How Does Hunting Survive?

[USMC3531]

my dad wasnt a hunter so when i was old enough to hunt i read magazines and books on hunting. i was a boyscout so i spent a good deal of time in the woods, youll start seeing tracks,trails,signs. pick where you want to or can hunt, pull it up on google satellite try to look for an area away from roads/trails (the deeper you go the less people you will see.) find a water source. then go out scout the area looking for food sources (i do this during small game season two birds one stone) find a spot that you can see a fair distance and mark it.

I pay to have mine butchered there are several local places, as far as field dressing as long as you dont puncture any guts your good as there isnt much meat on the underside of animals. and if you want to extend your season muzzle loader is imo easier than archery to get into.

[Emptymag]

I'm kind of the opposite of the OP.
I hunted from the age I was legally allowed to do so and did so for a whopping 5 years until I moved away from home.

Hunting was a "me and dad" thing for me more than anything and once I moved away, I lost interest.

One eight point buck was the only thing I took in those 5 years, but even as a kid, just being "out there" was the best part of all.

[BJR]

This is a good question - and how I showed up in the hunting forum today. My son is eight and wants to hunt deer. I've never hunted, my dad never hunted and I am having a hard time on the getting started part. At least for me, I'm not self-motivated but it seems like something he is interested in so we are considering it. Maybe we'll start with turkeys or geese - something small and edible.

Fair to say, you're not alone.

[daschnoz]

How does hunting survive - we are men. After 10,000 years of evolution, our brains are hard wired to make us hunters. It's how the men fed their families/tribes/etc. You're not going to change 10,000 years of programming overnight.

You'll figure out the rest. They didn't have YouTube 10,000 years ago and their choice was figure it out or die - everything from the tools they used and their tactics to how they butchered and used every last piece of what they harvested.


Thank God that we have a grocery store down the street and don't need to survive solely on what we harvest from the woods.

[lts1ow]

I had never been deer hunting before I moved to where I live now. Talked to neighbor and got invited to go with him and the group hunting. First season didn't get anything but I got out there a lot. After that season, freezer is almost always full. We hunt public land so get there early and get in deep past where people usually go.

Don't overthink it, and don't think you need to spend a fortune to get out there. I overthought field dressing until I actually did it and it was super easy. Bring medical/rubber gloves and take off wristwatch. I used a cheap Mora companion knife, and currently just use a OKC rat3. Keep em sharp and be comfortable with your tools is the best advice.

With regards to butchering, use a small knife and get a nice skinning knife. If you are patient and observe the anatomy of a deer, it all can come apart easily and without cutting bones. (it helps to have a med student wife ) My butchering skills have vastly improved over when I started but it all stems from patience and some foresight.

Youtube will be great at showing you tons of advice and other than that, practice practice. I think I was doing 15-20 bow shots a night prior to season opener.

[Gunsnwater]

Hunter education class. Required before you get your license. Great starting place.

By the way, ask your hunting friends if they will take you hunting, not how to hunt. It's a doing thing. Start with squirrel and a 12ga.

[mmi]

some charity s take road kills maybe you can help them butcher one or two . ask the game commission if their are any in around you . may be they know some one that needs a hunting partner .

[27hand]

Today, I was a back yard hunter. I know deer travel along a bench 30 yards from my back door.
At 645 this morning, I had a buck walk under me.
It was too early to shoot and too dark to verify how many points.
I believe this guy was one of my morning visitors.
2017-10-27_07-00-49 by poofy27, on Flickr

At 725, 2 more small racked bucks walked the opposite direction. I think one was legal but in the 6 or 7 seconds I had to look at both and make a decision, they were in cover.
The point is there are deer everywhere.
I live in a residential neighborhood with woods behind my place. I have probably harvested 8 or 9 deer back there, a few about 30 yds further in with permission of that landowner (3 acres) .
I sit on my deck morning's an watch them. They, in turn, watch me.
Very cool.

[eatmydust]

bigandy1966 hit very many excellent points, I only disagree with him on one point, after removing as much scent as possible from you and your equipment, I advise the use of fox urine as a cover scent on your boot soles. It not only helps to cover your human induced scents, I've watched deer track me out of curiosity, as long as I was fastidious about removing the great majority of my scents. During the "rut" I substitite doe in heat urine and have taken a buck that tracked me right to my stand before. Early season is always fox urine and from November on, I always use doe urine.

[free]

I'm not asking for any sympathy here; I'm not asking anyone here to teach me. What I am asking is how does a guy who's never hunted learn?

Same way you can learn pretty much anything else. You pay someone for lessons.

Put up an ad offering $500 or whatever you think is appropriate, for someone to give you a "Hunting 101" course. Specify in your offer what material you want covered, and to what level of detail, and any parameters you want around a hunting outing. Offer 25% up front, 25% when outing is planned and committed, and the remaining 50% upon completion of the outing.

If you don't get any takers at $500, up your offer until you get a response you like.