Never hunt angry

Deer hunting, like so many other things in life, is always good. It's just that some hunting days are better than others.

And, if you trust nothing else, know this: hunting success can always get worse. Success depends, in large part on wind, weather conditions and hunting pressure. Wherever we hunt, we cannot change the wind or weather conditions.

Anglers have the same problems. Too much rain or snow can affect how fish move or hit. The same happens when the wind swirls, or when lightning and thunder start shaking up the sky.

For many of us, our hunts are planned for a week in advance and the weather doesn't always cooperate. We spit and sputter, gripe and complain, and then we go out and hunt angry.

No one can control the weather. Live with it.

Hunting angry doesn't help. If anything, being mad about something we can't control doesn't do anything except mess up our hunting judgment. As a result we make some dumb mistakes.

We mess up. We get mad, and that makes us feel worse, and we begin to fidget. We move around, make the occasional noise, and any deer that may have come to us are long gone.

Why get mad? I've hunted deer for too long, and over more than 55 years, and have become somewhat philosophical about bad weather. Learn to take the good with the bad, and think happy thoughts rather than thinking how ticked off you are. That line of thinking only make people even madder, and that only increases their problems.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Instead of focusing on the things  we can't control, change your thoughts and think about those things that can be changed.

Take a deep breath, let it out and relax.

Climb a tree, if need be, and set in an elevated coop and do whatever can be done to beat the wind. Or ... do what some hunters do and that is to go home and take a nap. There is always tomorrow.

Taking the good with the bad doesn't always mean that a bad day can't be productive. I've sat out, and had the wind ripping leaves off the trees, and about 30 minutes before shooting time ends, the wind gusts taper off and die. It then becomes whisper quiet, so quiet you are soon wishing for a soft breeze.

If some light rain falls when the wind dies down, there can be some very good deer movements. It seems as if the deer are happy to see the weather change as they move out to feed.

Caution often is more likely when deer move after a strong wind and rain storm. Hunters must learn to keep their cool,

and take what they get even though we seem to be having more bad weather in the early season than ever before.

Last-minute weather changes have paid off for me more times than I can remember. Heading in to the house, and skipping the evening hunt, often means hunters quite possibly will miss the finest 30 minutes of the day as the wind and rain dies.

It's far better to consider the weather, whether good or bad, as part of the deer-hunting experience. Such last-minute weather changes don't happen often enough that we can plan around them, but they can pay off often enough that they should be one more trick in our deer-hunting repertoire.

Sometimes the weather changes before the hunt ends.

It's an awesome feeling when we've rode out the bad weather, and than see the last-minute change that we've hoped for. We no longer are mad at the weather, and things start looking up. When the bad weather suddenly changes, and the good weather moves in and the deer start to move, we feel blessed as we sit in a ground blind or tree stand.

Look up at the sky, nod and  say "thanks," and get ready for a nice buck to step out of heavy cover and be within easy bow range. Just remember: it never pays to hunt angry.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors