Why do hunts fail?

[BrianID]

I think you already have some good ideas but I'll add some ideas of my own.
Get out and hike this summer and learn the areas you plan to hunt. This will provide you with the benefit of exercise, learning your physical limits and help you learn the country you plan to hunt. Hiking off trail is much more difficult and slower than hiking on a trail. While hunting, I spend very little time hiking on trails and it is good to learn how to navigate the country you plan to hunt without the aid of a trail.
As a new hunter, don't underestimate the ability of animals to smell you. Deer and elk will have no problem smelling you even if they are 300 yards downwind. Often you won't even know these animals were there because they will disappear before you ever see them. You can fool an animals eyes and ears but you will never fool their nose. Scent lock suits and sprays might help a little but I believe a deer that is 100 yards downwind of you is going to smell you every time, even if you do everything you can to minimize your scent.
Don't underestimate the eyesight of the animals you are hunting. Pronghorn have amazing eyesight. I've had deer and elk spot me multiple times from 500+ yards away. I've had pronghorn that were a mile away run from me when I've stopped my truck to look at them. If you skyline yourself or make quick movements, animals are more likely to spot you. Camo can help some but staying off the top of ridge lines and your movement is much more important than camo.
Learn to use binoculars. It isn't uncommon for me to sit in one spot for more than 2 hours or more just looking through my binoculars. Using binoculars for close range spotting while still hunting through trees can also be effective. While scouting in the summer, just glassing animals for the first 2-3 hours of the morning can teach you a lot about animal movements and teach you to trust your binoculars even when you have been looking through them for an hour strait without seeing a single deer or elk.
Being mentally prepared to hunt day after day is challenging. If you can get a friend to hunt with, it can really help with the mental part of the game. I find after 3 days by myself hunting, it is more mentally challenging than when I have a friend to share camp with.

[CubsFan]

I was in the exact same boat as you 2 years ago. A relatively new CO resident who had never even fired a gun. I too wanted to pour a lot of time and effort into learning to hunt with the end goal of successfully harvesting something. I agree with the others who have said a successful harvest shouldn't be the only measure of success but I also think that mentality is easier to have when you have past harvests and a level of confidence that what you are doing makes sense. I was fine with being unsuccessful if I felt like it wasn't because I was completely clueless.

My first year hunting I got a doe pronghorn tag in WY, a buck deer tag in CO, and the OTC bull tag in CO. The only one I successfully harvested was the doe pronghorn in WY.

My second year hunting I got the same lineup of tags and was able to harvest both a doe pronghorn and a mule deer buck.

Both years my goal was to thoroughly research, plan, scout, and hunt the entire season for elk. Both years I fell short of that goal and I THINK that was the greatest contributor to my not being successful at elk. I have yet to see a bull elk in the field while hunting as a matter of fact.

One piece of advice I would give you as a fellow newbie is to make sure you really understand what you need to do after the kill. Fielding dressing, evidence of sex, bagging, cooling etc. That is why the WY pronghorn tag is so good it has a high success rate and will give you the opportunity to practice these things on a much smaller scale. I must of watched 100 youtube videos on field dressing and I still had a tough time with it the first go around. I can't even imagine if the first animal I got down had been a bull elk by myself.

[88man]

Sometimes people just overthink and under prepare.

[O C Hunter]

Don't trust the harvest data too much. Colorado doesn't even have mandatory harvest reporting. The numbers are junk in/junk out statistical estimates. As for the chances of success, don't forget about the moon, weather, rut, food supply, water supply, hunter pressure, game population, habitat condition, male/female ratio, percentage of adult males and the effect on the rut, luck, etc.

[elkhnter]

Hunts don’t fail, hunter do. If you don’t understand, then you’re doomed to fail.

[naturebob]

Think like a predator and be sneaky and You will eat. too many people worry about all the high tech equipment, but yet really don't know how to hunt. Experience will eventually help some.Be persistant and patient......Good Luck all............BOB!

[ErictheRed]

My elk hunt failed cause I took Tony, my best buddy hunting with me. He needs to stick with whitetails out east.

[Nunyacreek]

I used to work for an outfitter who summed it up best. Guides and clients would be dropped off on an airstrip and by the afternoon next day they'd be on the sat phone describing a barren landscape, poor weather, no animals, and asking to be moved to a new spot. He had a rule that no one got moved for the first three days. When guides and hunters would overthink it and envision some shangri-la at the end of the next plane ride he'd succinctly say "I don't have anywhere to move you. Get up tomorrow and go hunting!"
You know, when we did just that we were generally a lot more successful than when we sat in the tent thinking of how much better it was somewhere else. When faced with a lack of ideas find a high point, sit down and glass. Not for ten minutes, but ten hours. Then find another one and do it again. This obviously doesn't work everywhere, but you get the picture. When I read articles about guys who consistently shoot big midwestern deer, or arrow elk, there is one consistent theme, time spent afield. I recently watched Randy's New Mexico hunt with Corey Jacobsen. Case in point. Just keep at it.

[Jon Boy]

These are the biggest reason I've seen hunts fail for other people as well as myself.

Time- Elk hunting is all about finding them and some time that can take a few days.
Pressure- People put too much pressure on themselves to be successful, a lot of that comes from not having enough time to get it done.
Giving up too early- Hard hunts take time and its really hard to keep the right mindset through a tough hunt, this is one I struggle with the most.

As far as hunts being a failure if you're not successful, that's not entirely true. However, I know a handful of people that use that as an excuse to not do what it takes to fill the tag on hand. I can have a great hunt and not be successful, but I will never be satisfied until that tag is filled.

[brnsvllyjohn]

This is on the elk forum and I don't hunt elk often but I deer hunt a lot. You have a list of things that you feel will make a difference on filling a tag or not filling a tag.
1 Lack of time is a huge problem for some. Being able to stay out for more than a weekend can be huge.
2 Never seeing an animal. I think this one is because people don't see animals that are there. If you are hunting an area that holds the type of game you are after you need to learn to spot them. That sounds easy but in reality most hunters look but don't see. Get good glass and practice glassing, both close and far.
I will use a hunt we went on last year as an example. My son and I are glassing at last light trying to plan the next days hunt. I am on the binoculars (10 power Swarovski) and he has the spotting scope set at 20 power. He spots a bedded buck turn his head at 1 mile. 1 buck turned into 3. He put a tag on one of them the next morning. I never saw the original buck turn his head and I am decent with the binoculars. Another hunter was glassing the same area and after the hunt he asked why he never saw the bucks?? Find a good spot and stay there if you think the area holds animals. In order to glass effectively you have to be comfortable and the glass needs to be supported or you will just get tired and put it down. I glass 90% of the time using crossed shooting sticks to support the binos. Tripod for a spotting scope. Binoculars in my opinion are more important for locating game than a spotter but having both is ideal. If you only have one the best binoculars you can afford are important.
Even with good glass learning to see animals is not as easy as it sounds. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to spend 10 minutes trying to show another hunter a game animal I had spotted. Some hunters just look for that broadside animal and they don't all stand broadside at 100 yards.

[Steelhead]

Think like a predator and be sneaky and You will eat. too many people worry about all the high tech equipment, but yet really don't know how to hunt. Experience will eventually help some.Be persistant and patient......Good Luck all............BOB!

What?? I disagree...most hunts fail because folks don't choose the right camo pattern for their $900 sitka clothing "system"....that or their bow doesn't shoot 364.6 fps.

[2rocky]

Hunting wife had some very good points. Unrealistic expectations will make you quit or give up when you are nowhere near done mentally or physically.

On the other hand, sometimes we aren't prepared when the opportunity to succeed presents itself because we have mentally already talked ourselves out of the possibility of success.

My first weekend backpack hunt for blacktail deer in a wilderness I considered it a success to spot a buck and stalk to 80 yards before I ran out of cover and he ran out of patience.

But I had a series of little successes along the way doing this new style of hunting that I was pretty green at.

Plenty of bucks I've busted because I walked over a ridge thinking "Aw there aren't any deer in this country..." because I'd given up already. Same is true for elk.

[tjones]

I have never had a failed hunt.

[onpoint]

I have never had a failed hunt.

I don't buy it. You've had to have whiffed at least once with your .637 Binford 2000, maybe that time your Kestrel's battery ran out.....

[tjones]

I don't buy it. You've had to have whiffed at least once with your .637 Binford 2000, maybe that time your Kestrel's battery ran out.....

Well, ok. Maybe some crappy ones, but never failed. The best ones are when I skip work and don't get anything. Its a 1/2 full thing,,,,,,,,,,,,,

BTW I had to google Kestrel, cool looking gadget.

[Greenhorn]

If failing to you, is not killing an animal, you're setting a extra low bar for success. Hunts that go to the last second of shooting light on the last day of the season are the ones I remember the most.

There's no shortage of epic fail "hunt of a lifetime" stories with a dead animal at the end.

[Dinkshooter]

I'd say if you gank a chip shot you've pretty much failed. This is wisdom from extensive experience in this area.

[twsnow18]

First off, everyone has their own definition of a "successful" hunt. Shame on ANYONE that attempts to push THEIR definition of success on someone else. That's the beauty of hunting, for some it's meat, for some its horns, for some its the adventure. To each their own.

I think that hunts fail for 3 reasons.

1. No question, #1 is lack of scouting (this can be mitigated by scheduling a long hunt).
2. Giving up.
3. Mistake of not clearly defining "success" before you go.

[deer_shooter]

Regardless of the quarry, not filling a tag in my estimation can be attributed mostly to
1. Lack of time in the field before and during the hunt.
2. Lack of preparation both physically and mentally
3. Not being intimately familiar with your gear
4. Poor shooting

I also concur that a successful hunt does not need to include punching a tag. With few exceptions, my most memorable hunts did end up with me pulling the trigger.