Having a taxidermist mount it is the easy part.  You'll have to cut the cape low on the front shoulders to give the taxidermist enough fur to stretch and manipulate over the mannequin form.

But, as I said, that's the easy part.  Getting one in your sights and actually being able to put the bullet where it goes, now that's another story and why they call it hunting instead of going out in the woods and just shooting things.

It's a lot like fishing.  You can pick the best spot you think you'll find, but there may be a fisherman 10 feet away catching fish right and left while you're just sitting there drowning worms.

Another bit of old man advice.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to have the best camo, 12 different callers and doe in heat scents and stuff either.  Those are designed more to separate you from your money than they are to catch deer.

^ good advice above. for a "new" hunter without a mentor to show you how, I suggest you take a "hunter safety course". (it's probably a requirement to get a hunting license anyway) it will give you a lot of the information you are seeking.

Great info from John A and Blaster, also, attempt to find a hunting mentor, potentially shaving  years off the learning curve from someone else?s successes and failures. Any way you slice it, Me Big doesn?t get that big by being stupid
Good luck!

I'm old enough to remember hunting in blue jeans, flannel and a OD green vietnam field jacket long before all these nice camos came along.

There was a video taken back when VHS was a thing of a guy who dressed up in a clown costume complete with white face and red horn nose and rainbow wig that sat there in a tree stand AND KILLED DEER!!!

The bigger trick is to be still.  Deer don't see well, but they detect movement really well.  And they have good hearing and smell too.

Which brings me to another point.  I know some guys who think it's terrible to get anywhere near your hunting spot for weeks before season starts because "you might get your scent" on something and scare off the deer.

That's bull.

It's better if you do get your scent on everything.  That way the deer are accustomed to your scent and it doesn't scare them off if they catch a whiff of you.  Deer recognize things by scent a lot.  So, if they're accustomed to your smell, and aren't afraid of your smell, there's no big reason to use cover scents and everything else.

How do you think the native Americans hunted before cover scents and doe in heat piss in a bottle?

I am fortunate to have a piece of property that I'm on all the time.  Several times a week checking trail cams and staying at the cabin and hiking through the woods back and forth to where I park.  I don't worry any at all about getting my scent up there.  Heck, I even use the bathroom while I'm up there if I need to.

The deer do too.  And the bears.  And everything else.  You just blend in and they don't pay any attention to it.

Last week, I had almost 900 videos.  Mostly of deer.  A few bear.  Two raccoons.  1 squirrel.  But, almost all of them deer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOY6Mc6olPI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6RYCl-uFE0

It?s interesting that you bring up the smell thing. Before I quit smoking a number of years ago, I would always smoke in my ground blind, and rarely went home empty handed, not that it was the brightest thing to do. Now coyotes, that?s a different story, at least for me

I don't doubt it.  I used to smoke too.  I haven't had a cancer stick in 12 years.  Very glad of it too.  Along with my judgement for my ex wife, that's one of the worst things I ever did.

A lot of what people "think" they know about hunting, all goes out the window when you're walking to your stand or blind or wherever.  I know one guy who even leaves a pair of socks and underwear hanging in the woods near hunting season.  True story.

Coyotes are tough.  Any predator hunting is hard.  Anyone that thinks they're top of the food chain, has not lived close to where I do.

We have wolves, big cats, coyotes, bears.  Probably even sasquatches LOL.   Stuff that can eat you alive and poop you out 2 or 3 days later.

Yes sir. Predator hunting is HARD.  They can see better day or night.  They can hear better.  They can smell things better.   And many have a sixth sense of what's going on around them that would be hard to believe if you didn't see it for yourself.

I'm sorry to say, but I laugh at people that says there's nothing in the woods that's gonna hurt you.  Especially bears because they always run from people because they're scared of you.  Those are the people who have never been charged by a pissed off bear chomping and snapping it's teeth loudly and shaking it's head and scratches the ground like a mad bull before running at you full speed.  Which coincidentally is as fast as a horse.  You're not going to outrun one.  Or even out climb one in a tree either.  It is not fun !!  I've experienced that first hand.

A man doesn't have a chance if some big animal with determination and enough power to kill you gets hold of you.  It's over.  You're done.  That's it.  End of story.

That's why I carry a 12 ga. with me when I'm checking the trail cams and stuff without fail.

First shot is loaded with buckshot in case I can't get a good bead really fast.  Maybe a pellet or two would maybe get its' attention enough to get a followup shot, which the remaining are loaded with 1 oz slugs.  Hopefully by then I'll have a good enough aim to do what I need to protect myself for any followup shots.

But, I make no presumptions.

Even big cats can jump 10 or 12 feet.  And they usually do it from an angle that you never see coming.  In a situation such as that, there probably won't even be a first shot before you being pummeled.

But, I guess that's getting way too far off topic.

I use 155gr XTPs in my deer hog loading and it is brutal on both. A good, broadside, double lung hit usually results in less than 50 yards. I usually aim for the back edge of the shoulder and always get a complete pass through. I lift my shots to 50 yards or less.

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