The Joys of Planning
If you don’t like planning a fun activity as much as the activity itself, hunting may not be for you.
I was reminded of that this past weekend. Liam and I spent the whole weekend getting ready for spring turkey season and fall deer season. We checked trail cameras, we put out minerals, we practised calling and planned out new food plots. We were also lucky enough to have a long chat with two experts in turkey hunting and deer management (keep an eye out for these interviews in our upcoming podcasts!).
Their consistent message: preparation, preparation and then, when you think you’re ready, more preparation. Number one mistake beginner turkey hunters make? Lack of scouting. Major error that beginner deer hunters make? Waiting until the last minute to set up stands, cameras and shooting lanes. Hunting is one of those activities in which the rewards of preparation are reaped tenfold.
As a beginner I thought that you could simply roll out into the woods and still have a pretty good shot at taking an animal. That was, to say the least, a naive assumption. Its probably one of the reasons I failed in harvesting a Turkey in at least the first three years (I blame bad weather for last year…that counts okay?).
Preparation for hunting should be, and will be, fun. It’s fun going to check out a property or some public land before the season. Its exciting to check trail camera pictures to see what you’ve got on the card. And if you’re getting more advanced and beginning to consider habitat improvement, it is rewarding to see the benefits that will accrue to many different animals aside from those you’re pursuing.
So, seriously, do some planning. If sitting around a map with friends and a couple of pints isn’t fun, then I don’t wanna know what fun is.
