Larry’s Best Hunting Advice Ever

I was sitting at deer camp with a friend from South Carolina, as we watched rain streaming off the roof. “You might as well go take a nap,” he said. “No self-respecting deer is going to be out in this downpour. Besides, no one in this camp has ever shot a deer in the rain.”

I wonder if anyone from this camp has ever hunted in driving rain, I thought to myself. Moments later, I donned rain gear, grabbed my rifle, and sloshed toward a stand of dense pines on the back side of the property. It was raining so hard I could scarcely see thirty steps ahead.

Don’t let foul weather or other excuses keep you out of the deer woods. Go hunt. Image by Bill Konway

Stepping under the canopy of tall pines, I immediately spotted a young 6-point buck. Behind him fed three does and two fawns. I sat down. Five minutes later I spotted a nice 8-point. He stood in the pouring rain, then joined me under the pines. He was nice, but not the mature buck I was after. The rain continued falling at a steady pace, and I continued seeing deer. An hour later, it was still coming down when a really nice young 8-point buck walked out of the thicket and headed my way.

On another hunt in western Kentucky, where the Tradewater flows into the Ohio, I spotted a huge non-typical scoring well over 200 B&C in an incessant downpour. As I raised my rifle, I heard the cameraman whisper, “Don’t shoot! The camera is turned off.” I hesitated, and by the time the cameraman said “OK” the monstrous buck was gone.

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Later on that same hunt, I was still-hunting during mid-day while my fellow hunters were back in camp eating lunch and complaining it was too hot to go out. I spotted a massive antlered 12-point buck. He fed on green briar I had fertilized six-months earlier, and one round from my .280 Remington single-shot put him down in his tracks.

Back home, at a restaurant near my western Texas lease, I was approached by a camoed hunter I had met earlier in the fall. “Bet you didn’t see a single deer today,” he said. “The wind was blowing way too hard for us to even go out. All deer activity charts said today was the worst possible hunting day this week, so we went shopping in San Angelo.”

I wished the hunter well as he left and didn’t tell him I’d seen 37 deer that day — and had taken an impressive, ancient 8-point. I am a firm believer in the deer activity charts. But, there are always exceptions. And sometimes we can’t choose the days we get to hunt.

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As a wildlife biologist, lifelong hunter and someone who has long been in the public eye, I am often asked “What’s the best hunting advice you can give anyone, new to hunting or an ‘ol’ ranger’ with many years of experience?”

My advice is always the same, pure and simple. Go hunt. Do not look for excuses not to hunt, such as: It’s raining, the wind is blowing, it’s too hot, or it’s too cold. Whitetail deer are individuals just like you and me. While most deer might not want to move in pouring rain, that one mature buck you have long dreamed of taking just might like getting wet.

The same is true when it is hot during a time when temperatures should be near freezing. That deer you’re hoping to take just might like hot weather. The opposite can be true when it turns extremely cold in areas where the temperatures should be warm. Most deer in the area may be bedded staying warm, but that one big buck just might really like cold weather.

After many years of hunting the best possible advice anyone could possibly give, me included, is to go hunt whenever you can. Amazingly, the more you hunt, the more successful you will be.