THE ART OF THE FIRST SIT

The “first sit” is a phenomenon widely known in the whitetail world, but one rarely broken down into the whys and hows. It’s that magical opportunity of being in an undisturbed hotspot for the first time that seems to yield extremely high odds of success on whitetail deer. Most seasoned hunters know about it, but is there more to it than just sitting somewhere for the first time? More importantly, is there a way to drastically increase the “first sit effect,” and therefore put your encounters on steroids? Yes, and yes.

My 2018 whitetail season was a prime example of the power of the first sit. In the first twenty days of my Michigan season, on highly pressured public land, I had three shots at three different mature bucks. On October 5th I missed a big split G2 - 9 point while hunting on the ground (I ranged a clump of weeds and thus shot low when he stood next to them). On October