How To Mentally Prepare For The Late Season

Deer hunting is a mental practice. It's all about staying in the right frame of mind. When I don't keep my focus, I lose sight of the goal. That's when things go afoul.

The rut is over in the North. Thus, the late season will soon begin, and a flood of tactic-related articles will come with it. While I am offering advice here, I'm not offering information on how to kill a deer. I'm offering information on how to prepare yourself to be able to kill one.

I know from personal experience that it's tough on a hunter who hasn't killed a deer by the beginning of the late season. An increasing number of days in the stand can wear on a hunter. It isn't easy to pull yourself out of bed for the 40th morning hunt of the season and stay motivated about it. It takes serious heart, drive, and a little want-to in order to stay at it. But you can make it happen.

The first step in mentally preparing yourself is to relax. Take a breath. It's deer hunting. It shouldn't be stressful, even when you don't kill one. It's not about the kill, anyway. It's about the hunt. That's why we do it.

Next, take a day off from hunting when you'd normally go to the woods...and do something else. You don't have to be out there every waking moment. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Get your mind off of hunting while enjoying something else. Then, when you're ready, get after it again.

One of the biggest problems is overthinking things. Don't. Formulate a game plan that both your mind and gut agree on, and go with it. Don't second guess yourself. That's when problems arise.

Last, have fun and stay loose. You hear people talk about positive and negative energy all the time. I doubt there's anything to it. But it is funny how I never see deer when I'm uptight and stressed out. I always have my best hunts when I'm loose and relaxed. I'm not going to try to explain that. It just is what it is.