[Winchester]

Anyone care to share their yearly secret to success traditions? Each year come September I do a clean shave then let 'er grow until after the hunt is done. I like to think it brings me good luck, aswell as keeps the shine off my face and helps get me pumped for the hunt lol.

 

[nbdeerhunter]

traditions...not sure if I would call any of them traditions but here
I don't shave after opening day until I tag a deer. If I go all season and eat track soup I do shave after the season has finished.
I double check all my stuff the 3 days before the season opens.
I go through my hunting loads and pick 5 or 6 bullets too carry with me. I then examine each of those and find the "one" and it gets a special place in my cartridge holder that is on my stock. This special bullet sits all alone and the others are on the other end.
I have been wearing the same orange ball cap for a long time. If it gets cold the toque goes right over it
always chewing sunflower seeds in the tree stand

 

[Winchester]

I always bring a bag of spitz with me too, I find it takes the edge off if I start feeling fidgety while sitting and keeps the hunger down too.

 

[lobsterman]

Many years ago back when there were only a few brands of beer available in NB, a friend came back from the U.S. with a trunk load of Coors Lite. Remember this was back in the day when Coors Lite would be unheard of in NB.
He brought it back for hunting season. He thought it was good stuff, so that was all he brought with him into the woods for our two-week stay, nothing but dozens and dozens of Coors Lite.
Well, no sooner did he crack the first can out at base camp on the Sunday night before the season than he realized he had made a horrible mistake. Not only did he not like Coors Lite after all, but he absolutely hated it. He spent the whole two weeks trying to convince anyone who would listen to him to trade him Coors Lite for anything else, two-for-one.
No one would bite.
He had to suck on each of those cans for half a month, gagging on every sip. We all had a great laugh over that.
Every year since then (we're talking more'n 20 years, probably) all of us three hunting partners all sneak a single can of Coors lite into our gear, and whenever one of us three ain't looking, someone slips a can of Coors Lite into their cooler.
All three of us still all hunt together, and hardly 10 mins go by each season that someone doesn't discover a can of that slop in their cooler, and we all make a big deal out of it whenever we either get away with sneaking it into someone's cooler, or discover one of the cans in our own cooler.
It's one of those "have-to-be-there" kind of things to understand how funny this can be, but it's now a decades-old tradition for us and we all get a great laugh out of it, each and every time, all season long.

And yeah, I don't shave during my two weeks in the woods, either. For all the same reasons as you guys.

 

[700 Lefty]

Here are my traditions:

Moose
I get my dear mother to prepare a big old stew to take to the camp (Wife is still not up to par yet! HA!)
Rye Whiskey is my drink of choice but I take rum on this trip;

Duck Hunting
I usually go out one day a year and that is opening morning.

Partridge
I carry 8 shells when I walk etc (Don't ask me why but I do!)

Deer Season
I go through my gear and prepare my pack and jacket pockets for whatever. Stuff used over the years are kept in the same place.
I go through my shells and pick 10 and put them in my velcro case and use the first level the first week and then switch;
I carry a piece of string in my wallet for my tag;
I carry 2 deer calls with me for the first two weeks and then for the rest of the season, I will carry three.

For moose and deer, I wear one specific lucky blaze orange cap that I bought at K-mart a looooooong time ago.
I have a pair of worn out gloves that I carry with me and I will not throw them out due to them being really warm;
I sight in my rifle and clean all of my guns before October 1st;

Some may think what I do is quirky (like my wife) but to each their own and whatever works for you, works!

 

[nbbucks]

I pretty much just grow the hunting scruff and then shave again come spring.

 

[lobsterman]

We also have a tradition where we each must prepare one absolutely fantastic meal, just once, every hunt.
For two weeks we might survive on chicken wings, burgers and T-bones, but for those three nights, we enjoy stuff like lobster thermidor on wild rice, stuffed turkey dinner with all the trimmings or a 10-course Chinese buffet. Makes it hard to go back to the hotdogs after our three traditional feasts during deer season, to say the least, but while none of us minds giving up one afternoon to cook up a fantastic gourmet feast for the three of us, we'll be damned if we're gonna do it every afternoon!
It's a great tradition because each of us tries to outdo the other, and so every fall the feasts get more and more out of this world.

 

[Murray]

I buy a bottle of whiskey about this time every year, and I don't crack it until the deer is down. Didn't get a deer last year, so the bottle is still sealed. It's gonna taste extra good this year.

 

[nbdeerhunter]

Outside of watching football during hunting season no booze for me until a deer is down. Then a nice glass of rye on the rocks or maybe a splash of ginger ale

 

[Bull's eye]

pfffouueeeeeehhhhhhh!!!!! no shaving 'till the deer is down???? that's down right disgusting! I shave everyday but I don't change my boxers 'till I get a buck down....did I mentioned I killed my buck in Sask last year on the 29th, of November?.....Hmmmmm no wonder they wouldn't let my in on that damn plane.......LOL!

The itching has stopped last week.....

Great topic.

 

[Predator One]

Anyone care to share their yearly secret to success traditions? Each year come September I do a clean shave then let 'er grow until after the hunt is done. I like to think it brings me good luck, aswell as keeps the shine off my face and helps get me pumped for the hunt lol.

 

[Predator One]

Anyone care to share their yearly secret to success traditions? Each year come September I do a clean shave then let 'er grow until after the hunt is done. I like to think it brings me good luck, aswell as keeps the shine off my face and helps get me pumped for the hunt lol.

This is a great topic, Winchester!
As for me, I get all my hunting gear together the night before the hunt and go through my pack to make sure everything is there I'll need or think I'll need... compass, drag rope, windproof lighter, call and scents...seat cushion...extra sweater. I pack a lunch and beverages in my pack for the next day's hunt, sharpen my knife...even when it doesn't need it, bag up my clothes in a "scent" bag with evergreen boughs and /or cover scent, check my compass and charge up the two way radios if someone is hunting with me. I check my gun and ammo and case 'em up. I check the weather forecast, and on hunt morning, get up really early and have a solid breakfast. I'm always anxious to get into the woods, especially the first morning...on stand,in a blind or moving through a piece of woods I am going to stalk-hunt that day at first light. I have done these same "prep" things for years so I guess its tradition for me. Just recalling what I do to prepare for the hunt stirs the blood with excitement! Love the woods and the hunt...regardless of whether I bag my deer or not! As the military advertisement used to say..."There's no life like it!" Once again, great topic "Win" !

 

[Hunttoomuch]

The only traditional thing I do is take my daughter with me the first day of deer season. We have been doing this for 4 years and we enjoy it. We will go the camp on Sunday , spend the night and then hunt all day Monday. My wife works at one of the local schools and she was telling the teachers about me doing this with my daughter. The principal spoke up and said that he doesn't condone students missing school but he wishes that parents would do more things like this with their kids. Can't beat that 1 on 1 time with your kids in the woods.

 

[SIMPLELIFE]

Tried the not shaving,can't handle the look after a couple of weeks,so I guess it would be my 13 yr old hat and a pin of a deer, my father use to wear on his hunting jacket.

 

[Trappercase]

It's the only time I ever chew tobacco. If I shoot a buck I hang its nutsack in a tree for future luck. An old timer once showed me this and I carried it on.

 

[Mister November]

Anyone care to share their yearly secret to success traditions? Each year come September I do a clean shave then let 'er grow until after the hunt is done. I like to think it brings me good luck, aswell as keeps the shine off my face and helps get me pumped for the hunt lol.

lol....
i do the same thing but i start mine oct 1st
i think it is a good tradition!

another tradition for me is
the last nite before the end of the season....i drive the roads all nite long just to see what is traveling around at nite through the area!
it has worked for me....shot most of my deer the last day of the season!
and the weird thing is....all around 8 30 am!