>>1162767Do the homework and get to scouting. Get a trail cam or two, put them out and check them often. The more time you spend out in the woods preparing and hunting, the better your chances. The biggest secret is that there is no secret-the quantity of time you spend hunting in the woods is directly related to getting more and better deer.
Treestands are your friend, as are tooographic maps. Deer think in terms of ease of travel between food, water, and bedding areas and seldom look up. Find some likely areas, look for game trails between them and put your treestand along one. Do that and you can bag a deer at shockingly short ranges. Pic related was walking directly behind my treestand at 25 yards.
Speaking of which, this isn’t New Mexico-the ranges will be short. 100 yards is likely the longest shot you will ever see in the forest, and 50 yards is more common than that. At those ranges, snap shots are the name of the game, and you may not even need (or want) a scope.
For all the shit it gets here, a 30-30 is absolutely perfect for hunting in forests. They’re light, compact, easy to carry, quick to the shoulder, ammo is cheap and available at Walmart, and millions of them have been made, so you can find one for small money. I found mine for $175 15 years ago; more realistic prices now are $300-400. If you’re willing to buy now (at the end of hunting season), you can get some great deals.
