my biggest mistake was always aiming for the spot behind the shoulder regardless of angle. now I try to think of where the bullet will be when its halfway through the deer; because entrance and exits are just flesh wounds, its whats inside that counts.

Bunch of good advice here.

My biggest mistake was not wearing a harness when i was younger. I caught a break. The good Lord was watching over me!

Globe, you are dead on. You gotta stay in the hunt until at least 30 min past sunset for maximum deer sightings. Rookie mistake I learned too.

I was also naive to think deer just wandered around the woods for no reason. Another good lesson is the deer are where they are for a reason. Either for food, protection, or breeding.

#1 aND it's not even close is WATCHING HUNTING SHOWS

Most successful hunters spend more time in the woods than un-successful hunters.

I'm going to say not shooting your gun before hand to make sure it is zeroed.

That cost me a few in my younger days..

Not giving big bucks credit for being one of the smartest animals in the woods. If there was a bounty on your head, and you were being hunted down to be brought in dead or alive. Do you think you would pay attention to who's coming and going and when and where they seem to be focusing their time, energy, and efforts? Well you can bet those big bucks more often than not have you patterned way better than you have them if you give them that opportunity.

1. Scout after season
2. Setup early then stay out unless hunting
3. Only hunt an area when the wind is right
4. If you are going to use a camera only check when you go in to hunt that area
5. Don't over hunt an area.

I for one am extremely guilty of checking cameras too often. It's just that I enjoy it so much, and they're so easy to use now. I enjoy checking my cams almost as much as hunting. I actually haven't noticed that it hurts though. If you feed and check cams 9 months out of the year, don't you think they'd get use to it?
I don't see it as a huge problem, but I'm sure it doesn't help.

I didn't have access to a mentor, I wish I had ... Anyway, instead of whining about it I came here

Am I making a mistake assuming that I'm fairly safe scouting an area if I limit it to daylight hours while it's raining?

Telling anyone when you kill a deer or showing anyone a picture of it.

Good post, very important!

And obviously, not reading ALDeer.com!

Mistake that cost me dearly : Wearing too much clothing while hiking to my spot so that after I sit 2 hours wet in the cold I'm shivering so bad I can't aim.

BOOM!!!

Some people think that the more time you spend in the woods the better chance you have to kill deer, well, if deer are all your after, then thats absolutely true, but if mature bucks are what your after, then quality sits are way more effective than quantity sits. Wait until the time is right before hunting your best stands, instead of burning them out before a mature buck has a reason to be on his feet during daylight hours.

Don't leave the house without toilet paper and don't leave truck without putting it in your pocket.

Listening to people that think or act like they know what they're talking about but they really don't.

Furthermore, thinking that because a guy kills one or two nice bucks he is a good hunter and has them all figured out. Some people are just lucky, wealthy or have alot of free time. You need to learn to differentiate between blow hards and real woodsmen, ignore the blow hards and listen closely to the real woodsmen.

Thinking that they are being cute/and or funny when they ain't....

Or, not knowing when to let a stand (or anything else for that matter) rest....