Newbie
 

I'm 16 and want to start hunting but have no idea where to start.

There is a LOT of info out there, but I think you might be overwhelmed by trying to take it all in all at once. Your best bet is to find someone with some experience to help get you started. Then, after you have gotten into it a bit, start doing your own research to help improve on what you are doing. See http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/neblan...ng/deer101.asp for a site I found by searching "Deerhunting 101". You might also search for "how to hunt deer".

The way I summarize it is that you need to learn to:
- know what a deer smells (so he does not smell you)
- know what a deer sees (so he does not see you)
- know what a deer hears (so he will not hear you)
- know where a deer will be at different times and seasons (so you can be there 1st)
- know how a deer will react (to your calls,or scent lures, or your detected scent)
- know what drives a deer (what they will eat, their breeding behavior)

Most of us started with small game. What are you interested in hunting, and what part of the country are you in?

I'm from Montana and will probably hunt deer and goose

Well, like MZS says, making contact with other hunters is probably your best bet. Not always possible though. I would focus on the resources that the Montana Fish & Game department has to offer. Study what they have online. There should be info about public land to hunt and such. Be familiar with the regulations. Call and talk to your local Fish & Game / DNR or whatever their called there -- in my experience, most are pretty helpful. Also, think about what you are going to do after you harvest an animal. There are videos on Youtube that can show you how to dress and process an animal.

I just started 5 years ago and I have learned alot by talking to friends that hunt, reading anything I can get my hands on and spending time in the woods to get to know your hunting ground.

Find out through your states game/wildlife dept. about hunter safety course requirements.These courses teach a lot regardless.Learning when/what to shoot and not to shoot is critical.Glad to see you want to become a member of the great outdoors.

Both of these are excellent advice. Pay heed!

You won't tag a deer when you aren't where they are, or they smelled you, heard you, or saw you.

Here's my supplement to the advice you've been given:

Have you taken a hunter safety course? That will be necessary to be legal. They typically give insights into animals, too and you will likely meet some people that could become hunting buddies.

Besides safety courses and a license, you'll need to locate a place to hunt and assemble the right equipment--weapons, knife, appropriate clothes, etc.

What have you got nailed down so far?

The first thing you'll want to do is to find out the rules governing hunting in your state. You'll want to know seasons, limits, what kinds of weapons are legal, etc. Then it's pretty likely you'll have to take a hunter safety course. So sign up for that.

Then you can start hunting. Okay, you don't need a gun to hunt. That's for the "hunting" season where you can actually kill something. But getting out where the critters are, finding out where they hang out, how close you can get, what they like to eat, what kind of tracks they make and so on. This is the kind of hunting, some call it scouting, that will help you enormously when you go out with a bow or a gun.

We, that is my husband and I, spend a lot of time in the woods just scouting. We take the girls along, (they're five and three now), so they can learn too.

Find / talk to some of the ole' timer's at the Hunter's safety course, Shooting range & Hunting clubs.


Become a "marksman, woodsman & conservationist" - it will serve you well as a hunter !