re: What do you wish you would've known prior to your first deer hunt

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Hunting success shouldn't be measured by what you kill. Get out in the woods, relax, and enjoy nature. That's a win whether you kill or not.

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Who down votes this? This is almost word for word how I feel about hunting.

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wish someone would have told me that those green lacrosse boots arnt made for the cold.

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I’m certainly a novice hunter when compared to most of you, and this is one of my most memorable lessons. Hunted a cold morning when I was probably 16, and I felt pins and needles in my feet until 4-5 that evening. That was half of my lifetime ago and I still remember it. There is a lot of good info in this thread. Adhere to all of it. Enjoy your time alone in the woods, make a good, clean shot (don’t take the shot if it isn’t a good one), appreciate your kill, salvage, process, and eat as much of the animal as you possibly can.

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I killed my first deer at the age of 40. We were planning to just spot some deer. But a large buck happened to stroll by and my buddy offered the shot to me. I had to ask him the best place to aim. He pointed just above the shoulder.

I aimed and dropped it with one shot from about 100-150 yards away. By the time we got to it, his life had already been extinguished.

I didn’t feel anything. No compassion for the deer nor even a thrill for having shot it. It was frankly the easiest sport I had ever participated in, and to this day, I don’t understand why I would want to do it again. When it came to cleaning it, my big take away was that it was all much more trouble than it was worth.

But I tried. So I kind of wish I knew it was going to be so effortless and unexciting. I might have stayed home and drank that day.

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I first visited my wife’s grandmother’s family farm right after we were married in 1981. I dreamed about possibly that she might inherit it one day. That happened 4 years ago and I have spent many hours scouting and setting stands and moving them to get them in the right pinch points and overlooking the right trails. I moved a location of a lock on this year just about 20 yards this year and harvested the biggest 8 point I ever have with a bow.
I have harvested several turkey and deer over the past few years there and each one has been a challenge and a great deal of satisfaction due to my efforts! I wish that others could share the same satisfaction!

How much per lb deer meat really is.
But it’s all good.

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This is almost word for word how I feel about hunting.

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I didnt really enjoy hunting that much until I started looking at it that way. You're setting yourself up for disappointment if your only metric of success is a kill. Even if you're hunting primo property you aren't going to kill every hunt. If you dont kill on a hunt/stalk you probably learned something about that area or how what you're hunting moves. Your next hunt might have kill because of the knowledge you gained on your previous hunts. There is almost always a positive to it.