Three factors dictate a successful hunt, being in the right place, at the right time, and being able to capitalize on the opportunity that has been provided for you. Luck can and will influence each of these factors. A novice hunter can harvest an animal of a lifetime through being plainly very lucky. Even experienced hunters rely on a bit of luck to harvest their animals. However here is the real deal, the majority of consistently killed animals come from the minority hunters. These hunters don’t simply use luck, they use knowledge and skill to skew the scales in their favour. No hunting is a guarantee, it is actually a game of percentages. Some hunts/tactics/areas will have low percentage chances of paying off. Some hunts will have higher percentages. Knowing the difference between the two takes a bit of experience. A hunter can harvest no matter the odds through sheer dumb luck. Or you could be doing absolutely everything right and be unsuccessful through just being unlucky. So what are you to do as a novice hunter? I say get every advantage you can by learning as much as possible about your prey species. Get plenty of time in the field and get the experience you need to put book knowledge together with real world field knowledge in your hunting grounds. Hunt a lot so you can learn what pays off and what does not. In other words figure out what is high and low percentage hunts. Try to spend the bulk of your time on high percentage activities at the prime times (easier said then done sometimes). Be brutally honest with yourself, was your latest harvest dumb luck? Also don’t be too hard on yourself if you blow it. Everybody screws up every now and then. I hope this helps.
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