No one wants to trip and fall, which is why we have a tendency to hike with our heads down. And yet, I've never shot a deer off the top of my boots. Pros aren't afraid of the dark. Most deer movement occurs during the first hour after dawn and before dark. To take advantage of this, you'll have to hike to and from your stand by flashlight.
Pros watch the wind.
The best hunters have learned that the wind shifts constantly, and must be continuously monitored. They picture the wind as a living, breathing thing that flows like moving water, carrying the scent of danger to a supersensitive nose. Pros control their scent. Never forget that ungulates live in a world of scent, just as we live in a world of sight. Pros do preseason research.