How do I learn how to hunt?
 

Ok so I live in GA and have been wanting to go hunting for a really long time but I have no one to teach me and I am the only one in my family interested in hunting.Should I just watch a few youtube videos and try my luck?

Try to find yourself a mentor, it does not have to be a family member. Perhaps your state's Game agency can send you in the right direction. It is pretty hard to learn without someone to teach you. You will have to take and pass a hunter education training course and the instructors there would also be a good source of information on finding a mentor.

Start with small game, like squirrels...This can teach you shooting skills, how to look for food sources, stalking skills and of course being in the woods and observing helps as well...

Start with a shotgun and move to a .22 with a scope as you gain new skills...After a couple of years of this, move up to deer...By then, you should be a decent shot and will know the area you hunt well enough to know where to set up to ambush a deer...

OT has some good advice. Also, look for some good books on hunting. Get some good videos too, not the "canned hunt" know-it-alls on TV, but there are some good ones out there. Above all, be patient! You won't learn everything in one hunt or even a season. I hunted for 4 or 5 seasons without getting anything. Since then, I've always had a freezer full!

First take the Hunter Safety Course - hopefully you will befriend a few "other" hunters there.

Go to your local shooting range and talk to "them" about your interest in getting "started".

Once you start hanging around like-minded people, you will get a invite to join them on their outings.

Always remember that safety is paramount - In this "sport", sorry doesn't cut-it !!!

Focus on learing the characteristics and behavior of the game you're after, and becoming proficient with whatever you are shooting, whether its gun, bow or whatever.

Don't get caught up with gadgets. Hunting is not purchasing some product, taking it to the woods and trying it, and then buying something else when it doesn't work.

Hunting is the application of skill, knowledge, patience (sometimes perseverence), all toward putting youself in position to get a shot at your intended game. That is the majority of hunting. The more you hunt, the more you learn (assuming you're paying attention rather than just going back to the store to buy the next gimmick). The more you learn, the easier hunting becomes.

Hopefully you connect on your shot. If you do, you may have to "hunt" for your game all over again, and here is where MANY fall short. You owe it to the animal to do your best to recover it.

Last, I encourage you to have a positive mental attitude. You may not see any game the first few times you go out. You have the choice of giving up, or, trying to determine why you are not seeing game. Nobody said it should be easy, and if it was, it would not be so rewarding. Enjoy the effort and work, enjoy your time in the woods, and enjoy the fruits of your efforts that will surely follow, if you choose to take this advise. Good luck!

get a hold of your game and fish department and see if they have a program to bring in new hunters to the sport they have them here in arizona. also get some good videos of guy's that teach you some of there tricks of the trade so to speak i watched a bunch of roger raglin videos even though some people think he's a little cooky he is a very good hunter and the cost of his videos are well worth the money it takes a long time to learn some of these things. wish you luck and most important be safe !!

Grow a beard. Then you will know.

:sign0016:

Go to your local sportsman club and see if they have a program like ours. We have members who mentor young adults (14 and up) who do not have hunters in their family to take them. Many of the young adults are from single parent homes or like your self no one else interested in hunting to teach.
Many here will start by getting you thru a hunters safety course, lots of week end range work on the shot gun courses, 5 stand sporting clays. skeet and trap. Some week ends on the rifle range and pistol range.
There is no fee for this, many times the mentor will even pick the young adult at their home. Also any members keep starter type guns around just for use by the young adult they took under their care.
There are several different county clubs here with a similar program.

:D Al

The folks are right............get into a Basic Hunter Safety Course. You'll need it for your right to get a License.

After that.........here are some thoughts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf-g...9W_GhDwM9krwmg

1. Hunters Safety - Without it you can't buy a license, so it is a must-do.
2. Determine what you want to hunt, and the method to hunt that type of game. Read up on/watch videos of/ and make every attempt to observe that species in the wild.
3. Place/places to hunt - Do you have somewhere to go? Find a spot or a friend who can help you.
4. Spend hours at a shooting range or similar making sure you are very familiar with your hunting weapons and other hunting tools.
5. Spend hours during non-hunting periods in your hunting area. Observe nature, take note of what you see and hear.
6. If you dislike or refuse to do any or all of 1-5, then hunting may not be for you.

NoMercy was succinct !!! :lolabove:


Live and learn......................



Everyone offered good advice !!!

It might be a good idea to join sporting and conservation clubs in your area. IWLA, DU, RMEF, SCI, etc. are full of fellow hunters that will normally go out of their way to start a new hunter on the right path.

i would probably start off with firearm safety as many have mentioned but in all honesty would probably get into waterfowl or upland game birds as my first quarry.
the fundamentals gained duck and pheasant hunting can be applied to big game hunting and there are generally more opportunities for success than starting off deer hunting.
i personally would be apprehensive taking the rookie hunters i know out with me as it takes time to develop the familiarity, skills and ethics to make it a safe hunt for everyone.

first, hunter safety. A lot of these will help you learn about game, but most importantly about safety.


Youtube is good. read, read, read. If you can, get time in the woods ahead of time.

Learn what deer do.

The most basic things: Be upwind or quartering the wind. Be quiet. (There's no such thing as too quiet) Don't fidget. If you must move, do it sloooooow.

I have been busted by deer more than anything by getting caught moving. Turning my head too quick caught a deer's eye when stand hunting, or one step too many or one step too quick when stillhunting.

A good way to practice for deer is to hunt squirrels. If you're alerting squirrels, you'll definitely alert deer.

You cannot learn to be a hunter by watching you tube or by reading about it. As has been suggested, join some clubs, contact the game agency in your state and find a mentor. You have had some good suggestions from people who know, you tube would be beneath the bottom of that list. It is ok to read books to find out some things about hunting, however, you will not learn to hunt out of a book, it is a boots on the ground experience.

take a hunter safety class (and get scared of the idiots you'll be in the woods with like I was)

buy a license in the game you want to hunt

get appropriate gear, practice shooting, etc.

Read a lot.

Get outside, scout, apply what you've learned, etc. Just because you can't pull the trigger on the animal you're looking for doesn't mean you can't do everything else like a real hunt. Hell, I've even thought about bringing my unloaded rifle into the woods to get used to walking with it, etc. I'm just afraid I'll cause a commotion with all the bow hunters.

This is my first year hunting and I have an elk tag. I grew up shooting guns but haven't fired a hunting caliber rifle (Greater than .223) in probably 10 years. In the last two months I've put in about 20 miles scouting my unit (will double that before the season starts), bought myself a new rifle/setup the scope yada yada, taught myself to reload, and manage .556" 3 shot groups at 100 yards and still haven't perfected a load. I feel more prepared than most after talking to some friends that are hunters. I'll be hunting with one or two other brand new guys as well.

Doctor,

You should do fine..................

Just remember, the window of opportunity opens and closes so quickly.

Practice when you can real life shooting situations !

Always find a rest !!! :sign0016:

Assuming that you have a course under your belt, experience shooting a gun or bow, whatever weapon you plan to use, scout some woods and its just as simple as finding areas that look like they may have a lot of sign. Dont worry about scrapes and rub lines or anything at all. Seriously, just look for areas that have lots of tracks or "runways" as we call them. Your just looking for the deer highways. If you are in area with a good food source (corn, beans, maybe a clover field or alfalfa) start in that area and try to catch them between the food and their bed (again this just means looking for high traffic areas leading to/from food). If its early season and hot, an isolated water source can do the trick. Later into the season, if you can stay on the does, you will have bucks lol..