Decisiveness as a hunting skill

[2rocky]

I think one of the hardest thing about "learning to hunt" is to have faith and confidence in your decisions while hunting.

So many of our opportunities are fleeting and require decisive action.

It seems like the only way to learn to be decisive is to hunt a lot and have opportunities. Is there something you can do with young hunters to teach them to be more decisive when they get their first animal in their sights?

 

[KB_]

I would say get as much experience in the field as possible. But with you tube these days you can learn quite a bit from "actual" good hunters out there. That content will at least give you an idea of what to do an how to find animals sometimes. But in reality following your gut is a good option and learn from the mess ups from there. Its all about reps. Sometimes it works out and most of the time it doesnt.

 

[RidgeRoamingRichard]

Start them with small game and let them make the calls once they've gotten the hang of it.

 

[TOGIE]

decisiveness is so hard.

i'm still a newer hunter and it's definitely one my biggest struggles still.

i "what if" every decision i'm about to make.... every decision feels like the wrong one, because.. what if?? you go one way when the elk are the other way. you move onto a new glassing area right before the elk show up and you miss them. you hike into this drainage and the elk are actually in the other drainage, you shoot this buck but if you waited 10 minutes you would've seen a better buck

frick it's hard.

i find the opposite of decisiveness in the field is paralysis because you don't know what to do. it seems obvious and easy at home but not so easy in the hills. my guess right now is that it doesn't simply ease with experience, it eases as your tolerance towards the possibility of unfilled tags goes up. it ain't life or death, it's just a damn good time outside, gotta remember that

 

[Bambistew]

I still struggle with decisiveness... especially when my plan falls apart or a miss a huge fuggin ram.

 

[Jape]

Great point, @2rocky. I agree regarding experience. I also think words of encouragement go a long way. My dad would always say things like, "you got this" or "do it just like you practiced at home." For more mature hunters, I think the ultimate decision in any scenario should be the shooter's call, and then everyone else back them up completely. The shooter can ask for advice, but the ultimate decision is up to him/her. That may result in a failed attempt, but they will learn so much more than if someone else is making all the decisions for them.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

As far as closing the deal on a specific shot or shooting situation I agree with above that small game hunting gopher/p-dog hunting is pretty excellent practice. Having seen enough animals to be quick at field judging is definitely a factor, and not something you can manufacture very well without direct field time.

 

[vanish]

This is one reason I rarely hunt with other people. Nobody to question a decision but myself.

 

[TOGIE]

This is one reason I rarely hunt with other people. Nobody to question a decision but myself.

lots of benefits to hunting with other people. but i too always want to come home empty handed knowing i have no one to blame but myself

plus the second you include someone other than yourself on your hunt the chances of making it to the trailhead/campsite/glassing spot on time diminish by a factor of at least 4

 

[noharleyyet]

Everyone experiences the could've should've would'ves. I fill a tag everytime out in hindsight.

 

[Dougfirtree]

I don't know how to teach this, but I think you're absolutely right. Sticking to a plan and capitalizing on shot opportunities are hugely important skills. I've often said that one of the hardest things about hunting the big woods here, is learning to actually recognize when you have a shot opportunity. Many people struggle with this because they rarely look like we're taught they should. You could go years and years around here, without ever seeing a stationary, broadside deer in the woods. Usually, your shot opportunity is on a moving deer, that is angled and it only lasts a few seconds (and you get precious few of these opportunities in the first place). You have to be ready!

 

[Panda Bear]

For me
deciding "when" to pull the trigger in defense of life and property both with brown and white bears

also, full curl or over 8 years old, can sometimes be challenging on sheep

nothing beats experience, but hunting wildlife can be unpredictable and frustrating at times. That perfect stalk can go wrong, so quick and so easy.

Bambistew, I hear you

 

[Dave N]

I still struggle with decisiveness... especially when my plan falls apart or a miss a huge fuggin ram.

This almost sounds like a story. I remember you saying you were flying out a while ago. Related? Or pure coincidence?

 

[Pucky Freak]

I’d prefer to have decisiveness develop on its own, slowly, with lots of experience. Lack of decisiveness means lost opportunities, but I think that’s fine. The reason for this is a far more important trait IMO is restraint. If you lack restraint you take bad shots, unsafe shots, and take risky gambles. It’s more important to pass these up than to capitalize on small windows for success.

 

[Wildabeest]

With my kids, I’ve tried to instill two principles in them related to decision making. First is borrowed from the hippocratic oath of “do no harm”. If your decision has the potential to harm another person (or creature in the case of hunting), then it changes how you make that decision and raises the bar on certainty before action. For decisions that don’t involve harm, then I tried to instill in them the idea that “the only bad mistake is one you don’t learn from”. Giving them this “freedom to fail” has allowed them to learn how to assess risk, make decisions and deal with the consequences of those decisions. I’ll spare you my rant on “helicopter parenting”...

My son shot a forky in the first hour or so of the first day of his first hunt ever. He didn’t lack decisiveness! We can all debate whether shooting a forky that early into a hunt was the “right” decision, but he has no doubts or regrets about his decision.

 

[lpcoutdoors]

I can't decide if I'm good at decisiveness or not. I wonder what that means, ha!

Reading this thread and the good advice on experience building decisiveness, I think that's why I love hunting camp so much, sitting around telling the stories of the day, not second guessing each other (at least not out loud), but learning from each other and seeing the opportunities where decisiveness was needed and where it went wrong.

I remember reading in the Contrarian's Guide to Leadership many years ago where the author asserted that if you can put off a decision you should, that is the universe and your intuition telling you that you don't yet have enough information. I think this comes up in hunting alot, when do I move, when do I stay type stuff. I connect this with an old Ranger officer teaching me once, in training, and my scouting element made contact, I wanted to run in and he sit back and had a smoke, let things play out a little, he said. They did and it was a good lesson I think about when hunting. I guess that old saying good things come to those who wait is an aspect of decisiveness I am chewing on here. Anyway, food for thought.

 

[ScottP]

I think one of the hardest thing about "learning to hunt" is to have faith and confidence in your decisions while hunting.

So many of our opportunities are fleeting and require decisive action.

It seems like the only way to learn to be decisive is to hunt a lot and have opportunities. Is there something you can do with young hunters to teach them to be more decisive when they get their first animal in their sights?

Seriously right on! Pretty much my main struggle with archery elk hunting. Too much time deliberating has cost me shot opportunities.

Agree that it is likely some function of experience, as I don't have such a rough time hunting mountain turkeys in similar country. But I will admit I do have a somewhat indecisive personality at times, so that it really shows at critical junctures in the woods. Rifle hunting hasn't been nearly as difficult.

 

[noharleyyet]

Think I can state with a high degree of certitude that we have quite the list of decisive hunters on this site...with pics and stories to verify.

 

[npaden]

I'm not so sure on this. Like all things in life I think there is a balance between being too decisive and making a mistake vs. being too cautious and missing an opportunity.

I would rather have a missed opportunity than a wounded animal running off. That 300 yard shot in the wind with the bull I wanted to shoot last year being so close to several other bulls still haunts me that I didn't take the shot but I think I would do the same exact thing if I had it to do over again.

Now, I would agree very much with the overall consensus, the more you find yourself in those situations the better you are going to be at dealing with them.

Right now I'm running a stop watch on my son to get from standing to setting up and taking the shot and then keeping the stopwatch running while he chambers a second round an fires again. We have been moving the targets around the property and going for walks with the rifle. He's gone from averaging between 45 to 60 seconds to get the first shot off and 15 to 20 seconds on the second shot to between 20 and 30 seconds on the first shot and 10 to 15 seconds on the second shot.

My son and I regularly have this conversation. Him "I really would like to do this or that." Me "How do you get better at something." Him "Practice." His tone of voice on the "Practice" is because he has heard that about a thousand times from me so far in his life.

 

[Pucky Freak]

As a young hunter I got chastised somewhat by the veteran hunters in my group for not taking some shots at deer and grouse. Had they been where I was they could have taken a clean shot because of their experience and skill. The reason I didn’t take those shots was surprise, lack of preparation, fumbling, second-guessing, hesitation, and/or lack of resolve.

Skills I have developed over time and practice include muscle memory, confidence, and execution. I also anticipate where I might see animals, and already have a plan for making a play on them when they show up. This last one is a useful skill I think can be intentionally taught to new hunters. When I’m upland hunting I already know which shots I will pass up due to safety, but the safe angles I am on go mode and can take quickly.

Last fall I had a buck angling towards me eye level at close range. I resolved to move only when his eye was obscured and make my shot count at the first available window. I had my sequence all planned out. It took a while, but eventually he stopped and looked over his opposite shoulder for several seconds. I then had my mittens off, and bow drawn, and released the arrow and short time later for a lethal hit. As a younger hunter I would not have been able to put all the pieces together to make it happen.