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With the New Year here, many people have made resolutions in hopes of improving their life, usually revolving around their health. Going to the gym more and eating a healthier diet are probably the two most common resolutions. However, as we go farther into the year, many resolutions end up getting deserted. If you are a hunter, here are some resolutions that are easy to stick to and will greatly help your fall hunting seasons.

Practice more. Whether you are a bird hunter, a deer hunter, or both, getting out and shooting more in the off season will help you once the fall comes around.

Archery hunters can join leagues in the winter months when outdoors practice is not feasible. When shooting in a league, you can meet other archers and can see a wide variety of equipment. Seeing others shooting might also help an archer with a form problem or question.  Once the weather breaks and the snow leaves, you can go back to shooting in the yard. To add more difficulty to season preparations, go to a 3D shoot. The 30- or 40-target courses will have a variety of targets and shot angles so that the archer must think about their shot placement more than shooting at a foam block in their yard. With more time spent shooting, the greater the archer’s confidence will be and it can help them add distance to their comfortable shooting range.

For bird hunters, shooting at moving targets is the closest thing to shooting at actual flying birds. A handheld clay pigeon thrower is the most basic way to get a moving target to shoot a shotgun at. They are inexpensive but it can take a little practice to perfect the throwing motion without breaking the pigeon. A small target thrower that gets staked into the ground can be purchased for under a hundred dollars. These throwers allow for varied launching angles, which result in different clay pigeon speeds and flight curves. Some models even allow for stacked pairs, which is when two clay pigeons are launched at the same time. Waterfowl hunters can practice shooting from layout blinds by having someone operating the thrower behind them and them popping up to shoot as the pigeon is flying away from them. Just like 3D shoots can help archers, going to a gun club to shoot trap, skeet, or sporting clays can help wingshooters.

While rifle shooting does not necessarily require the practice that archery or wingshooting require, practice is still beneficial. Shooters can practice shooting from the different shooting positions (i.e. sitting, prone, offhand) and at different distances. In addition to trying different scenarios, you can try experimenting with other types of ammunition to see if there is another round that might shoot better in your firearm.

Try something new. There likely is something out there in terms of equipment or technique, that you have been curious about. This year make it your goal to try it out.

One of the bigger trends in the past few years has been the “wireless” trail camera. This likely will be one of my next purchases for hunting because I’m so intrigued by it. Basically, the trail camera is fitted with a cell phone transmitter and you purchase a cell phone plan so that the camera sends the pictures to your phone, email, or an app made for that brand of camera. What I find appealing is that you don’t need to go directly to the camera to see the pictures that it is taking. This cuts down on human scent around the camera, helping keep your hunting area calm. This also saves you the time and gas if you must travel a long way to get to the camera. You can just go to the camera when the batteries get low or if you want to move it to a new location.

A common problem that new, and some experienced, turkey hunters have is operating a diaphragm call. This call is used by pressing it against the roof of the mouth with the tongue and then forcing air over the reeds of the call to produce the sounds of a turkey. Being able to call without moving your hands allows you to stay still and have your hands on your firearm as a tom closes the distance to shooting range. Get a head start on turkey season and buy a couple diaphragm calls now. This will let you try to learn how to use the calls before turkey season arrives.