If you had an opportunity to ask 1,500 hunters to share the reasons they failed on their hunts in the backcountry, what do you think they would say?
If they were to remove any excuses or external factors that they could not control — hunting pressure, poor weather, decisions made by Fish & Game, etc — what were the decisions or actions that kept them from success?
We asked those hunters, and we have those answers.
As part of The Experience Challenge, we had 1,500+ hunters complete a detailed Hunt Reflection. Their answers inspired this new series, The Backcountry Blueprint. In each installment, we distill key takeaways from 1,500+ hunters to help you master the backcountry.
Today, we’re looking at the 7 most common reasons that hunters fail to find success in the backcountry. The reasons for failure are, as you'd expect them to be, the opposite of the reasons for success. But there is some nuance and insights worth exploring...
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Lack of Persistence ("Quitting Early")
By far, the most common reason for failure is quitting.
Many respondents admitted to leaving the field too early due to exhaustion, missing family, or getting discouraged when the hunt wasn't going as planned.
Most hunters know the dichotomy between waiting all year for their hunt, then questioning the time they’re spending “out there” after a few hard days. Objectively, it makes no sense. You spend months planning, preparing, training, shooting, and day-dreaming, and then in a matter of days you’re willing to give it all up?
If you have 8 days to hunt, give it your all for those 8 days. Those 8 days are just 2% of your entire year. Do you want to spend the other 98% of the year in the regret that comes from quitting?
When you’re tempted to quit early on a hunt, take a break. A quick reset — mentally and physically — can do wonders for your morale.
And most of all, remember that anything can happen at any time on a hunt. A terrible week of hunting can change in an instant. But quitting early is a guaranteed way to fail.
Physical Limitations
Many hunters attributed their failed hunts to an inability to hike hard after the first few days of the hunt, struggling with blistered feet due to a lack of conditioning, or simply being physically incapable of reaching the areas where the animals were.
If your physical training is focused on building strength in the gym or completing short, but intense, “interval” training sessions, then you are missing the keys to building the necessary endurance that will enable you to hike hard after the first few days of a backcountry hunt. Put simply, there is no shortcut or “time hack” to build the endurance needed to endure in the backcountry. If you want to learn more about that, check out our podcasts with Evoke Endurance.
Hunters commonly mentioned issues with their feet, which became a physical limitation that prevented them from hiking on their hunts. This is a multi-faceted issue that can include “conditioning” your feet to your hunting footwear and off-trail hiking, using the wrong footwear system (combination of footwear, insoles, and socks), or not having the knowledge and experience to properly take care of your feet and troubleshoot related issues (treating hotspots, drying feet, lacing techniques, etc). If you want to dive deeper into these topics, learn why The Best Hunting Boot (Isn’t What You Think It Is).
Many hunters noted that they were “incapable of reaching the areas where the animals are,” but it is worth considering that this is a belief, not necessarily a fact. Physical limits are often perceived, and mindset plays a bigger role in determining your limitations. With training and experience, you change your perspective on what is possible. Do you know what’s “too far” because you’ve tried and came up short, or because you’ve decided before you acted?
Mental Fatigue and Lack of Fortitude
Hunters frequently mentioned that they "crumbled under pressure" or lost their "mental edge", which led to failed hunts.
A common occurrence was letting small setbacks — like bad gear choices or lack of sleep — compound or “snowball” into a negative mindset that ultimately led them to stop hunting hard or give up entirely.
On one hand, this highlights that small details matter. The less frustration you have with your gear, the better you’re able to sleep, the more your clothing system enables you to be relatively comfortable in uncomfortable conditions… these are all things that keep you from needing to deal with a snowball of small difficulties. On the other hand, you can decide to “keep the small things small” and not let them build into an overwhelming negative experience.
Develop the skill to control your focus. Acknowledge problems, but don’t dwell on them. Stay present and focus on the WIN acronym, asking yourself — “What’s important right now?”
Stay patient, present, and deliberate.
Poor Tactical Decision-Making
Sometimes a single bad decision can dictate the outcome of a hunt. If you look at all of the decisions that led to failed hunts, you can put most of them into 3 main categories...
First, rushing. Hunters acted too quickly, which led to blown stalks, poorly executed shots, or simple mistakes that ruined a shot opportunity. There are times to be incredibly aggressive in the approach to an animal, but when it comes down to the final moments of a pursuit, it pays to be patient. You often have more time than you think in those final moments that determine success or failure.
Second, indecision. Hunters frequently mentioned their failure to commit to a plan. Often, in the overwhelm of not being sure what to do, hunters wandered and squandered their time without a clear plan to follow on their hunts. Hunters need to be decisive, but also adapt to changing circumstances. Make a plan, follow a plan, but be prepared to change your plan as you gain more information throughout a hunt.
Third, ignoring the wind. It is commonly said that you can fool an animal’s eyes and ears, but you will never fool their nose. Hunter after hunter mentioned that they made poor tactical moves relative to thermals and wind direction, and it turned potential success into immediate failure.
Hunting success comes from balancing decisiveness with adaptability and slowing down in critical moments.
Inadequate Preparation and Scouting
The most common attribute of successful hunts reported by hunters was “Preparation and Pre-Season Scouting”, so it is no surprise to see that same topic listed as a reason for failure when not done properly.
On a failed hunt, a lack of "homework" by the hunter was a problem. Hunters didn’t fully understand the hunt context, the terrain and conditions, animal behavior, and animal patterns. Hunters failed to adequately prepare for their hunt with research, e-scouting, or boots-on-the-ground scouting trips.
Failing hunters didn’t have an adequate backup plan when their "Plan A" failed, and they weren’t sure how to adapt when dealing with setbacks of hunting pressure, unexpected weather, or lack of animal sign and sightings.
Learning from these mistakes, hunters expressed that they needed to learn about the animal's habitat, patterns, and behavior, so that they could better understand the species, and not just “hope to find one” on their future hunts.
Gear Failures and Mismanagement
Most gear failures occurred with items that weren’t thoroughly tested or fully vetted before being used on a hunt. Researching gear and reading reviews helps you make a gear decision, but pre-purchase information is not enough. You have to spend time before your hunt to get familiar with your gear, make sure you understand how to use it in the field, and ensure that it will perform when you need it most.
Hunters reported that the most critical gear categories were: footwear, pack, and clothing.
We covered footwear in the “Physical Limitations” section above. So moving on to packs, it is worth noting that hunters reported improper pack fit and packing too much unnecessary gear that weighed them down as the most common pack issues. We work harder than anyone else to design and build the best lightweight, load-hauling pack system possible, but even if absolute pack perfection existed, you would have to know how to use it properly. And that principle applies to all gear, not just packs.
Similarly, with clothing, it is important to pair knowledge and experience with apparel. If you take a professional race car driver and your average person commuting to work, have them swap vehicles and then put them on a race track, we all know who is going to win a time trial. That same principle applies to gear, including apparel. Adequate clothing layers used effectively will outperform the highest-performing apparel that isn’t understood or applied properly. Here are some resources to learn more: Clothing Selection & Layering Strategies, The Clothing Layers You Need for Backpack Hunting, Going Deep with John Barklow.
To avoid gear failure, you need to test your gear before hunts, learn how to use your gear effectively, and realize that systems matter more than individual items.
Technical & Shooting Proficiency
A significant number of hunters blamed a lack of confidence or skill with their weapon as their reason for failure. They blamed "buck fever" that led to missed shots. And numerous hunters noted they weren't capable of shooting accurately at the distances required for shot opportunities in the field.
A key to managing and eliminating “buck fever” is to realize that it happens when you focus on the animal and the outcome, instead of the shot process. When you start thinking about the excitement of filling your tag, putting meat in the freezer, or putting antlers on your wall, you are “getting ahead of yourself” and creating anxiety and anticipation. Focus on the shot process, not the outcome. You should execute every shot — whether on the range, or in the backcountry — with a defined process that creates consistency, repetition, and keeps the focus on the process, not the outcome.
Another key to increasing your shooting proficiency on hunts is to introduce pressure, stress, and realistic scenarios (positions, angles, conditions) into your practice. Once your bow or rifle is set up and sighted in, you need to get creative and make your practice as effective as possible by increasing the difficulty and replicating the stress of realistic shot scenarios that you could expect on a hunt. It feels great to shoot tiny groups in controlled settings, but that type of shooting doesn’t fully prepare you to be an effective hunter.
Have these factors affected your hunts?
All of the insights from this Backcountry Blueprint series are coming from the 1,500 hunters who completed a detailed Hunt Reflection. We would encourage you to take the time to complete your own hunt reflection. You will undoubtedly learn insights by reflecting on your experience…
THE HUNT REFLECTION — VIEW or COPY
See the entire Backcountry Blueprint series.