Whitetail Deer Hunting 101

Whitetail Deer Hunting 101 is an ambitious undertaking for us. We hope it's helpful to experienced hunters, but we are thinking of those new to whitetail deer hunting.

We will be adding new pages where you see words in all capital letters, but we'll never be able to cover everything.

There are links to other pages which have supporting information. All pages will open in a new window to help you keep track of where you are.

If you have questions: use the "Contact Me". I've been hunting for more than 50 years and I promise to give you an honest answer; if I know.

If you are truly a new hunter, you have a lot to learn before you
become a good, responsible, safe, and successful hunter.

Deer look through brush! They see your shape or movement. We want to go any around obstacles, but by the time we get around for a clear view, the deer are usually gone.

Learn to look through the brush... Practice looking for the parts of a deer, not the whole animal. Superman had x-ray vision! Work at this skill, and you'll surprise yourself sometimes.

SAFETY FIRST! Most hunters are very interested in the guns and bows used for hunting. Hunting is a relatively safe sport, but that is probably because many hunters make safety a priority.

PREVIOUS GENERATIONS often grew up on farms, around killing, hunting, knives, and guns. Today's young people often know little about such things. They have watched TV & movies, played games... nothing real.

Many today have never seen an animal killed. They seldom understand death, pain, suffering... We can no longer expect someone to have an instinctive understanding for safety with such deadly tools.

GUNS, knives, arrows... are made for killing. A hunter's responsibility is be thoroughly educated on these tools. No gun, knife, or bow should be in the hands of a novice without extensive, serious, teaching, and training.

You must know safe handling, but also how they work, their capability... a center-fire rifle could shoot through a house, a barn, a car... it can be dangerous at a range measured in miles...

We love BOW-HUNTING, but a new hunter needs a gun. Bow-hunting is simply too challenging for most new people to have any success.

Check your STATE HUNTING REGULATIONS for the legal firearms where you will hunt. Study our pages on guns, scopes.... You may want to try gun manufactures websites, gun stores, gun books...

You will may need or want some other things, ACCESSORIES: knives, saws, BINOCULARS, food, water, CAMERA, TRAIL CAMERA, bags, packs, compass...

WHITETAIL DEER are incredible animals. To hunt them successfully you have to know them. You must become a student, and you will never want to graduate from whitetail school. You also need to know the truth about some whitetail deer MYTHS.

The whitetail deer's SENSE OF SMELL is his most powerful sense.

He can see in the dark, and in every direction except behind. He can hear very well, and pinpoint most sounds quickly. He is seemingly always alert, with amazing reflexes.

He seems smarter than most animals, and after a couple of years of age makes few mistakes.

You will need to learn SCOUTING, to read DEER SIGN: tracks, trails, droppings, scrapes, rubs... HABITS, and HABITAT: How they live, what FOOD they eat, when they eat, when they sleep, when they MATE... all of which change depending on the WEATHER, the SEASON...

As you learn about whitetail you will begin to see them more. You will need to choose how you will hunt: STAND or BLIND hunting in the beginning, try STALKING or STILL HUNTING maybe when you get better, do you want to try CALLING...

Once you harvest your first deer along with the excitement, you may be wondering: What do I do now? After a HUNTING HARVEST, FIELD DRESSING, processing, cooking, donating, mounting...

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