New to hunting look for mentor

[Glocknuffsaid]

Hi everyone,
I live in York. I emailed the PGC about finding a hunting mentor for me twice with no luck. I have my hunting license, hunting education card, Rifle (we could talk about my choice here later) and most, if not all the gear I could afford for the season. I only never been hunting before. It’s something I want to try. If I get a deer great and if I take my rifle for a long weekend walk, that’s ok too. Just want to experience this for myself. Any advise or if you’re one of the PGC mentors please contact me here and we could talk. I’m 45 with wife and kids, know a little about the outdoors and really want and would like to learn the sport. I’m not a newb to firearms but hunting I’m a baby. Please help ladies and gents. Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,
A guy trying fulfilling a dream!
glocknuffsaid

[lager1829]

Hi everyone,
I live in York. I emailed the PGC about finding a hunting mentor for me twice with no luck. I have my hunting license, hunting education card, Rifle (we could talk about my choice here later) and most, if not all the gear I could afford for the season. I only never been hunting before. It*s something I want to try. If I get a deer great and if I take my rifle for a long weekend walk, that*s ok too. Just want to experience this for myself. Any advise or if you*re one of the PGC mentors please contact me here and we could talk. I*m 45 with wife and kids, know a little about the outdoors and very what to learn. I*m not a newb to firearms but hunting I*m a baby. Please help ladies and gents. Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,
A guy trying fulfilling a dream!
glocknuffsaid

Good to see a new hunter. Try contacting your local National Deer Association Branch (formerly Quality Deer Management Association - QDMA) Lots of information here.

https://www.deerassociation.com/

I think yours would be the Mason Dixon Branch.

Here is the contact info: Rick Watts is a great guy and has championed the cause for many years
MASON-DIXON BRANCH
502 W Siddonsburg Rd.
Dillsburg, PA 17019
Phone: (717) 841-4087
Contact: Rick Watts
Email: bowhawk@comcast.net

[bigandy1966]

Generally speaking, hunting is a solitary endeavor, and most of the allure is learning by trial and error.
Not Making too much noise, Not moving around too much and scent mitigation are paramount skills to learn
Patience patience patience.
Sound is your primary enemy, Motion and scent are close second and third place.
Getting impatient and moving from place to place is spoiling your hunt, and maybe the person on the other side of the hills hut too.
Patience patience patience.
Look at a deer, their whole head is nothing but eyes ears and nose. and they have some of the most acute senses of any north American game species.
Patience patience patience.
I live too far away to give you any actual personal direction, but a few helpful points of advice:
Get a tree stand.
Be patient.
learn how to put it up with minimal sound and banging around in the dark.
Learn how to find the deer through sign, I.E poop, scrapes rubs and trails (plenty of pictures on line)
Learn the area you will be hunting, spend plenty of pre season time scouting for deer.
teach yourself how to identify game trails
Learn where when and why the deer are in particular areas
Patience patience patience.
Train your brain to identify deer by watching hunting videos, or looking at pictures ( as weird as this sounds, when your brain can identify parts or whole deer you will be able to spot them sooner.)
Patience patience patience.
Its a challenging past time but after you learn these things (and it may take YEARS) you will be rewarded by some doe sneaking up on you, eyeballing you for 30 seconds at 20 yards, stamping her feet, then snorting as she runs away, taunting you with her flag like white tail waving like a white glove good bye

[Rosco the Iroc]

I love to take out new hunters. But your nowhere near me. What ^ he said is the gist of it but it's still fun to go with a few people for at least your first few times. Good luck maybe someone else closer will take you under their wing. This is how we keep the sport going. Help out the new guys.

Hi everyone,
I live in York. I emailed the PGC about finding a hunting mentor for me twice with no luck. I have my hunting license, hunting education card, Rifle (we could talk about my choice here later) and most, if not all the gear I could afford for the season. I only never been hunting before. It*s something I want to try. If I get a deer great and if I take my rifle for a long weekend walk, that*s ok too. Just want to experience this for myself. Any advise or if you*re one of the PGC mentors please contact me here and we could talk. I*m 45 with wife and kids, know a little about the outdoors and very what to learn. I*m not a newb to firearms but hunting I*m a baby. Please help ladies and gents. Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,
A guy trying fulfilling a dream!
glocknuffsaid

[wis bang]

Get out and explore the area you intend to hunt. Acme Mapper 2.0 lets you toggle between google maps, terrain, sat and topo. I find it is a good tool to get an idea of an area.

Chances are you will see where people and deer have been moving in the woods.

Walk down a woods road looking at the edges and you will spot where the deer are crossing that road.

Walk off to the nearest windfall and pull up a seat and sit still. Takes time for the rip your presence made in the area to heal.

After 5 to 10 min you should spot squirrels and start seeing birds and hearing woodpeckers. If the deer are moving, you have a chance of seeing them.

When hunting, keep the wind in your face while you move and don't move far, stop and look, study the limits of your field of view, look at all horizontal lines, it could be a deer's back.

You want to see them before they see you.

Blunder around and make noise and the only deer you will see is their tails as they leave the area.

Find a place to park where there is a road or trail, gives you a possibly quiet path into an area and this give you a defined way to go and a good way to keep from getting confused on how to go home.

[Glocknuffsaid]

Good to see a new hunter. Try contacting your local National Deer Association Branch (formerly Quality Deer Management Association - QDMA) Lots of information here.

https://www.deerassociation.com/

I think yours would be the Mason Dixon Branch.

Here is the contact info: Rick Watts is a great guy and has championed the cause for many years
MASON-DIXON BRANCH
502 W Siddonsburg Rd.
Dillsburg, PA 17019
Phone: (717) 841-4087
Contact: Rick Watts
Email: bowhawk@comcast.net

Thank you for all this information. I appreciate it kindly. This is wonderful support. I emailed Mr. Watts and will wait and see. For now YouTube and this website are my teachers. And of course guys like you all. Stay safe and long live the republic.

GlocksNuffSaid

[Glocknuffsaid]

I love to take out new hunters. But your nowhere near me. What ^ he said is the gist of it but it's still fun to go with a few people for at least your first few times. Good luck maybe someone else closer will take you under their wing. This is how we keep the sport going. Help out the new guys.

I know you would’ve. With all that certification under your belt it would’ve been amazing time. Maybe one day I’ll go give it your neck of the woods and we could go out and possible catch a 10 pointer 400 lb buck you could mount on your training facility wall. That would be awesome. Again thank you for your information.

[Glocknuffsaid]

Thank you this is good information. I might just do that. Go into our local state game lands and take a look around. Do you recommend wearing Camo wear and bright orange hat and vest??

[bigandy1966]

I would wear a blaze orange cap, Woodchuck is open and there might be someone hunting.
bring a map and compass, mark it where you see sign and areas deer might find interesting, food water shelter etc.

[fatguyinalittlecoat]

Thank you this is good information. I might just do that. Go into our local state game lands and take a look around. Do you recommend wearing Camo wear and bright orange hat and vest??

know your seasons and specific orange requirements.
http://read.nxtbook.com/pgc/huntingt...equiremen.html

read the Hunting and Trapping digest you received when you purchased license. Here is a digital copy for this year. http://read.nxtbook.com/pgc/huntingt...022/cover.html

know what type of firearm you can legally use in PA for hunting and on what game animal.

you have to get out there and just scout the nearest game land. game trails are relatively easy to find.

Patience (some days you wont even see a squirrel), limit your movements and DONT make noise.