Thread: How can I shoot more deer, and what's your hit rate?

@Matt2308 and I had a spring and summer a couple of years ago that produced 15 animals from 16 days/trips. These were all on public land, short distance from road ends/carparks and all day trips. Have eased back a bit now, more interested in a good day out with mates than taking an animal every time.

A few lessons learnt over the past 10 years:
- travel fast when no sign
- slow down and any sign
- real slow in super fresh sign
- mix the terrian up; good bush, open tops and grassy bush edges and gullies
- when looking in a new area, don't be focused on getting to a certain point on the map. look up a side gully, check out the spur that leads to the tops etc
- Something I've found is a lot of hunters think they need to walk all day and as far from the road as possible, oftern walking straight past great pockets that hold deer
- Learn as much as possible on deer habits as possible(mentioned above). know the likely spots, feeding patterns(about every 6 hours regardless of daylight and heat)
- I love maps and aerial photographs, but I'm a engineering surveyor by trade, know the area before you put your boots on http://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.n...r-spots-12632/ is a good place to start learning what to look for
- More time in the hills will result in seeing deer
- Glass, glass and glass some more. Binos (and of course a Alaska Guide Creations bino pack) to checkout clearings and bush edges before you cross then, may pay off
- Don't shoot them all. watch them, this is the best way to learn they habits
- If we collect an animal from an area, we tend to NOT hunt it again for a while

Given you are in Auckland, this all makes it a little harder as you cannot just take a half day and spend the afternoon/evening checking out a few new spots.

The best advise is to get out there and focus on the areas that have sign.