Never been hunting, need help!

[Wolfshead]

So I didn't grow up with anybody to take me hunting. But I've decided that it would be a useful skill to know and would be a good thing to have in my belt for potential difficult times ahead. Plus it'd be nice to have the extra meat.

I've never been hunting before, but I decided that I'm going to start small, and go after some squirrels or rabbits. Work my way up to deer next season (if I can find a place to go)

I need to find a place to go yet, but I've got some friends who know places to hunt small game.

I'll have my trusty 10/22 rifle, my Morakniv Companion knife, and some binoculars.

I've been watching YouTube videos on how to field dress and gut squirrels and rabbits, as well as how to prepare them.

My questions are: what tips/tricks can you guys share with me for a beginner hunter? Any gear suggestions? Any hunting/stalking tips? Anything at all that I should know?

I really wish I had family members or family friends to teach me this stuff, but I'm 37 years old now, and if I don't make it happen, it never will on its own. Anything you guys could add would be valuable insight!

I’m 63 years old and I started hunting ten years ago.
I didn’t grow up in a hunting family. My Dad hunted some before I was born, but never after. I had a close Uncle who hunted some but not much, and it was never really a conversation.
My Brother has been an avid hunter for many years, and he started when I was in college and was away.
I hunt mostly Whitetail Deer.
what I would suggest is to find everything you can on what you’re interested in hunting.
Get your hunters safety course as so as possible. You may be able to make connections there.
I would suggest to learn as much as possible on everything you want to hunt. I wouldn’t wait to learn how to hunt deer, I would decide what I want to hunt and learn everyday I can do to hunt it all right now, squirrels, rabbits, deer, right now.
I would start learning - reading, watching videos, YouTube, seminars, forums, what ever you can absorb, I would try to take advantage of it.
Dont wait to learn how to hunt deer next season, learn now. Next season you’ll be a season behind the learning curve. Start to learn now, you can put it into practice next season.
look into your local Conservation dept they may be able to help you find places to hunt, and have other info on hunting.
Get very familiar with your rifle, and know how it shoots at certain distances. KNOW how it shoots. At 20 yards, at 30 yards, at 40 yards, etc…
I would suggest looking into what your going to want for a deer rifle as they’re not going to be cheap and what caliber you’re going to want, and when you get it learn how it shoots and know what it does.
I would get a good pair or two of good hunting boots. Your feet are going to carry you where you’re hunting so being comfortable, warm, and dry are extremely important.
Clothes are important too, but you can hunt in a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt and be successful. All that camo and stuff is not necessary (but it is fun to shop for) Me personally, I have been getting a lot of wool clothing lately, for deer hunting and I love how quiet and warm it is. And, it has a lot of other qualities that make it a good hunting choice. Again, that can wait and be added over time.

 

[M65Man]

Wolfshead has learned a plenty in his 10 years, good advice! Late season & post season are the best time to learn what's happened in woods the previous fall, get out now. Especially pertaining to deer and squirrels. Deer trails, travel corridors that funnel because of terrain, anyplace they've traveled or spent lots time will show! Rut sign such as rubs and scrapes easy to see.
Squirrels favored trees such as hickory, oak, and walnut, you can see the evidence of their cuttings underneath. May need to stir few leaves with a stick but evidence is there! Learn your hunting strategy, routes, for the next season based upon what's evident now! Picture it as happened if you'd been there, as happening again next season, because it probably will!
Yes, practice shooting, and I still practice rifle shots in woods with cardboard cut outs. Time in woods is only teacher and fun doing it all is worthwhile! Get out now, get started, do it your way! Don't need a Lotta fancy gear or so called hunting secrets on internet. Just get out go hunting!

 

[American_Fusilier]

Went on a squirrel hunt today. Didn't see a single squirrel the whole day. Oh well. It was still fun to go out and enjoy the woods.

 

[.308 Norma]

It was still fun to go out and enjoy the woods.

 

[wombat13]

That is strange to read. I've never killed a turkey (or even hunted for them), but a few years ago, a friend gave me the breast of a wild turkey he had killed. I smoked it for Thanksgiving, and found it to be the best poultry I'd ever tasted...moist, tender, and mild.

Agreed. I love turkey. The whole bird tastes like dark meat to me.

 

[wombat13]

Smoked or deep fried they are edible.

My dad grew up poor. His parents had an outhouse till they died in the early 2000s. He was NEVER a picky eater. Tuna, treat, Vienna, bologna, hotdogs etc etc.....he wanted a wild turkey years ago and so did my wife. I shot both one and even cleaned them myself in the field. Both cooked the turkey and both fed it to the dogs..... lol. I came home to tacos and said "what happened to the turkey".....dog got it.

I know many many sportsman and hunted with 70 year olds when I was a kid in the 80/90s... never once heard anyone actually like turkey unless it was farm turkey or deep fried or smoked. Lol.

Maybe why you can't even shoot one unless its an old male here....because nobody eats them anyway. Lol

I've killed and eat thousands of farm raised birds. Turkey, chicken, duck, an ostrich,, guinea (don't tell the wife). Ate bear, rattlesnake, Buffalo, bat, gator, deer, groundhog....but a nasty stinking wild turkey is more of a survival food. After all the good stuff like grub worms and slugs are dead..... lol. Their eggs are huge and taste like any other egg though. Duck, goose, guinea, chicken etc. All about the same.

I wonder what the turkeys are eating in your area. It sounds like you are talking about a totally different species than the turkeys I've eaten.

 

[wombat13]

Thanks guys!

Where do you guys shoot the deer? I know the traditional double lung is what I'll probably go for. But I know about the high shoulder shot too.

What do you guys use?

View attachment 1180068

I always go for the double lung, but that dot is a bit too far back (so is the heart dot), in my opinion. It should be a little to the left of where the heart dot is. High shoulder will cost you a fair amount of meat.

 

[wombat13]

Aorta. Top of the heart. Only missed it once, 125 yard shot with a muzzleloader, I overestimated the hold (.50 cal sighted fir 50 yards) so I ended up double lunging that doe.

Yep, aorta is the best shot. You get both lungs and the heart is still pumping blood out the destroyed aorta. I just don't know deer anatomy well enough to shoot for the aorta, but I find I hit it almost half the time when I shoot for the double lung.

 

[wombat13]

I don't exactly know how to explain this, but one thing I've learned over the years (and taught my wife and daughter) is to not "shoot AT a deer." Instead, I imagine a spot about the size of a baseball ON a deer, and shoot at that spot instead - if that makes sense.

This is super important advice. Look at the deer as long as you need to decide whether you want to shoot. When it comes time to shoot and you take the safety off, you need to be focusing on the exact spot you want that bullet to hit. Also, you want to "follow through", by which I mean you should be trying to look at that exact spot as the gun fires and as the bullet hits the deer (although recoil may prevent you from actually seeing it).

Many a buck has had his antler shot off because the hunter looks "at" the deer as the shot breaks. One's eye is naturally drawn to the antlers on a buck and people typically automatically move the crosshairs to wherever they are looking without even knowing they're doing it.

 

[entropy]

Yep, aorta is the best shot. You get both lungs and the heart is still pumping blood out the destroyed aorta. I just don't know deer anatomy well enough to shoot for the aorta, but I find I hit it almost half the time when I shoot for the double lung.

Same reason I aim for the Aorta. Champion makes a target that has the lungs and aorta on it. Aim small, miss small.
Every deer I've tagged except one was hit in the aorta, that one being a doe I shot with a muzzleloader on an uphill shot at 125 yards, sighted in at 50. I overcompensated by 2 inches, and double lunged her.

When I was deer hunting my first time at 15, I shot a doe in the butt, after my Dad had done the same thing. The guy who tracked it and ended having to use his doe tag on it was not happy with either of us, and we both got deer anatomy lessons, admonishment to be more patient, and some range time with the anatomy targets.

 

[jmorris]

My questions are: what tips/tricks can you guys share with me for a beginner hunter? Any gear suggestions? Any hunting/stalking tips? Anything at all that I should know?

Sit still and watch what’s happening around you without anything knowing your there is a great technique. Even better if you do it near a food source.

For rabbit though, it’s pretty hard to beat driving around at night with a spotlight, probably not the best idea of your not the land owner though…

If you’re heart rate speeds up before you squeeze that trigger, just watch the animal in your sight picture for a bit and proceed when you calm down.

 

[Savage30L]

For rabbit though, it’s pretty hard to beat driving around at night with a spotlight, probably not the best idea of your not the land owner though…

This is illegal in my state, and in many other states.

 

[jmorris]

Well, I certainly would check first. It’s still legal here but my taste for rabbit has faded over the decades….

 

[crestoncowboy]

I wonder what the turkeys are eating in your area. It sounds like you are talking about a totally different species than the turkeys I've eaten.

Idk. Id imagine the same things they eat anywhere at 35-5500 ft. Ive been around hunters my entire adult life. Most of the old guard actually hunted out of necessity. Most of my bunch and the younger bunch hunted for sport. But even the old guys I knew (ww1 vets into ww2 vets... that era) i never once heard a soul say they liked the wild turkey up here.

And mind you im in the appalachain mountains. I've heard People brag on how well their mammy fixed groundhog and possum and then say that they can't stand wild turkey. Lol. Same guys that walked to school in the snow up hill both ways and kept their cars running with a match book and some wire. Got half an apple for Christmas every other year etc etc etc. You know they had it rough.

 

[American_Fusilier]

Well, went on my first deer hunt today. Spent the whole day in the field. Saw a couple does, and we tried tracking them, but lost them. Then sat in a field for the rest of the day. Didn't see anything else, no deer.

A couple things I learned:

I am so very out of shape! I nearly couldn't make it back on a few of those long hikes to the hunting location...

I need a sling for my rifle.

I need a better scope for my rifle.

I need a better blaze orange vest.

I need practice shooting at distances longer than 100 yards.

And I need (want) my own land. We hunted all public land today, which was fine, we only saw 2 other hunters the whole day. But it'd be nice to have my own permanent deer stand.

At least we saw deer today. Unlike the squirrel hunt last week...

 

[crestoncowboy]

Well, went on my first deer hunt today. Spent the whole day in the field. Saw a couple does, and we tried tracking them, but lost them. Then sat in a field for the rest of the day. Didn't see anything else, no deer.

A couple things I learned:

I am so very out of shape! I nearly couldn't make it back on a few of those long hikes to the hunting location...

I need a sling for my rifle.

I need a better scope for my rifle.

I need a better blaze orange vest.

I need practice shooting at distances longer than 100 yards.

And I need (want) my own land. We hunted all public land today, which was fine, we only saw 2 other hunters the whole day. But it'd be nice to have my own permanent deer stand.

At least we saw deer today. Unlike the squirrel hunt last week...

Don't over scope. I spent 20 years thinking I needed a 6-24 power Monarch 7 or vx-12 or something to shoot 1-300 yards. Id get a rifle i liked to carry and strap on a leather sling and a 4 lb scope and a 3 lb bipod.... I stayed in good shape though. Lol. Now I carry my <8 lb rifle and think how stupid I was back then.

Took me years to decide that though. Everyone envied my hubble on my rifles and id hear the rare person say "why so much zoom" and id think "because I can afford it why not". Then with the hunting shows on TV I noticed that the guys on TV who never bought a piece of gear in their life were using straight 4x or 3-9 or at most 4-12 for woods hunting whitetail. Lol

 

[Anchorite]

Don't over scope. I spent 20 years thinking I needed a 6-24 power Monarch 7 or vx-12 or something to shoot 1-300 yards. Id get a rifle i liked to carry and strap on a leather sling and a 4 lb scope and a 3 lb bipod.... I stayed in good shape though. Lol. Now I carry my <8 lb rifle and think how stupid I was back then.

Took me years to decide that though. Everyone envied my hubble on my rifles and id hear the rare person say "why so much zoom" and id think "because I can afford it why not". Then with the hunting shows on TV I noticed that the guys on TV who never bought a piece of gear in their life were using straight 4x or 3-9 or at most 4-12 for woods hunting whitetail. Lol

We all know the 3x9 is the most popular scope in the world, or maybe a 4x….point is, 99.9% leave the scope set on a single power and use their bino’s for glassing.

I could hunt the rest of my life with a 6x and never feel impaired.

 

[crestoncowboy]

We all know the 3x9 is the most popular scope in the world, or maybe a 4x….point is, 99.9% leave the scope set on a single power and use their bino’s for glassing.

I could hunt the rest of my life with a 6x and never feel impaired.

I've seen exactly one person in the woods in the appalachain mountains other than myself with binos.... ever. And he had a pair of steiner.

 

[jmorris]

Well, went on my first deer hunt today. Spent the whole day in the field. Saw a couple does, and we tried tracking them, but lost them. Then sat in a field for the rest of the day. Didn't see anything else, no deer.

A couple things I learned:

I am so very out of shape! I nearly couldn't make it back on a few of those long hikes to the hunting location...

I need a sling for my rifle.

I need a better scope for my rifle.

I need a better blaze orange vest.

I need practice shooting at distances longer than 100 yards.

And I need (want) my own land. We hunted all public land today, which was fine, we only saw 2 other hunters the whole day. But it'd be nice to have my own permanent deer stand.

At least we saw deer today. Unlike the squirrel hunt last week...

You keep that train of thought chugging along, you will be a teacher in short order, lots of others just “deal” vs improve.

 

[Hookeye]

My Steiner 10x42 are in my glovebox
Use em to glass stuff out in fields
Too.much mag and weight to tote in the woods.
Id like a small 8x for that

Hunt the midwest, some ag and woods. Have taken only a couple deer out in ag fields. Most in woods or CRP.

Between the hours of 10am and 2 pm.
I hold off in bow til Halloween.

Too warm and green plus corn up elsewhere in early bow.....deer dont have or want to move much.

 

[Hookeye]

This yr cuz blasted his 8 pt that was going solo at 10: 50 am.

 

[crestoncowboy]

My Steiner 10x42 are in my glovebox
Use em to glass stuff out in fields
Too.much mag and weight to tote in the woods.
Id like a small 8x for that

Hunt the midwest, some ag and woods. Have taken only a couple deer out in ag fields. Most in woods or CRP.

Between the hours of 10am and 2 pm.
I hold off in bow til Halloween.

Too warm and green plus corn up elsewhere in early bow.....deer dont have or want to move much.

I know plenty who haul binos in their vehicle.

Hunting i carry some sorry leupold 8x wind river Mesa. Light and good enough.

 

[American_Fusilier]

I took a pair of binoculars with me. Some old Carl Zeiss 8x. They belonged to my great grandpa. I wanted to take as much equipment of his that I could. But I only have the rifle and the binos.

 

[Wolfshead]

I took a pair of binoculars with me. Some old Carl Zeiss 8x. They belonged to my great grandpa. I wanted to take as much equipment of his that I could. But I only have the rifle and the binos.

That’s a great start, and an awesome tribute to your Great Grandfather!

Well, went on my first deer hunt today. Spent the whole day in the field. Saw a couple does, and we tried tracking them, but lost them. Then sat in a field for the rest of the day. Didn't see anything else, no deer.

A couple things I learned:

I am so very out of shape! I nearly couldn't make it back on a few of those long hikes to the hunting location...

I need a sling for my rifle.

I need a better scope for my rifle.

I need a better blaze orange vest.

I need practice shooting at distances longer than 100 yards.

And I need (want) my own land. We hunted all public land today, which was fine, we only saw 2 other hunters the whole day. But it'd be nice to have my own permanent deer stand.

At least we saw deer today. Unlike the squirrel hunt last week...

It’s always nice to see deer when hunting, and every outing is a new learning experience.
I‘m uncertain of when your season is over, but when it is you’ll have the whole offseason to take what you’ve learned from this season, and apply it to your needs and expectations.
Before you know it you’ll be ready and able for most any hunt.
But, be careful! You may get bit by the hunting bug! (Sounds like you may already have)

 

[American_Fusilier]

That’s a great start, and an awesome tribute to your Great Grandfather!


It’s always nice to see deer when hunting, and every outing is a new learning experience.
I‘m uncertain of when your season is over, but when it is you’ll have the whole offseason to take what you’ve learned from this season, and apply it to your needs and expectations.
Before you know it you’ll be ready and able for most any hunt.
But, be careful! You may get bit by the hunting bug! (Sounds like you may already have)

Thanks!

Yeah I've been interesting in getting into hunting for a while now. But just recently found someone to take me.

My time deer hunting is over for this season. But I'll have more opportunities to go squirrel hunting until the end of February.

I'm going to have to drastically alter my grandpa's rifle to set it up for me. I'm debating doing that, or waiting for my birthday and just getting a savage axis or something.