1. Read the regulation book and follow the requirements.
It wastes a lot of effort trying to find a loop hole or advantage and it’s just plain tacky. This time and effort is better spent learning your prey. Just follow the regulations and become proficient with your hunting or fishing equipment. Then take advantage of those abilities. Confidence in your skill and knowledge will lead to success.
2. Keep your bait in the water.
Keep your bait in the water seems just so simple. This is some of the best advice I’ve ever heard and it came from a professional fishing guide a long time ago. It didn’t cost a dime. He was ask what out of all the things at this boat and fishing show, what is the one thing I could buy to make my fishing better and catch more fish. No one can afford to buy every thing advertised to catch fish today. If you could only buy one thing here what would it be? He replied, “You can’t buy it here.” You can catch fish on any of this stuff at one time or another if you use it long enough. The one thing you can do to catch more fish is keep your bait in the water. When you are tying on a bait you don’t have a chance in the world to catch a fish up there in the boat. When you stay home and watch fishing on the Outdoor channel there is no way you are going to catch a fish. When you are running your boat across the lake back and forth from spot to spot there is no way you can be catching fish.
If you want to catch more fish, spend more time on the water and keep your bait in the water. Nothing you can buy can take the place of this simple concept.
Same can be said for hunting. If you want to kill more game, spend more time hunting and spend your hunting time HUNTING, not driving, hiking, talking, or target shooting.
3. Do it close to home or work.
Most people spend the majority of their lives either at work or at home. If you want to keep your “bait in the water” the maximum amount of time and therefore give yourself the maximum amount of opportunity to catch fish or kill deer you will do it best as close as possible to work, home, or some where in between. You give your self the maximum opportunity to see game and note their habits and the maximum opportunity to pursue them when the opportunity arises. Close to home or work you will know the people better and have the best chance of gathering information from the people who know the area best and have the best chance of getting permission to hunt the most ground or fish the most water. It cost a lot less to get there so you don’t have to work more hours just to afford the trip or work extra to afford the time off to waste on time just traveling back and forth. It maximizes your use of time away from family so you don’t have to short change your family obligations yet you get more hunting or fishing in for the time you can commit to it.
4. Imitate success don’t fight it.
Many times a person gets a specific image of fishing or hunting in their head and then they allow that image to dictate their tactics. Don’t let your self become hooked on hunting the image you have of fishing or hunting instead of actually pursuing your prey in a manner with the most chance for success. If being there is the success you are looking for fine. If catching fish is your goal and you are not catching fish you need to imitate some thing or some one who is catching fish. When you find something successful then use it. Imitate it. Keep it in the water.
If you are hunting deer from a tree stand and you don’t see deer in range for days. Move. Move to where you are seeing deer but you have to be in the field hunting to see deer. If you are moving, keep hunting. Hunt while you move. It seems obvious but way too many people are carrying way too many gimmicks, some to the point they no longer have their weapon in their hand ready to use when they are given an unexpected opportunity. It has been said a thousand times but there is no where it fits better than right here. Luck is just preparation meeting opportunity.
You have to be carrying your weapon in a manner to allow you to shoot when you see deer. If you have both hands full of tree stand, a bag full of rattling antlers and scents and your gun strapped over your back, sorry but you just don’t have your “hunting” bait in the water. You have too many distractions. When ever you are on land that could hold game and you have your weapon in your hands ready to use it, you have your hunting “bait” in the water. Any thing else and you just are not hunting. You are hauling equipment.
5. Use live bait.
I ask a fishing guide one time why he used live bait instead of these artificial baits all the big fisherman in the magazines use and the TV fishermen catch all those big fish on. Simple he says, people pay me to catch fish and to help them catch fish and catch more fish. If you think people are going to pay you to just take them fishing then you try taking a hundred dollars from a man and spend the day on a boat with him when nobody catches a fish all day. You are going to learn pretty quick that fishing is better than working but people want to catch fish all day a lot more than they just want to fish all day.
All those spinners, rubber and plastic baits, crank baits and spoons, they all try to do one thing. Imitate something alive that fish want to eat. Now a good fisherman who knows what he is doing can make those artificial baits do a pretty good imitation of some thing alive a lot of the time.
Live bait looks like live bait all of the time.
Same thing applies to deer hunting. There is nothing in the woods a randy buck wants to see more than the doe he’s been following. If you want to kill bucks, no spray, scents or call is going to smell, sound or look more like that doe than the real thing. If you want to see and shoot bucks don’t shoot your live bait as soon as it shows up. Seems simple enough but it just amazes me how many times I hear a guy complain he never sees any big bucks so he had to shoot a doe for the freezer. You just put your live bait for the area you are hunting in the freezer buddy. If you are hunting does you did well if not you just took your “bait out of the water”.
Richard Becraft
www.gosalmonfishing.com
www.rifles-n-rods.com
It wastes a lot of effort trying to find a loop hole or advantage and it’s just plain tacky. This time and effort is better spent learning your prey. Just follow the regulations and become proficient with your hunting or fishing equipment. Then take advantage of those abilities. Confidence in your skill and knowledge will lead to success.
2. Keep your bait in the water.
Keep your bait in the water seems just so simple. This is some of the best advice I’ve ever heard and it came from a professional fishing guide a long time ago. It didn’t cost a dime. He was ask what out of all the things at this boat and fishing show, what is the one thing I could buy to make my fishing better and catch more fish. No one can afford to buy every thing advertised to catch fish today. If you could only buy one thing here what would it be? He replied, “You can’t buy it here.” You can catch fish on any of this stuff at one time or another if you use it long enough. The one thing you can do to catch more fish is keep your bait in the water. When you are tying on a bait you don’t have a chance in the world to catch a fish up there in the boat. When you stay home and watch fishing on the Outdoor channel there is no way you are going to catch a fish. When you are running your boat across the lake back and forth from spot to spot there is no way you can be catching fish.
If you want to catch more fish, spend more time on the water and keep your bait in the water. Nothing you can buy can take the place of this simple concept.
Same can be said for hunting. If you want to kill more game, spend more time hunting and spend your hunting time HUNTING, not driving, hiking, talking, or target shooting.
3. Do it close to home or work.
Most people spend the majority of their lives either at work or at home. If you want to keep your “bait in the water” the maximum amount of time and therefore give yourself the maximum amount of opportunity to catch fish or kill deer you will do it best as close as possible to work, home, or some where in between. You give your self the maximum opportunity to see game and note their habits and the maximum opportunity to pursue them when the opportunity arises. Close to home or work you will know the people better and have the best chance of gathering information from the people who know the area best and have the best chance of getting permission to hunt the most ground or fish the most water. It cost a lot less to get there so you don’t have to work more hours just to afford the trip or work extra to afford the time off to waste on time just traveling back and forth. It maximizes your use of time away from family so you don’t have to short change your family obligations yet you get more hunting or fishing in for the time you can commit to it.
4. Imitate success don’t fight it.
Many times a person gets a specific image of fishing or hunting in their head and then they allow that image to dictate their tactics. Don’t let your self become hooked on hunting the image you have of fishing or hunting instead of actually pursuing your prey in a manner with the most chance for success. If being there is the success you are looking for fine. If catching fish is your goal and you are not catching fish you need to imitate some thing or some one who is catching fish. When you find something successful then use it. Imitate it. Keep it in the water.
If you are hunting deer from a tree stand and you don’t see deer in range for days. Move. Move to where you are seeing deer but you have to be in the field hunting to see deer. If you are moving, keep hunting. Hunt while you move. It seems obvious but way too many people are carrying way too many gimmicks, some to the point they no longer have their weapon in their hand ready to use when they are given an unexpected opportunity. It has been said a thousand times but there is no where it fits better than right here. Luck is just preparation meeting opportunity.
You have to be carrying your weapon in a manner to allow you to shoot when you see deer. If you have both hands full of tree stand, a bag full of rattling antlers and scents and your gun strapped over your back, sorry but you just don’t have your “hunting” bait in the water. You have too many distractions. When ever you are on land that could hold game and you have your weapon in your hands ready to use it, you have your hunting “bait” in the water. Any thing else and you just are not hunting. You are hauling equipment.
5. Use live bait.
I ask a fishing guide one time why he used live bait instead of these artificial baits all the big fisherman in the magazines use and the TV fishermen catch all those big fish on. Simple he says, people pay me to catch fish and to help them catch fish and catch more fish. If you think people are going to pay you to just take them fishing then you try taking a hundred dollars from a man and spend the day on a boat with him when nobody catches a fish all day. You are going to learn pretty quick that fishing is better than working but people want to catch fish all day a lot more than they just want to fish all day.
All those spinners, rubber and plastic baits, crank baits and spoons, they all try to do one thing. Imitate something alive that fish want to eat. Now a good fisherman who knows what he is doing can make those artificial baits do a pretty good imitation of some thing alive a lot of the time.
Live bait looks like live bait all of the time.
Same thing applies to deer hunting. There is nothing in the woods a randy buck wants to see more than the doe he’s been following. If you want to kill bucks, no spray, scents or call is going to smell, sound or look more like that doe than the real thing. If you want to see and shoot bucks don’t shoot your live bait as soon as it shows up. Seems simple enough but it just amazes me how many times I hear a guy complain he never sees any big bucks so he had to shoot a doe for the freezer. You just put your live bait for the area you are hunting in the freezer buddy. If you are hunting does you did well if not you just took your “bait out of the water”.
Richard Becraft
www.gosalmonfishing.com
www.rifles-n-rods.com