[jamz]

I'd like to go hunting, and I have access to a lot of land up here in Massachusetts. I like the outdoors anyway, do a lot of mountain biking, rock and ice climbing, etc., so the idea of walking in the woods has always appealed. I also like to shoot, and shooting something more challenging than a paper target is also appealing.

The problem is, I don't really like to eat any type of game, really. I am too wussy to clean it and prep it anyway, and I wouldn't have the first idea how to go about doing it. I just kinda like the concept of hunting, without all the work afterward, I guess. I also won't kill a game animal just for the sake of having something interesting to shoot at either- that just feels wrong to me.

So I need some advice. Is there something out there to shoot at, that would offer an interesting hunting experience, and will actually do some good to the local wilderness? I'm thinking coyote (pests, from what I hear), or prarie dogs (none in this area of the country however) or that sort of thing. The only problem with coyote is that it is kind of a big investment for the gear, and you have to be good at calling them.

If there is nothing out there that is "good" to hunt in this way, then I'll just stick with killing paper, but the idea of a nice walk in the woods while being able to take the occaisional pot at something moving is attractive.

Any advice for someone who wants to start?

-James

[kentucky bucky]

Find a farmer infested with ground hogs or crows. Check the local game laws first!

[Geezer]

Fewer and fewer young folks are taking up hunting. That means that there are more and more of us old geezers with a lifetime of knowledge and experience to impart, and no one to give it away to!

Check around locally at the sporting goods stores, etcetera, until you find an old guy who will show you the ropes! You will both be much the richer for it.

God bless and y'all be careful out there.:cool:

[nygunguy]

If you like roast beef, turkey or whatever you'll like most wild game if you learn how to prepare it correctly.

Find someone willing to take you hunting and show you how to properly field dress game. Once you find that it isn't that hard and that you can most likely get over being grossed out by it, you'll start to appreciate getting your own food.

You can field dress a whitetail in 5 minutes with a bit of training and practice. After that just take it to a butcher and let them do the real cutting.

Before you say you don't like game find someone who'll give you a couple of venison steaks and try this:

Chop up a cup of mushrooms and a cup of sweet onion (or there abouts).
In a deep dish frying pan throw in a bit of olive oil, the venison steaks, the mushrooms and oinion.
Add a little garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Once the steaks are browned on both sides cover them with a good red wine (I like a Cabernet Sauvignon). About a half a bottle will do.
Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the steaks are cooked throughly.
Serve the steaks covered with the mushrooms and onions. The rest of the wine goes well.

Then let us know if you still don't like game. Happy Hunting and Dining!

[Art Eatman]

Most all who hunt pests/varmints just shoot them and leave them. Scavengers like free meals; nothing is truly "wasted".

Your pet rifle is just fine for coyotes. If, for instance, you use a .308, that's more than is needed, but so what? Why worry about it? The coyote won't care.

I've used a mouth-blown call for over thirty years. I've never used camo clothing; it's completely unnecessary unless you're hunting turkeys. Any dull earthtoned colors are just fine. Anyhow, just try to make a noise like what you think a hurt rabbit oughta sound like, and that'll do pretty well. Coyotes tend to make their final approach from downwind, so that's about the only significant factor in choosing a position...

If you shoot a deer in the neck, you can field dress the animal and hardly get any blood on your hands. Some "grease", but little blood. It takes some care, but it's no big deal. Same for skinning and butchering.

Check your local farmers. Offer to trade some help or work for a place to hunt. Courtesy and politeness will be so startling that they'll maybeso say, "Yes!" :)

Art

[Bruz]

Check around, I'm sure you will find someone who would be more than happy to take the free food off your hands...find a butcher and have him cut it up and both of you donate the meat the the hungry.

[H&Hhunter]

The problem is, I don't really like to eat any type of game, really. I am too wussy to clean it and prep it anyway, and I wouldn't have the first idea how to go about doing it.

Jamz.

I'll bet that if you try it a time or two you'll find this statement to be untrue. If you can go with an experienced hunter and have him show you how to do it properly. The whole field dressing thing is actually quite an interseting process. I find it fasinating and not in the least bit unpleasent.

Give it a try. These things are always different when you actually expereince them verses just hear or read about them.

Preception is entirely dependant on experience. Don't lose this oportunity because you think you may not like it. If you're truely an outdoorsman you'll probably like hunting and by that I mean the entire process.

[Geezer]

Unzipping IS interesting, and very quick if you have someone to hold the hind legs for you, other wise they keep kicking you while you are trying not to cut into any part of the "parts" while you are unzipping the membrane.

No need for a butcher, either. With a sharp boning knife and a sabresaw you can do it all yourself. It is really easy, when the skin is off you can see how everything fgoes together, you just take it apart the same way.

About the wussy, maybe you are confusing the moment of regret. Many hunters have a moment of regret. To kill something so beautiful as a deer is an important thing. When I was young I tried to pretend that I was tough, and it didn't affect me, but now I let myself share the deer's dying with him/her, and let myself feel the regret. After that passes it is easier to do the wet work, because then it is out of respect for the meat that I will be eating and sharing with friends.

Hey, don't mean to sound to whatever, besides all of the sissy emotional stuff above I am an unrepentant redneck SOB, and if y'all make fun of me I'll whip y'all all over y'alls' heads with my cane!!

God bless and y'all be careful out there.

[Mike Irwin]

My problem is I love the taste of the game but I hate all the pain in the butt prep work that goes into a hunting trip. I live right outside of Washington, DC, so I have to drive many miles to get to a decent hunting area, and I have to make arrangements for my dogs to be taken care of.

I havne't hunted in years. If I ever move back to Pennsylvania or out to New Mexico, I could see myself hunting again.

[Geezer]

Mike, quit making excuses and get off your duff. The whitetail deer are so populous back east you could probably hunt them with a stick!

As far as moving back to the world someday..listen to an old man. If you have something you want to do, do it NOW for chrissake, there isn't any "next time!"

God bless and y'all be careful out there.:cool:

[jamz]

I guess I need to go out with an experienced hunter sometime and see how it's done. :)

So, anybody here in Massachusetts hunt? :D

[Mike Irwin]

"As far as moving back to the world someday..listen to an old man. If you have something you want to do, do it NOW for chrissake, there isn't any "next time!"

I do have something I want to do right now -- keep earning the kind of money that I'm earning here, but which I wouldn't have a hope of earning back in Pennsylvania or in New Mexico.

As for hitting the deer with a stick, does my Subaru wagon count as a stick?

[Dannyboy]

I am too wussy to clean it and prep it

I'm the same way. I got my first deer this year and as my friend and I were dressing it, I got the dry heaves. I've always had a weak stomach (can't stand the sight of blood, unless it's my own). Yeah, it's a pain in the butt but you get over it.

[telomerase]

Don't eat for a couple of days. You'll find the process of field dressing perfectly acceptable.

[thumbtack]

Once you have cleaned an animal a couple of times you will find that it is not hard and is not as gross as you think.

[MeekandMild]

My 2 cents worth is that there are about a hundred million too many feral cats in this country eating up our songbirds, mice and voles. You don't have to eat a feral cat, just leave it out for the buzzards.

[Sunray]

Up here, if you're out walking in the woods and have a firearm with you, you are assumed to be hunting. Therefore, you must have all appropriate licences or you'll be in for a world of legal BS. Talk to the Massachusetts Fish and Game Dept or whatever it's called there and find out what it taked to get a hunting licence. And because it is Massachusetts be ready for a whole bunch of BS about you having a firearm at all. Quit electing Ted Kennedy and a lot of said BS should go away.

[jdkelly]

jamz,

You could start by going over to the Natick Sports Store in Natick center. They have a gun department and a couple of the clerks seem pretty sharp. (Short heavy set guy) Tell them what you are interested in.

You will need a Hunter Safety Course to get a hunting license. You can't hunt with a center rifle in Mass, so check out the shotguns. You might be able to get the name of a butcher from the clerks, who would do your deer for you. If you don't want to eat what you shoot you might be able to donate the meat to charity. That might make you feel better about taking a game animal that you don't want to eat yourself.

Find people who hunt and learn from them.


Respectfully,

jkelly

[jamz]

Jkelly: No kidding? I'm sort of near Natick, I'll check them out. Thanks for the tip. I didn't know that you couldn't hunt with a centerfire rifle... how do people get deer and bear and such?

Anyway, I'd mostly be doing this on my mom's land, so I'd have to look into what you can shoot on your own land (vs. public land)

-James

[inGobwetrust]

James,

Email me some time and we can talk. I live in both NH and MA (Newton) and do quite a bit of hunting. I'd be glad to take you along to see what it's like. I do a bit of varmint hunting this time of year and turkey season is in May. You could easily have your Hunter Ed certificate by then. If you shoot at a club in MA I'm sure they offer the courses at some time or can tell you where to take one. There are some pretty good hunting opportunities in the Sudbury area and I could teach you to field dress a deer in just a few minutes. Let me know if you're interested.

Patrick

[Brian Dale]

Is there something ... that ... will actually do some good to the local wilderness? I'm thinking ... pests ... or that sort of thing. {cut & pasted to bring ideas together; not meaning to take them out of context} Deer! Deer! DeerDeerDeerDeerDeer!

They're beautiful, and they're herbivores rather than predators or scavengers, and Geezer's right (with both — whoops — all three posts). Unfortunately, their numbers are exceeding the capacity of many areas to support healthy populations. I run the risk here of sounding like I'm treating living animals like beans to be counted, but that's not my purpose. I just want to add one more aspect of the story.

When I went deer hunting in Wisconsin 5 years ago, I learned that more whitetails had been killed by cars in that state the previous year than had been taken by hunters ten years before that. The whitetail population had increased so much that that was one result. Lots of drivers get killed, too. I'm not saying that people should shoot them 'cause "they're in our way;" I'm saying that enormous deer numbers are causing real problems for wildlife, as well.

Our local (in North Carolina) Vol. FD hosted a hunter safety course last fall; the Wildlife officer who taught it asked everyone to please take their legal limit of deer this (and every) year. There are just too many for the population to stay healthy at the current rate of increase. Peaceful though they might be, there are huge numbers of whitetails in the Eastern United States. I'd rather see some of them on my table instead of dying of disease in the woods. That said, I can't top Geezer's middle post, and the rest here, for expressing what's important about the whole experience. And if you find yourself feeling gratitude to the deer, to nature, to God, however the feeling shows up for you, don't be alarmed. We all feel it.

Now get out there — it looks like you'll be in good hands.

Oh - almost forgot: might be shotguns, muzzleloaders and archery for deer, rifles, muzzleloaders & archery for bears. The sporting goods guys that jdkelly referred you to can probably fill you in; might have copies of the regs for hunters to take home, too.

[Carlos Cabeza]

If you have a problem with cleaning your kill you may want to start with smaller game animals such as birds or rabbits. I think bird hunting is more suited to the beginner because they are easy to clean and provide plenty of challenge to keep you interested. They taste good too ! You'll easily get over your aversion for cleaning your quarry after you have done it a few times and realize the rewards obtained from the hunting sports.
Have Fun !!

[jdkelly]

jamz,

I'm a pretty poor hunter, but it sounds like "inGobwetrust" will set you up.

I don't know where you are as a shooter but you need to learn and practice safety first, shooting second and then hunting last.

If it's your parents land you want to hunt, make sure you know the laws regarding hunting in your town. Start walking the land now, just after a fresh snow is best. You will see the deer tracks and get an understanding of how they are moving through your parents property.

You are very lucky to be able to hunt land you know.


Good Luck,


jkelly

[Mike Irwin]

Here's an interesting little tidbit I read about whitetail deer populations...

It's estimated (can't remember who did the estimates, but some biogroup) that there are more deer in Pennsylvnaia today than there were in the entire nation East of the Mississippi River in 1700.

The reason?

Pretty much everything east of the Mississippi was old growth forest, and old growth forest stinks when it comes to supporting deer populations. The situation we have now, with lots of farming, urban gardening, planting of ornamentals that make good browse, have caused deer populations to skyrocket.

[jamz]

Yeah, I am lucky to know this land a bit. I've played all around there since I was 9 years old or so.

I've been shooting for probably 15 years, on and off, but only target and trap and such. Went hunting once for geese, which was fun, but we had a guide and actually, in this one strange instance, servants to clean and prep 'em. :eek:


Patrick, I will emial you- I'd love to know where around Sudbury I could start hunting. You are more than welcome down here to my Mom's place and start clearing coyotes. :)

-James

[Byron Quick]

OK, we're going to need reports of progress, folks. Good thread. Solid high road.

[Johnpl]

jamz-
I've been thinking of checking out some of the pheasant-stocked WMA's off of Rt 9...didn't get a chance to this past season, but hopefully in Fall '04. Send me an e-mail if interested.

[MeekandMild]

Pretty much everything east of the Mississippi was old growth forest, and old growth forest stinks when it comes to supporting deer populations. Once when I went to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky one of the guides gave another take on the subject. He said that there were actually areas of prairie in the state, where the Indians burned off the forest to keep grasslands growing.

Why? So they could have buffalo herds. They didn't manage their land for deer.

[Mannlicher]

stick with shooting beer cans, you are just not cut out for hunting. :D

[Byron Quick]

The burning of the forests to create prairie sounds like a legend to me...after all...there wasn't a shortage of prairie.

More than that...the use of the prairie and the evolvement of plains Indian tribes hunting buffalo required the capture or domestication of the horse.

The wild horse herds weren't there until the 1600's and even then it took a good while for their numbers to increase.

The various Lakota tribes were still in Michigan in the late 1700's.

Prior to the domestication of the horse...and figuring out how the hell to ride...Indians didn't have but one real way to hunt buffalo. And it was chancy when it came to reliably feeding the tribe year after year.

You find a herd in the right spot with the wind blowing right. You set the prairie on fire at multiple spots in a semicircle hemming in the herd. The wind is blowing the fire towards the herd. The herd stampedes...right over a cliff.

Real in tune with the balance of nature.

[Art Eatman]

Other than some popular opinion, where is it written that homo sap ain't a part of "nature"? :D Those AmerInds were just following one of "Art's Laws": "Whatever works is by definition good."

:D, Art

[jamz]

UPDATE:

This week I am getting my hunting license. :D

Looks like there are a couple of things that have no season around here, and it turns out that I live only a HALF MILE from a 450 acre Wilderness Management Area (public hunting/fishing preserve)!!!! Walking distance!

I went out there with my 4 year old last week to check out the land. Nice place, but a bit flooded out right now. Lots of deer and coyote tracks.

I can't wait.

-James

[MeekandMild]

Good for you. You'll enjoy it. :D

Earlier in this thread there was discussion about the 'icky' parts of hunting. So the best advice would be to ask around until you can find an old hunter who can show you how to field dress the deer. Lacking that, find a deer processor who would be willing to walk you through field dressing the first time. The processor can then finish the job any way you like it. Best to ask for it deboned.

(I've cleaned fish and wildlife since I was about five years old, but it might be problematic for a new guy. I once took a goat to a processor to see what would happen and ended up with about 100 little shrink wrapped packages that looked like pork chops, totally weirded me out.)

About old growth forest East of the Mississippi, I did some more reading since this thread started its first cycle. Nachez, Choctaw and Chickasaw had vast land holdings planted in crops. Using slash and burn techniques there probably wasn't much forest in the lowlands.

[HBK]

I'm having the same problem. I want to start hunting, but I have, to the letter, the same concerns as you, jamz. The advice on this thread is excellent. I would go with you, actually, but it would be the blind leading the blind and I'm 3,000 miles from you. I need to find an old hunter around Washington that can pass down some of his knowledge.