun hunting.
I try to keep at least 1 extra box of Hornady’s in my pocket or backpack along with a full box inside my pump shotgun.
Here is why it is so important to carry extra ammunition.
You may miss your first shot, your second, or your third. It happens!
You do not need to feel bad about missing a deer. Yet, you should feel bad if you did not even give yourself the chance to shoot again.
I want to tell you 2 different stories of how my uncle and I almost made this exact gun hunting mistake.
I was sitting in my usual gun hunting spot when a group of 3 does come into my view.
I was a little nervous because this was my first time getting a good shot at a deer all year. I chose to freehand the shot.
Bang! – miss
Bang! – miss
Bang! – miss
Bang! – miss
I shot 4 times without using a gun rest. I was shaky, nervous, and probably not strong enough at the age of 13 to be free-handing that shot.
But, the story continues.
The doe that I was aiming at didn’t leave the field. Weird right?
So I grabbed a hunting chair and backpack, which I was using as a gun rest. I took the last shot that was left in the gun.
Bang – Doe on the Groud!
Am I the proudest of the way I harvested that deer? No. But, I did get the job done.
But here is the important part of that story.
I had only 1 shot left in my gun. Then I was out of ammunition for the rest of the morning.
I lacked being prepared to have more shells with me. Because even if I missed that last shot and the deer ran away, I could have moved spots, or just put more rounds in my gun.
That is my personal story of how I almost made a gun hunting mistake that would have left me with tag soup that year.
The second story is one about my Uncle. I will give you a brief description of him, a blue-collar worker, who grew up in the country, and loves Busch (not Busch light).
Now that we have the character for the story, I can tell you how he also needed more than 1 shot to kill a buck.
It was the night before opening day and a neighbor had shot a deer with a crossbow. However, he wounded it.
My dad, my uncle, and I helped this young man and his father track this buck all through our woods and our corn field.
We never found him though. Until the next day.
I was sitting in my usual spot facing East, my dad next to me facing North. This spot was not our property but my uncle’s farm field that he would let us sit in.
All of a sudden we hear 3 shots back to back to back coming from our woods which was about ½ a mile away.
It must have been my Uncle.
Come to find out, that wounded deer had gone right back into the woods the night before. He was wounded pretty badly and was bedded down.
My Uncle found him and somehow managed to miss 2 times. I am no one to judge. He just likes to give me hell anytime I do something stupid so I like to return the favor when I can.
This could have been even worse than my situation because this deer was already wounded. Hy uncle just wanted to put that deer out of his misery. Luckily he did just that after 3 shots.
I told these stories because we are not all perfect. Gun hunting mistakes happen. We should not just accept that though. We need to be prepared for when those gun hunting mistakes happen, we can properly adjust and still get the job done.
Always bring plenty of ammunition in your backpack because just if you miss once (or 4 like me), does not mean that you will not get another shot that same hunt.
Gun Hunting Mistakes #3 – Pick a Good Gun Hunting Spot
Bow hunting and gun hunting are not equal. Both can reap a great harvest but they are not equal.
When you are choosing a bow hunting spot, you are looking for areas where you can get a shot within 40 yards.
When you are looking for a gun hunting spot, you are looking for areas to get a shot at 40 yards or longer (most likely).
A gun hunting mistake would be to sit with your rifle in the same spot that you would sit with your bow. Instead, look for more open food sources to hunt with a gun.
It can be hard to shoot a deer under 30 yards with a gun if your scope is sighted in at 100 yards. So why set up in a spot where you believe deer will show themselves at 20 yards.
I look for open corn or bean fields to hunt over during the gun season. Another one of my favorite options for gun hunting is to lay in the middle of an open field and face a woods or ditch line. A lot of times deer will walk the edges of the woods.
This would be bad if you were on the edge of the woods because they would be too close, but it is perfect if you are 50 yards laying like a snipe rifle ready to take your shot!
The key is to try to plan your hunting spots for the appropriate weapon that you will be using.
Conclusion
I think that these gun season mistakes can really cost you if you do not at least acknowledge them before your hunt.
I have made many of these mistakes but I hope by me sharing them and how I have almost and occasionally have made these gun hunting mistakes, you can now avoid them and have a more successful hunt.
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The Whitetail Teacher
