I know this sounds crazy but I prepare as if I was being hunted and the animal was armed as well. I stated my opinion on this subject in other posts. I will try to provide you with more detailed information on how I use this thought process to improve the 2 most important factors of being a good hunter: becoming 1 with your surroundings and shoot as if your life depended on it. 

This first segment is becoming 1 with your surroundings.  Hunters spend millions of dollars on camo outfits of all sorts and patterns.  But in reality how were our grandfathers harvesting deer without these fancy HD breakup patterns?  They used just instinct and had a remarkable knowledge and understanding of their surroundings. There is nothing wrong with these outfits, I personally love them. I spend more time and effort picking my patterns than I do picking my ammo. I go in with the mind set of not being discovered at all period, as if my life depended on it. I use my experiences being hunted in other places of the world and translate what I did and learned there to big game hunting at home.

First beware of your surroundings it does not do you any good to have that great HD pattern if it doesn't blend into your environment. Many a hunter put a lot of effort into their camo and tree stand placement but forget to match the 2 up. Ground patterns and tree patterns are 2 very distinct backgrounds in most cases. Chose your pattern based on the background area of where you are going to hunt. I totally camo everything from head to toe. There is much debate on what deer cant really see and recognize. I don't take any chances. Scent is probably the easiest factor to master. With the modern products on the market its easy to follow the directions and go. This is the first part of more posts I will be writing talking about what works for me. Nothing is a fix for all. But maybe something I do can help you out even in a little way. Until next time.