Tell your guide what you are seeing and when so that he can work to provide you with the best opportunity. A guy in my camp once hunted the same ground blind for four days straight with zero deer sightings. He refused to move as the guide advised. Needless to say, he went home very empty-handed. Listen to your guide! He is in control of your taxidermy bill!

Oscar, an extremely experienced Indian guide in Saskatchewan once gave this wise and simple advice, "Go with the flow." This is great advice to heed.

11) Hunt long and hard.
My dad, while on stand, figured up how much the hunt was costing him per hour. This will make you sit in your stand or blind a little longer. If possible, sit all day. If you are not an all-day hunter, put in as much time as you can, even if the weather is not ideal. You can't kill a buck while sitting in the lodge drinking soda and watching the rain fall.

I look at it like this: That buck is out there somewhere, rain or shine. And you will be a lot closer to him in a tree stand than you will be in the poolroom at the lodge. Yes, the odds may be against you under certain weather conditions, but your monster buck can walk in front of you at any time!

12) Be alert.
Keep focused and pay attention at all times. Most big bucks only give you seconds to make the harvest. You must react quickly. I harvested a 180-class deer in three seconds on the last day of my hunt. He was trotting in thick cover over my opposite shoulder.

I yelled, he stopped, I shot and my hunt was over.

Had I been not hunting with all my senses, this buck could have very easily escaped and been nothing but a long lost picture in my mind. I use a safari-style sling that allows my gun to be with me at all times, hung around my neck like a guitar. I don't ever have to reach for my gun -- it is always ready.

13) Don't get discouraged.
Don't allow limited deer sightings and small bucks to drag you down. Both you and your outfitter have done your homework, so sit back and enjoy it. Think positive! One hunt I was on had much in the way of discouraging weather and other negative factors like trespassing issues, so several hunters left camp on the third and fourth days. The biggest bucks were harvested on the fourth and fifth days of a five-day hunt!

One hunter was so frustrated that he elected to blow his tag on a doe on the third day. There is nothing wrong with shooting a doe, but his deer tag was for one deer only and he ended his hunt without getting an opportunity to tag the type of deer he was paying for.

14) Know your goals.
Educate yourself and be aware of the size buck that your outfitter is trying to provide you with. Many outfitters today have minimums and penalties for substandard bucks. One hunter saw three-racked bucks the first two hours on the first day of his hunt. He shot the third buck, but the rack was below the required minimum. So it cost him not only in cash, but also in the rest of the hunt.

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