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After hunting the same way year after year, you might find that deer hunting doesn’t have the thrill it used to. When that happens, change things up. Image by Bill Konway.

It was Nov. 8, 2019, when the deer hunting doldrums gripped me.

I was in Iowa hunting over screaming-hot buck sign on some of the Midwest’s prettiest public land. All year, I had been stoked for the hunt. But the realities of pressure from other hunters and a lack of big-buck encounters had me questioning everything. After 10 days of hunting from treestands, my enthusiasm was gone. I didn’t realize it then, but my feelings had little to do with that hunt. The real problem was that I was tired of bowhunting deer the same way — from treestands — I had since my first deer hunt.

I called a buddy to get things off my chest. After hearing my situation, he said that I was taking deer hunting too seriously.

“Tomorrow morning, don’t get up early,” he said. “Heck, sleep in. Grab a coffee from a gas station, and then drive around. If you don’t see any bucks to stalk, leave your treestand in the truck and pick out some interesting areas to pop in and out of. You’ll have a lot more fun.”

The next two days, I encountered several cool bucks and some does. I didn’t spook a deer. And about mid-morning on Nov. 10, I arrowed a buck at 15 yards in a thicket with my wife crouched beside me. I grunted the buck right in, and he never knew we were there. My friend’s advice might not have seemed profound, but it was the catalyst that reignited my love for whitetail hunting, and it has also substantially boosted my success rate.

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Doing things the same way again and again often becomes less amusing as the years go by. If you sense that happening to you, shake things up this deer season. Here are four ways to do it.

TAKE A DEER HUNTING VACATION

If you’ve only ever hunted whitetails near home or in an annual hunting camp, you’ve experienced an extremely small sample of what deer hunting has to offer, and it’s no wonder that deer hunting is less exciting than when you started. Whitetails roam diverse habitats, and pursuing them in the big open spaces out West — if you’re from the East or Midwest — will give you a fresh, invigorating experience. Or, if you’re from the West, perhaps a hunt in the Ohio or Wisconsin timber is just what the doctor ordered. Regardless, broaden your horizons, and venture outside the area you’ve been buckled to since you started hunting.

TRY A NEW WEAPON

Shooting deer with a scoped .30-06 (or another common deer caliber) is a pretty normal way to go about it. But if you’ve done it that way for years and are losing your zest, try a new weapon. If you’re strictly a gun hunter, visit an archery pro shop and pick out a compound bow. If you’re strictly a bowhunter and are tired of the grind of getting deer within bow range, get a muzzleloader. If you’re not ready to give up gun season but desperately need a change, consider pulling your dad’s or grandad’s time-worn, open-sighted .30-30 from the gun safe to see if you can drop a deer with it. Whether you switch to traditional archery gear or get a bolt-action rifle chambered in the newest caliber, use what gets you back in the mood to deer hunt.

TAKE A CHILD, FRIEND OR SIGNIFICANT OTHER HUNTING

In 2017, I took my wife hunting, and she killed a buck with her bow. We hunted for five days in November before the successful hunt, and we shared a lot of quality time. When she shot her buck, I shook harder than I ever have when I’ve harvested a deer. Nowadays, deer hunting often gets taken too seriously, especially when the focus is on one or two specific big bucks.

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Deer hunting is supposed to be challenging but also fun. If you’re burning out on hunting specific bucks, take a break from that, and take someone new hunting. Experiencing their reactions to harvesting a doe or even a little buck can put the wind back in your sails. Sometimes, it’s more fun watching someone else pull the trigger.

HUNT FROM THE GROUND

Like me in 2019, perhaps you’re tired of sitting in stands or blinds for endless hours. Try hunting from the ground. It isn’t for everyone, but if you do it well and get close encounters or even kill a deer, you’ll find the excitement of outfoxing a deer at eye level exceptionally thrilling.

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This strategy lets me hunt every day. I don’t have to wait for particular wind directions. I simply adjust where I enter a property based on each day’s wind. During the early and late season, I hunt more stationary, but during the rut, I’m aggressive and use grunting, rattling, and decoying. Although I take some scent-control precautions, I’m not nearly as strict as I once was, because I’m in and out of my vehicle, hunting actively, and perspiring. It’s impossible to be fully scent-free with my style, so I play the wind to a T. I used to dress when I reached my hunting spot, even in below-zero temperatures. I’ve found it very refreshing not to stress out about scent control and matching treestands to wind directions.

DO SOMETHING ELSE

Those are just four changes you can make to put the fun back into deer hunting, but there are many others, such as trying hang-and-hunts with a tree saddle or buying a small parcel of land and putting in food plots for the first time. Whatever you do, shake things up to put the fun back into deer hunting this season.