Anyone here hunt?

[Landon Caeli]

Ashamed as I am to admit it, I've never gone hunting unless you consider fishing a kind of hunting. But at 40, I've been thinking that I'd like to go on a hunting trip and get me something.

So how does that work? Without using a tree stand, you just walk quietly, right..? Anyone have any good tips on gear or tactics for hunting? Any stories or advice..?

 

[tampasteve]

I have, but not in a few years. I hunted small game using a .22 rifle. I started when I was about 28 years old, so no one is ever too old to start. I would simply walk quietly a few paces, pause, walk, pause...hang by a tree...whatever worked to get around the forest quietly and look for the game. You can actually see a lot that way, I saw several bucks with nice racks (but I was not hunting deer) by this method.

For me I really just like getting out into the woods more than the actual hunting. There is something primal and natural about being the only one in the forest and being alone in nature.

 

[Roseonathorn]

I do not like killing animals at all but my sister is a hunter. I usually cook the meat and did go on a course to learn how to cut open the animalbodies and make clean nice pieces if they get much animals shot one year. Here the elkhunt is like this. Those with rifles stand watch at the watchtowers and are ready to shoot an elk that the men and women without rifles chase in front of them through the forest. They walk fast in a row and have some sound. Some of them might also have rifles. In the tower there is a better view though. They usually also have radiocontact and dogs. That is how I have understood it from what I have been told.

 

[Ken Rank]

Ashamed as I am to admit it, I've never gone hunting unless you consider fishing a kind of hunting. But at 40, I've been thinking that I'd like to go on a hunting trip and get me something.

So how does that work? Without using a tree stand, you just walk quietly, right..? Anyone have any good tips on gear or tactics for hunting? Any stories or advice..?

I think we should start small... perhaps I can have you over and we can go snipe hunting?

 

[Kenny'sID]

So how does that work?

With me, I have to get lucky. I hunted for a couple of yrs regularly but have no skills. Couple of deer, couple
turkey (one the day before thanksgiving ) and several feral hogs.

Fishing could be considered hunting I suppose, but hunting is really a whole different animal. Most animals are pretty smart and know the territory much better than us.

I just liked being out there.

 

[Ken Rank]

My son is 14... has gotten 4 deer in the last 3 years on 4 shots. He is a better shot than me. He has watched a great deal of hunting videos on YouTube... and there are some worthwhile videos to watch.

 

[tampasteve]

One of the people in our office hunts deer and alligator (she gets the proper permits, of course). It is great to be able to have the fresh meat when she brings it in. She mostly uses a tree stand for the deer, and the gator they use a boat on a reasonably large lake.

 

[Landon Caeli]

I think we should start small... perhaps I can have you over and we can go snipe hunting?

Thank goodness for google, or I could have fallen for something like that easily.

 

[tampasteve]

I do not like killing animals at all but my sister is a hunter.

Me either, actually; which is one reason I have not been in a while (though I keep a permit active). The main reason I started was to have an excuse to get outdoors more often. That, and for me I felt that I had to be OK with killing an animal if I were going to eat them too. I do not judge others that cannot kill but choose to eat, that is up to the individual, but for me, I had to be OK with it.

 

[Kenny'sID]

The most challenging of all was when I hunted the illusive henway.

 

[Ken Rank]

Thank goodness for google, or I could have fallen for something like that easily.

Glad you have a sense of humor. I just Googled it too... laughed at the description.

A snipe hunt is a type of practical joke, in existence in North America as early as the 1840s, in which an unsuspecting newcomer is duped into trying to catch a non-existent animal called a snipe. While snipe are an actual family of birds, the snipe hunt is a quest for an imaginary creature whose description varies.

The target of the prank is led to an outdoor spot and given instructions for catching the snipe; these often include waiting in the dark and holding an empty bag or making noises to attract the prey. The others involved in the prank then leave the newcomer alone in the woods to discover the joke. As an American rite of passage, snipe hunting is often associated with summer camps and groups such as the Boy Scouts.

 

[Landon Caeli]

This is a whole other kind of hunting...

...I guess the hogs cause a lot of problems because they dig up everything with their husks, eat bush roots, and just destroy a lot of stuff in general.

So this is probably the most extreme form of hunting.

 

[Kenny'sID]

This is a whole other kind of hunting...

...I guess the hogs cause a lot of problems because they dig up everything with their husks, eat bush roots, and just destroy a lot of stuff in general.

So this is probably the most extreme form of hunting.

Sporting.

But I suppose in reality, it's not for sport. I hear they can be destructive, but seems like there would be a better way. I assume they gather the carcasses/meat and it goes to good use.

 

[Ken Rank]

This is a whole other kind of hunting...

...I guess the hogs cause a lot of problems because they dig up everything with their husks, eat bush roots, and just destroy a lot of stuff in general.

So this is probably the most extreme form of hunting.

LOL... so here is a page of beginner videos that might help and if not... provide entertainment. Good luck!

 

[Landon Caeli]

Sporting.

But I suppose in reality, it's not for sport. I hear they can be destructive, but seems like there would be a better way. I assume they gather the carcasses/meat and it goes to good use.

True. If I'm going to go hunting, I'm only going to kill what I can fit into my freezer or the freezers of family and friends.

 

[Roseonathorn]

Strange as it seems where I live, predator animals as wolf and bears are ok to come on peoples yards if the people happen to live outside a town but if the predator animal enters the highway and starts wandering off to the city it gets hunted and shot. So either villagecitizen are less valuable than town people or they think predator animals belong in our yards and on our porches and in our henhouse and our cats and dogs are to be their food. It is like those two animals are sacred here, no hunting, but they eat elk, and wolf kill more than they eat of sheep and reindeer and that is troublesome since one may not kill the wolf.

 

[Roseonathorn]

True. If I'm going to go hunting, I'm only going to kill what I can fit into my freezer or the freezers of family and friends.

Over here the hunting teem has a quota to fill each year, and they try to hold onto that. The meat is then sold to the hunters. Most hunters should try their best to hunt all season if they are in physical condition. Please folks try to aim well, we have had a lot of ammunition on the roof on our house, and beside the car, that is not fun. Do not shoot toward houses, unless necessary, You do not want to send a kid into eternity, yes I know ammunition flies a long way so it is not always an aiming issue.

 

[durangodawood]

...So this is probably the most extreme form of hunting.

Pest control. Not hunting, imo.

 

[Hank77]

So how does that work? Without using a tree stand, you just walk quietly, right..? Anyone have any good tips on gear or tactics for hunting? Any stories or advice..?

The first thing to do is go take a hunter's safety class and get certified. [In my state you can't buy a hunting license (tag) without a hunter's safety card/number.] At the class you can meet and speak with hunters in your own state.
The method of hunting depends a lot on the terrain and the type of game you are hunting.

 

[Hank77]

This is a whole other kind of hunting...

...I guess the hogs cause a lot of problems because they dig up everything with their husks, eat bush roots, and just destroy a lot of stuff in general.

So this is probably the most extreme form of hunting.

It is more than likely that these shooters were hired by the government to thin out these very destructive FERAL hogs.
We have a friend who was a government hunter in Texas for many yrs. I don't remember him ever talking about hogs but he did shoot coyotes from a helicopter when the coyote population got out of hand.