Learning on the Job - Adult Onset Hunter episode 2

[thatsjet]

Okay, it's not really a podcast or anything but I thought some might find my process of learning to be interesting or humorous so I'm sharing what I learned during my day of scouting today despite the fact it makes me feel like an idiot.

Went scouting today... some things I learned:

• Sync all of your OnX waypoints before you go and create offline maps before you leave the house. You won't have cell service when you get there and without navigation you're hosed.
• Burns are a great place to look for animals but some burns are F'ING HUGE! Remember what Randy said in the e-scouting series about EDGES!?!?!?! Try to find your way to the EDGE of a burn... yes 3 year old burns can have good food in them but deer can only eat so much. There's no incentive for them to run out to the middle of a burn... they'll eat on the edges and retreat to bed down and find a drink. Look where the three come together. (DERP!)
• Similar to the OnX thing... download Google maps for offline use for the area you're going BEFORE you leave the house. Trying to navigate from one point to the other is a bummer without it. No way about it. OnX Offroad is good for seeing where you're at (so long as you thought ahead of time to create offline maps, which I didn't), but it's not point to point navigation. You'll have to be more creative if OnX Offroad is your only navigation tool.
• Seriously @onX Hunt, why two apps? Why can't I have one map with both hunting and offroad waypoints? (sorry.. SQUIRREL!)
• A stick is just as good for digging a cat hole as that fancy nylon shovel that weighs less than an ounce that you paid way too much for on Amazon.
• Always keep a full roll of TP in the truck. Keep several rolls in the truck if you've recently had 5 alarm chili.
• There are creepy people in the woods. Always carry a sidearm.
• Hunting is hard. There's a reason people get frustrated and quit. I'm putting in hours now and realizing there's no way I could expect to be successful if I just e-scouted a little before the season and show up on opening day hoping to shoot a 6 pointer from the truck off a small service road. I'm covering tons of ground, getting lost, frustrated, and learning a metric ton all at the same time.

So, as an adult onset hunter, if you want my advice on how to be successful at hunting (which, to be fair is completely without any value at this point since I've yet to be successful):

• Spend time in the woods where you're going to hunt
• Get familiar with the roads into, inside, and out of the area you plan to hunt
• Always get a McDonald's breakfast sammich on the way in, with two hash browns of course because c'mon... those things are awesome
• Keep notes, take pictures and video to share with others
• Post on Hunt Talk so you can be embarrassed a little and humbled, but also so you can learn from everyone else
• Don't set the bar too high for yourself. You're out in the woods enjoying God's great creation and it's amazing. Every. Damn. Time.

Peace,
Jet

 

[nontyp]

I think you’ve got this thing figured out!

 

[Hammsolo]

Okay, it's not really a podcast or anything but I thought some might find my process of learning to be interesting or humorous so I'm sharing what I learned during my day of scouting today despite the fact it makes me feel like an idiot.

Went scouting today... some things I learned:

• Sync all of your OnX waypoints before you go and create offline maps before you leave the house. You won't have cell service when you get there and without navigation you're hosed.
• Burns are a great place to look for animals but some burns are F'ING HUGE! Remember what Randy said in the e-scouting series about EDGES!?!?!?! Try to find your way to the EDGE of a burn... yes 3 year old burns can have good food in them but deer can only eat so much. There's no incentive for them to run out to the middle of a burn... they'll eat on the edges and retreat to bed down and find a drink. Look where the three come together. (DERP!)
• Similar to the OnX thing... download Google maps for offline use for the area you're going BEFORE you leave the house. Trying to navigate from one point to the other is a bummer without it. No way about it. OnX Offroad is good for seeing where you're at (so long as you thought ahead of time to create offline maps, which I didn't), but it's not point to point navigation. You'll have to be more creative if OnX Offroad is your only navigation tool.
• Seriously, why two apps? Why can't I have one map with both hunting and offroad waypoints? (sorry.. SQUIRREL!)
• A stick is just as good for digging a cat hole as that fancy nylon shovel that weighs less than an ounce that you paid way too much for on Amazon.
• Always keep a full roll of TP in the truck. Keep several rolls in the truck if you've recently had 5 alarm chili.
• There are creepy people in the woods. Always carry a sidearm.
• Hunting is hard. There's a reason people get frustrated and quit. I'm putting in hours now and realizing there's no way I could expect to be successful if I just e-scouted a little before the season and show up on opening day hoping to shoot a 6 pointer from the truck off a small service road. I'm covering tons of ground, getting lost, frustrated, and learning a metric ton all at the same time.

So, as an adult onset hunter, if you want my advice on how to be successful at hunting (which, to be fair is completely without any value at this point since I've yet to be successful):

• Spend time in the woods where you're going to hunt
• Get familiar with the roads into, inside, and out of the area you plan to hunt
• Always get a McDonald's breakfast sammich on the way in, with two hash browns of course because c'mon... those things are awesome
• Keep notes, take pictures and video to share with others
• Post on Hunt Talk so you can be embarrassed a little and humbled, but also so you can learn from everyone else
• Don't set the bar too high for yourself. You're out in the woods enjoying God's great creation and it's amazing. Every. Damn. Time.

Peace,
Jet

Sounds like a metric shiz ton! Good thing it’s a a learning curve that is steep as hell at first, but then smooths out. The best part is you’ll always keep learning! 30 years deep and still learning.

 

[thatsjet]

Almost forgot: Deet is MAGIC! Spray that shit on like a teenager applying cologne before their first date. Skeeters are assholes and deserve to be at the very least confused.

 

[Dsnow9]

Way to get out there and do it! Your in the top few percent now!

 

[Dsnow9]

Okay, it's not really a podcast or anything but I thought some might find my process of learning to be interesting or humorous so I'm sharing what I learned during my day of scouting today despite the fact it makes me feel like an idiot.

Went scouting today... some things I learned:

• Sync all of your OnX waypoints before you go and create offline maps before you leave the house. You won't have cell service when you get there and without navigation you're hosed.
• Burns are a great place to look for animals but some burns are F'ING HUGE! Remember what Randy said in the e-scouting series about EDGES!?!?!?! Try to find your way to the EDGE of a burn... yes 3 year old burns can have good food in them but deer can only eat so much. There's no incentive for them to run out to the middle of a burn... they'll eat on the edges and retreat to bed down and find a drink. Look where the three come together. (DERP!)
• Similar to the OnX thing... download Google maps for offline use for the area you're going BEFORE you leave the house. Trying to navigate from one point to the other is a bummer without it. No way about it. OnX Offroad is good for seeing where you're at (so long as you thought ahead of time to create offline maps, which I didn't), but it's not point to point navigation. You'll have to be more creative if OnX Offroad is your only navigation tool.
• Seriously, why two apps? Why can't I have one map with both hunting and offroad waypoints? (sorry.. SQUIRREL!)
• A stick is just as good for digging a cat hole as that fancy nylon shovel that weighs less than an ounce that you paid way too much for on Amazon.
• Always keep a full roll of TP in the truck. Keep several rolls in the truck if you've recently had 5 alarm chili.
• There are creepy people in the woods. Always carry a sidearm.
• Hunting is hard. There's a reason people get frustrated and quit. I'm putting in hours now and realizing there's no way I could expect to be successful if I just e-scouted a little before the season and show up on opening day hoping to shoot a 6 pointer from the truck off a small service road. I'm covering tons of ground, getting lost, frustrated, and learning a metric ton all at the same time.

So, as an adult onset hunter, if you want my advice on how to be successful at hunting (which, to be fair is completely without any value at this point since I've yet to be successful):

• Spend time in the woods where you're going to hunt
• Get familiar with the roads into, inside, and out of the area you plan to hunt
• Always get a McDonald's breakfast sammich on the way in, with two hash browns of course because c'mon... those things are awesome
• Keep notes, take pictures and video to share with others
• Post on Hunt Talk so you can be embarrassed a little and humbled, but also so you can learn from everyone else
• Don't set the bar too high for yourself. You're out in the woods enjoying God's great creation and it's amazing. Every. Damn. Time.

Peace,
Jet

When it comes to the TP someone turned me onto the travel packs of disposable wipes. I laughed it off for two season till I tried it. Tp for the majority and one wipe to finish things of is a complete game changer. They also double as a quick backcountry shower after a few days. Just don’t use the same wipe for both instances...

 

[Pucky Freak]

Most people learn that stuff on a (failed) hunt and you did yourself a favor and are getting ahead through a scouting trip. Have fun and good luck!

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

I had friends give me the heads up on offline maps , to down load at home , plus they pointed out , if you do have cell service in the field and try to do it there you’ll burn up most or all your data downloading them !

 

[thatsjet]

I had friends give me the heads up on offline maps

What a wonderful advantage that is, to have hunting friends

 

[Dunning Kruger]

Maybe you wouldnt need 5 rolls of tp if you skipped the mcdonalds sausage egg and cheese mcshitquick

 

[bts09]

What a wonderful advantage that is, to have hunting friends

What are you talking about? You have like 30,000 close friends on this forum!

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Maybe you wouldnt need 5 rolls of tp if you skipped the mcdonalds sausage egg and cheese mcshitquick

Haha, but they are so tasty

 

[Hunting Wife]

Sounds like you are doing great! Might not feel like it, but I think a lot of adult onset hunters have a skewed perspective of success. There are a whole series of skills you need to master to consistently find and harvest game, and it’s hard to master them all at once. Double the learning curve if you didn’t grow up with really any kind of outdoor experiences to draw from. Getting out in the off-season, learning your tools and equipment, each skill mastered is success.

Just be careful with the DEET. It will melt certain plastics, does very scary things if you get it in your eyes, and is carcinogenic. Don’t bathe in it, man! I have decent luck with picaridin too.

 

[Hammsolo]

Maybe you wouldnt need 5 rolls of tp if you skipped the mcdonalds sausage egg and cheese mcshitquick

Hunt Hack? Travel size baby wipes!

 

[MarvB]

Sounds like you are doing great! Might not feel like it, but I think a lot of adult onset hunters have a skewed perspective of success. There are a whole series of skills you need to master to consistently find and harvest game, and it’s hard to master them all at once. Double the learning curve if you didn’t grow up with really any kind of outdoor experiences to draw from. Getting out in the off-season, learning your tools and equipment, each skill mastered is success.

Just be careful with the DEET. It will melt certain plastics, does very scary things if you get it in your eyes, and is carcinogenic. Don’t bathe in it, man! I have decent luck with picaridin too.

LOL...IT-SURE-WILL!

Flash back about forty +/- years to a young intern working for the USFS in Gold Beach, OR. Said intern did not put the top fully on the issued bottle of (Army surplus) DEET before he bailed out of the Dodge crew cab into the clear cut with his compadres to do inspection on some vexar installation. We were down in the unit for the entire day. Came back to the rig which still had the windows up from the trip in that morning. Opened the door and it must have been (mid-summer) 130* inside the cab. I went to scoot into the middle of the front seat (there were six on us on the team so we had a full rig) and promptly put my entire hand through the vinyl seat that had been eaten away over the course of the day by the spilled bottle of repellent! FWIW..yes did let me come back the next season and I worked that RD for the following couple of years. And yes my nickname at the time became Bug Juice.

 

[Hammsolo]

...DEET is harmless... These hippies are creating a conspiracy against us my neighbor would say....

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

I drink deet for breakfast on early season scouting trips and skip McDonalds.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

But for real I enjoy these posts @thatsjet keep em coming and keep up the hard work.

 

[JLS]

I drink deet for breakfast on early season scouting trips and skip McDonalds.

In all reality the McDonald’s is probably much better for you.

 

[gouch]

Sounds like the main thing your doing right is getting out and doing. 90% of what you need is experience. Those of us that aren't onset adult hunters got a lot of that experience without even trying. We were just tagging along with Dad and other relatives and friends, having a good old time in the woods. Didn't even know we were learning stuff. The cruel reality is though, most of what you learn is going to be a result of your failures. So have fun with the frustration and it should all come together eventually.

Oh Yah, +1 on those baby wipes.