My Beginner Bow Hunting Mistakes — and the Day I Became a Hunter

When I first started bow hunting, I thought becoming a hunter meant killing a deer.

I was wrong.

Back then, I made every beginner mistake you can imagine. I rushed things. I hunted with more excitement than awareness. I cared more about the outcome than the process. And like most new hunters, I believed effort alone would eventually be rewarded.

It took one specific day in the woods to change that — the day I stopped trying to kill a deer and started understanding what hunting actually was.

This episode of the Mountain Deer Podcast is about that transition.

I Wanted Success Before I Earned Understanding

Early on, I hunted hard — but not smart.

I hunted where I wanted deer to be instead of where they actually were. I sat longer instead of moving better. I ignored wind more times than I care to admit. And I treated every sit like a lottery ticket rather than a decision that needed to make sense.

I thought mistakes were just part of the learning curve.

What I didn’t realize was that repeating mistakes without reflection wasn’t learning at all.

I Was Focused on the Shot, Not the Setup

Looking back, most of my early failures weren’t about shooting ability.

They were about everything that came before the shot.

I rushed setups. I settled for “good enough” trees. I ignored access routes. I didn’t fully understand how my presence affected deer movement.

I wanted the moment — without respecting the process that creates it.

That disconnect followed me into the woods over and over again.

The Day Something Changed

There was one hunt where nothing dramatic happened — and yet everything changed.

I didn’t kill a deer that day.

But I paid attention.

I noticed how deer used the wind.
I saw how subtle movement gave them information.
I realized how often I had been hunting hope instead of hunting truth.

For the first time, I wasn’t forcing decisions. I wasn’t chasing outcomes. I was observing.

And somewhere in that quiet shift, I crossed a line.

Becoming a Hunter Isn’t About Killing

That day taught me something simple and uncomfortable:

Killing a deer doesn’t make you a hunter.
Understanding deer does.

From that point on, I stopped measuring success only by tags filled. I started measuring it by decisions made honestly, setups chosen deliberately, and lessons learned whether I released an arrow or not.

That shift didn’t make hunting easier — it made it real.

Mistakes Are Only Useful If You Face Them

I still make mistakes.

The difference now is that I own them.

Beginner mistakes aren’t shameful. Ignoring them is.

Every missed opportunity, blown setup, or wrong decision contains information — but only if you’re willing to sit with it instead of brushing it off.

Growth doesn’t come from confidence.
It comes from clarity.

The Moment You Stop Chasing, You Start Learning

The day I became a hunter wasn’t the day I killed my first deer.

It was the day I stopped chasing outcomes and started respecting the woods for what they are — a system that doesn’t reward ego, impatience, or shortcuts.

Hunting stopped being about proving something.

It became about understanding something.

Final Thoughts

If you’re new to bow hunting and making mistakes, that’s not a problem.

The problem is thinking mistakes mean you’re failing.

They’re not failures — they’re invitations.

The question is whether you’ll slow down enough to learn from them.

Because the day you stop hunting for results and start hunting for understanding is the day you stop being a beginner — no matter how many deer you’ve killed.

Listen to the Full Episode

To hear the full story, context, and reflections in my own voice, listen to the complete episode here:

👉 Episode 62: My Beginner Bow Hunting Mistakes and the Day I Became a Hunter