OT: beginner thinking about hunting

C

cognitivefun

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Oct 24, 2004
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I am thinking about trying out hunting. I don't know if I will and I don't know if I will like it.

I would love your thoughts and experiences. Thank you.
 
Try some squirrel hunting. Avoid deer or duck hunting at first, because they can be boring or miserable, and turn you off to the sport.

Do you have any firearms?
 
There you go. Buy a small game license and hunt squirrels with your shotgun. Try some trap or skeet shooting, then try some bird hunting. Later on, buy a rifled slug barrel and hunt deer. Im sure others will have better advice.
 
Your choice of game animal depends a lot on where you live. While I would like to hunt squirrels, there is no season for tree squrrels in my area. I do a lot of rabbit hunting, both jack and cottontail. And you can use just about any firearm or bow to hunt them!! :D

Jack rabbit stew, with lots of jalepenos and potatoes, gets my juices flowing!
 
Skip the guns and go wild boar hunting with your knife. :eek:


Jeb - your bowie would be perfect.
 
I kinda think if you've gotten to the point of wanting to do it it would be a good thing to do. If you love nature, the wild places, hunting can be a wonderful experience. I always thought it was a way of recognizing what I was and where I came from. Some will live that some must die.

I wouldn't want to hunt small game with a shotgun- that's me. I'd use a .22

Probably one of your surplus rifles would be great for deer hunting.



munk
 
just get into it slow and easy. Maybe you can find a friend to go with you the first couple of times and show you the ropes.

Ice
 
Good suggestions all, especially the last one. If you have a scoped, accurate rifle, try woodchuck hunting. If there are any farmers in your area, ask permission to hunt their fields. Chances are they'll thank you, since those woodchuck holes are a PITA to work around. Hunting is a great sport especially if you ever have kids. Most of the time I've spent with my grandfather has been out in the woods hunting deer, and it's made for some great memories. Same with my Dad.
 
DeathDancer said:
Jack rabbit stew, with lots of jalepenos and potatoes, gets my juices flowing!
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Sounds like a man after my own heart!!!! :cool: :D
Rene, you've made the roast that Barb is cooking for supper seem kind of boring now.;)

I'm with Munk, a .22 for squirrels is the way to go, or use a high calibre rifle and "bark" them out of the trees. "Barking" squirrels is shooting the tree right next to their widdle heads and letting the concussion kill the little suckers.:D
 
"Barking" squirrels is shooting the tree right next to their widdle heads
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See now...you can always learn something. I thought I was missing, but I was just barking up the wrong tree. :p

Thank you.
 
I've been hunting since I was 10 years old, and I love it. I agree with these guys that small game is the way to start, and getting someone to help you along is also a great suggestion. Since you already have a shotgun I would start with that. What area are you in? Do you know what small game is available to you? We could probably make some more specific suggestions if we had more info.

I really like hunting with my .22 like alot of the guys, but there are some places where I switch to my scattergun. When I hunt Lake Mendocino in the fall, there are seasons that overlap: Squirrell, rabbit, and quail. I use the shotgun so that I can be opportunistic and take what comes ;) Makes for less empty stew pots at the end of the day.

stevo
 
Yvsa said:
"Barking" squirrels is shooting the tree right next to their widdle heads and letting the concussion kill the little suckers.:D
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Isnt that how the mountain men killed skwerls with roundballs without blowing them into scraps? I still want to try your spitting down the barrel technique, but im afraid of rust because I dont clean .22 bores. You should start your own squirrel hunting thread, you seem to have alot of good advice.

Dan, lets go hog hunting. You can hold the hogs hind legs up, and Ill cut its throat :p . Ive always wanted to go on a real hog hunt.
 
I taught myself to hunt big game animals when I moved to Idaho at age 31. The only thing I now enjoy more than the solitude of hunting alone is sharing it with my sons.
 
Dang, Raghorn- I started to hunt seriously when I moved to Idaho- at the age of 34 or so.




munk
 
I don't hunt. That is because I was never taught how to take care of the meat after shooting it. Not because I'm against it.

When I was a kid, my Uncle took me and my cousin out after jackrabbits as they were a pest and ate crops. There you killed it and left it. That was business. That was also in the California Central Valley.

Here where I live now in West Central Nevada, is just a couple hundred miles due east of where I was born. It's mountains and high desert - life is more delicately balanced. It's more a matter of appreciating what you see.

I've gotten a Savage 99 in 308 I've been meaning to replace the stocks on, just to say I have a deer rifle and provide an excuse if I need to contemplate my belly button during hunting season. ( We won't mention the FN-FAL, or the UZI - those are my Social Work tools. )

I used to enjoy having breakfast and watching the quail coveys out feeding in the morning. If you insist on shooting those darling birds, be sure to have me over for a quail dinner.
 
I would definitely recommend a hunter safety course. Covers the basics of gun safety out in the field. Well worth the cost.

Ground hogs, gophers are all a form of "pest" hunting....

Squirrels and rabbits for food. Can be quite challenging and relatively cheap if you use rimfire. They're an excellent primer for the fundementals of hunting.

Bigger game (deer,moose,bear, antelope, etc.,) is difficult to learn on your own. It's much better if you can find serious experienced hunters to take you and guide you.
 
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