I got very lucky and got a deer with my first overnight trip with my centerfire. On DoC land. Saw about 4, shot one.
I am still a complete novice and can't claim to have learned much at all. I can say though that I spent a lot of time looking at maps and google earth to find what I thought might be likely spots.
In subsequent unsuccessful trips i've learned to stay away from hunting areas that also have popular hiking tracks. Or even tracks that aren't that popular. So basically anywhere easily accessible or that's well maintained = bad.
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