how did you learn to hunt?

[Robhuntandfish]

  I am mostly a self taught hunter.  Dad taught me to fish for sure , but hunting was mostly on my own.  Learned through just trying it and even some good info from hunting magazines and TV shows (have to weed through to get helpful info). But really didnt grow up with a deer  hunting mentor and there werent really any turkeys back then to say so.  Def learned to turkey hunt from trial and error.  I have mentored a few people for sure throughout the years.  But have to say that I have enjoyed trying to figure out the hunting puzzle as much as the game take itself.  Always been a good problem solver so I think hunting was right up my alley.  

[ny hunter]

My dad taught me to handle and shoot guns...He was not a hunter so I pretty much taught my self...Lots of mistakes and lots of reading and asking questions...

[grampy]

I grew up with a single mom and six siblings. But we lived in a rural area with lots of woods and fields. Those woods and fields were my escape from a very early age.  I can remember seeing deer, and trying to see how close I could sneak up to them! At first they would be gone quickly. But over time, I was able to "almost" touch them, or at least get closer, before they ran off. This worked, and improved with most all the woods critters too.

At 12 years old I started working at the farm down the road, after school, weekends and during the summer. This, shortly after their son was killed in Vietnam. The farmer and his family were very kind to me. I even worked off the purchase price of my first 22 lr from him. The farmer and some of his buddies, who were also farmers, were really into deer hunting, to put meat on the table. But it was always a big deal, when one of them shot a deer with a 'rack'! They would all get together to retell the hunt over and over again...lol. And I would sit on a hay bale and LISTEN to every word. One of his buddies was the father of my lifelong hunting partner.

We at last, were able to tag along on deer hunts. Mostly to do small drives and drag deer. But these old guys took me under their wing. And with a great deal of patience, taught a stubborn, hard headed kid how to deer hunt. The first time I hung a spike buck in the barn, and told the story of that hunt, over and over, was one of my proudest moments!

All those wonderful, gruff, old guys have passed on. I am forever thankful for what they did for me. Not only teaching me to hunt. But setting an example, of the man I would become.  Now my hunting buddy and I are the 'old' guys. And over the years have been mentors to a few young, stubborn, hard headed hunters. I still see myself in their eyes, as they sit on a hay bale LISTENING, to the story of a successful hunt, over and over.

[G-Man]

My father hunted but was a drive or sit and wait hunter. I had an interest in trapping well before i could hunt. That became the basis for my learning. Ever deer shot at camp I would back track to see where it came from and what it was doing before it was shot. Reading sign allowed Me to think like a deer as my.father said. 

I became the camp.dog setting people in spots and pushing deer to them with much better success than they had before

Soon it became a year round scouting habit. Then I saw some videos by whitetail vision.  And started messing with food plots and habitat manipulation.  This is what I still enjoy the most. Me taking a deer is anticlamatic for me.. then comes the part I hate care of the game taken. 

Turkey hunting I was mentored after my father died a good friend of his that use to work for dick Kirby and had won many calling contests took me out spring hunting for a bird as I had kind of.lost interest in hunting after my father died.  He did the calling after i found the birds.. 

I use to set up.according to the books 100 yards away And call sparingly. He blew that idea out of my.head as we would.sneak to with in 40 yards from roosted birds . Soft call and be done in 15 min or so.  Then we would go trout fishing. Come fall we would drive to a 2 bird area stop and ask for permisssion and kill a bird on a day trip. And drive the 5 hours back home. 

During several.years i hunted with him i learned to call. Though I never took to mouth calls I became very good on slates(pot)  and box calls.  I was glad a had such a good teacher and though in his last few years our long treks were over we still hunted a few days together every season till he passed.

Edited April 2, 2018 by G-Man

[Jdubs]

I've only been hunting the past few seasons.  No one in my family ever hunted and none of my close friends were hunters.  It wasn't until a random conversation with one of my neighbors that I even seriously considered deer hunting.  I always thought you had to go away for a week to some deer camp (not really an option when my daughter was born); my neighbor laughed and said he's been hunting behind our houses for years!  Needless to say that got the ball rolling.

The first season was a total bust, but I was hunting and learning with every mistake.  I must have asked that neighbor and another buddy a 1000 questions trying to get better!  Bit by bit, I started to put the puzzle together in this small, high pressure area until finally taking my first two deer last season.  The meals are incredible and the camaraderie priceless.  What started out as a goal to prove to myself that I could successfully hunt a deer quickly turned into a lifelong pursuit.  

[Uncle Nicky]

Small game & deer-my father taught me. Bow hunting-self taught. Turkey hunting-mostly self taught, but I did have a couple great mini-mentors along the way.

[dbHunterNY]

My dad and uncles taught me mostly the basics of how to hunt deer. None of them really hunted small game. Dad taught me how to shoot but mostly safety and gun care. My one uncle taught me a little about bows.  Aside from that it is  growing up on the family farm heading to the woods as a kid with loads of 20ga or 22LR ammo. After once I hunted alone it was hitting the woods or just spending as much time scouting/watching deer and getting close to them as I could.  Didn't get as much from it, but I'd read everything I could and watched hunting shows back when they weren't so focused on the end result too. My family was that way though. If I asked how to get somewhere my dad would hand me the keys to a set of wheels with a full tank of gas, then a map, and show me "you're here" and where you want to go is there.

[moog5050]

No family tradition so I started on my own late in life because I liked shooting guns and liked venison.  I decided before my first season if I was going to gun hunt, I might as well learn to shoot a bow and have a longer season.  Little did I know, I would fall in love with bow hunting and am addicted to single string bows now.  Thankfully hunting with Phade shortened the learning curve tremendously.  Treeguy has given me the push on coyote hunting too.  The members of this site and hunting beast have taught me tons too!

It helps to hunt deer dense areas as lots of opportunities makes one a better hunter (or at least killer when the opportunity arises) IMO.  6 seasons and 31 deer, I feel like I am starting to get the hang of it but still plenty more to learn.

Turkeys remain my nemesis.  I still think I am more likely to kill a bigfoot or chupacabra before a darn turkey.  lol

Edited April 2, 2018 by moog5050

[Nomad]

21 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

Turkeys remain my nemesis.  I still think I am more likely to kill a bigfoot or chupacabra before a darn turkey.  lol

 Not that hard I’ve killed them on the Bay bridge with a mini van ( turkeys .)

[ATbuckhunter]

My grandfather mostly taught me the basics of hunting for deer and other animals. I tagged along with him a couple times a year before I was able to get a license of my own. After that it was mostly all self taught from what ive seen and read. My father used to hunt small birds back home in Europe, but he only did that so they had some meat to eat time to time. He was never really a hunter, so he just mostly tags along. 

[moog5050]

4 minutes ago, Stay at home Nomad said:

 Not that hard I’ve killed them on the Bay bridge with a mini van ( turkeys .)

Maybe I should hunt there.  Dodging traffic may be a bit problematic!

[GreeneHunter]

Bought a gun at 16 and Uncle (WW 2 vet ) taught me gun safety and shooting and just started to hunt !

[left field]

It's interesting how many guys started later in life. I'm also one of those as I really have just begun.

Grew up with no hunters in my family or immediate friends. Can't say that I was anti-hunting but I definitely didn't understand it -- the supermarket seemed so much easier -- and it was only when I started fly fishing in my '50s that I began to look at hunting in a new and appreciative way. Buying an upstate property cemented it.

It's a little challenging as I am more or less figuring it out on my own but I think I'm up to it. This forum has been a great and generous resource.

 

[Elmo]

City slicker all my life so I didn't start till the later half of my 30's.  My brother is in the military so he helped me with the gun department.  But he doesn't really hunt, reload, or use a bow.  So pretty much all self taught.  A bunch of youtube, a bunch of huntingny.com, a few books, and a whole bunch of just going into the woods and falling on my face.

[mowin]

My dad taught me the basics about deer hunting, and fishing.  He didn't bow hunt, so that was mostly self taught. Turkey hunting was definitely on me to learn.

Made lots of mistakes throughout the yrs, but each one made me a better hunter. 

[Robhuntandfish]

1 hour ago, moog5050 said:

No family tradition so I started on my own late in life because I liked shooting guns and liked venison.  I decided before my first season if I was going to gun hunt, I might as well learn to shoot a bow and have a longer season.  Little did I know, I would fall in love with bow hunting and am addicted to single string bows now.  Thankfully hunting with Phade shortened the learning curve tremendously.  Treeguy has given me the push on coyote hunting too.  The members of this site and hunting beast have taught me tons too!

It helps to hunt deer dense areas as lots of opportunities makes one a better hunter (or at least killer when the opportunity arises) IMO.  6 seasons and 31 deer, I feel like I am starting to get the hang of it but still plenty more to learn.

Turkeys remain my nemesis.  I still think I am more likely to kill a bigfoot or chupacabra before a darn turkey.  lol

31 deer over 6 seasons!  damn thats getting it done.  Have hunted prob 20 years of my life.  Didnt hunt for a stretch of at least 10 from college - early 30's.   Was working a lot, lost hunting land the family had permission for years - they sold it, but I havent gotten 31 deer.  21 maybe .  Your doing something right for sure.  The years i have hunted i have always gotten at least one deer as i am stubborn for sure .    

[moog5050]

6 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

31 deer over 6 seasons!  damn thats getting it done.  Have hunted prob 20 years of my life.  Didnt hunt for a stretch of at least 10 from college - early 30's.   Was working a lot, lost hunting land the family had permission for years - they sold it, but I havent gotten 31 deer.  21 maybe .  Your doing something right for sure.  The years i have hunted i have always gotten at least one deer as i am stubborn for sure .    

We hunt good properties Rob.  Don't be too impressed.  I pass more than I shoot and always have 7 tags available.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Father and my Uncles. Been in the woods with them since I was 8. Mostly deer and rabbits/hare, but also the incidental other small game. He taught me about gun hunting and fishing. The bow hunting was a self learning endeavor and was very frustrating to be honest. I quit for 3 years one time and a buddy dragged me back in. I had a few more years on me and a lot more patience and it stuck that time. 

[NFA-ADK]

Most information was learned in books other data from DVD's and hunting shows almost forgot U-Tube.  That knowledge was very valuable in learning how to read and interpret sign but the real learning has always been boots to the ground and many days in the woods.  Other knowledge is gained from other hunters sometimes with less experience than me.  

Most I ever learned was from tracking deer.  I try to ask my self (If I was a deer what would I do?  And why did they go that rout?).  Food?  Cover?  Bedding?  Scent checking doe beds or what?  Love back tracking them. 
 

Learned my target buck was gone opening day this year and he scored 167 when he was taken last year.  Talk about putting a dampener on my opening day and he was shot from my stand!  Then my buddy does not understand why I do not want to put more stands up in this spot. 

 

[Five Seasons]

still learning haha

[BigVal]

The man the myth the legend

Big Val Sr. 

[Dinsdale]

2 hours ago, Elmo said:

...... and falling on my face.

I'm still falling.

Started in 20's, self taught.

 

[moog5050]

1 hour ago, Dinsdale said:

I'm still falling.

Started in 20's, self taught.

 

Like baseball.  Really low percentage is still darn good.  Haha. 

[Elmo]

31 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

Like baseball.  Really low percentage is still darn good.  Haha. 

Like asking women on dates.  Better to go 2 for 10 then to go 1 for 2.

[Buckmaster7600]

My father was one of the best in the biz when it came to big woods hunting, he showed and told me a lot. I just wish I was smart enough to listen. As a teenager I knew I was better than him so I ignored most of what he was teaching me. I’m sure I would be a lot better hunter today if I would have listened.

Turkey hunting I am mostly self taught because the old man was a caller and I hate calling turkeys.


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