How did you guys who had no one to teach you get into hunting?

[svivian]

I remember killing my first elk as a teenager by myself with a shitty camo camelback thinking to myself how the F*** am I going to get this thing home.

If only I knew then what I do now on how to hunt, I think I would have been in a lot more of those situations.

 

[PNW bow hunter]

I remember killing my first elk as a teenager by myself with a shitty camo camelback thinking to myself how the F*** am I going to get this thing home.

If only I knew then what I do now on how to hunt, I think I would have been in a lot more of those situations.

That was exactly what went through my head when I shot my first buck. Had never even seen a deer gutted, and had walked at least a couple miles from from camp. I’ll never forget looking back to where my truck was realizing it was 2 ridges over. I was used to long walks, and not killing anything

Reality set in really quick!

 

[MattB]

Guided hunt with a really quality guide.

 

[SDHNTR]

I got my boots dirty. Just went for it. Figured it out as I want along. The internet didn’t exist yet. You newbies nowadays have it easy!

 

[Bubblehide]

It all started with a pellet rifle, then a 22.

 

[timekiller13]

There’s always someone out there willing to help in some way.

When I got into hunting, my Dad and I basically stumbled and fumbled for 3 or 4 years learning the ropes. My Dad wasn’t a hunter. He had been hunting a handful of times prior to me being born, but no real experience.

My uncle showed me a few things and gave me some advice on archery shooting.

But, I just read a lot. And I got out in the woods every chance I could and learned by doing. I had a couple pocket guides that helped me ID animals tracks and plants/trees. Before long, I could walk through the woods and rapidly ID forage plants, oak trees etc. I started understanding game sign and what it meant.

After a few years I met a couple other hunters who had more experience than me and I started gathering more information from them.

 

[stephane]

I just did it. I didn’t really have family or friends who were into hunting or who had experience hunting. I started around age 22 when I was in university.
I distinctly remember on my first deer having any phone propped up on a log with a gutting video downloaded off YouTube so I could figure out what to do. It took about 3-4 years to get my first deer (I didn’t even consider things like the wind when first hunting…). Since then I’ve harvested multiple deer with my rifle and 2 archery elk. I’ve also introduced friends now and assisted them in learning to hunt.
Best advice I have is to have a bunch of videos downloaded for what to do when you actually get the animal down on the ground, and then just give it your best effort. Eventually you’ll figure it out and the feeling of self-learning can’t be beat!

 

[5MilesBack]

My dad was born a flyfisherman.......so he made me one, but I was born a hunter. I grew up on a farm and we had a river bottom. He never could understand why I was always hunting and killing stuff from the time I could walk......even without a gun or bow at that time. My best friend from about 6th grade on was the same way, and his family didn't hunt either. Once we hit the legal big game hunting age (43 years ago)......we just went on our own and haven't stopped since.

 

[sconnieVLP]

Threads like these make me realize how lucky I was to grow up in a family of hunters. I remember being 5-6 and sitting in a duck blind or tromping along after my dad chasing pheasants. My dad’s main hobby is field trials, so I was spoiled with excellent Labs growing up.

When I went to college I joined the hunting club there and we tried to pass along hunting to other students who didn’t have the same experience. Set up a number of “learn to hunt” opportunities we’d advertise across campus and teach other students to shoot and take them hunting. Still some of my favorite memories of undergrad, it was pretty cool seeing another student shoot their first pheasant, duck, or deer. Kind of an eye opening experience for me because I had grown up assuming that everyone hunted like my family and everyone around us did and in turn I sort of took it for granted. Made me realize how fortunate I had been.

 

[TheHammer]

Being in the autistic spectrum, I was socially awkward and not socially accepted. So I spent a lot of time outside with my BB gun learning how things worked in nature and people operated in the world. Like many I just dove into it after watching a bunch of hunting shows. My family shotgun hunted, which I did as a young kid. Pheasants and deer drives…. None of that I do anymore. My passion is September elk hunting and archery hunting in general, been in 34states with my bow now.

 

[Sled]

For big game: I had a friend invite me to his whitetail camp at 17. I brought my pawpaw's old marlin 30-30 and took a forkey. I hunted when I could, mostly solo and had limited success as I learned. When I moved to Utah it was trial and error again. All solo with some help from the internet. At that time it was still relatively new and dual up took some time. I found out elk hunting was vastly different from what I knew of whitetail hunting.

For ducks I just figured it out for myself. I did get a couple hunts down in pecan island as a teen but truly learned the game on the great salt lake. You learn real quick what doesn't work.

 

[gerry35]

I had a burning desire to hunt but wasn't able to hunt until I was 19 when I could legally go by myself. I read a lot of Petersen's hunting back in the late 1980's and early 1990's to start figure some things out. Living on a farm I knew all about butchering so that was a blessing. I just went out and learned. About 2 years in I shot my first black bear in the back behind the house, a couple month later my first moose about a 2 minute drive from our place. Took about 5 years before I got my first mountain goat and took 4 or 5 trips before my first stone sheep and so on.

Just get out there and you'll figure it out. Good luck!

 

[Fatcamp]

I came from family that did some hunting and fishing. Never far from a road, no big game, and usually plenty of beer around.

Lots of bicycle rides and long walks as a kid to access hunting and fishing. Left it behind for other pursuits but have always spent a lot of time outside.

When I was in my 30's I dove back in wholeheartedly to waterfowl hunting. After a few years of that I started venturing west in pursuit of big game. It has been quite the adventure and my wife has been by my side through it all. Forums, YouTube, and books have been our primary resource.

We started as competent outdoors people so we had that on our side. Camping and staying healthy in remote places was something we could already do, and enjoy yearround.

 

[Theringworm]

I had someone to teach me, my father and grandfather, but honestly even though they were "hunters" I wouldn't say that they had much knowledge about it. The fundamentals of shooting, how to field dress a deer, identify deer sign. That was about it. We did camp a lot and I enjoyed it immensely. I read more Backpacker magazines than most. That info helped me develop a backpacking/survival knowledge that has been the foundation I have built on for my Western Hunting trips.

I am 46 now, so in my youth the internet didn't really exist, was just coming online (pun intended). I spent all of my time reading hunting magazines. Though they aren't currently what they used to be it was what was easily available for a youth like me.

Fast forward to my late twenty's early thirty's, I have learned more about hunting, shooting etc. via the internet than anything else over the past 20 years. Hunting forums like this, meeting highly educated experienced people via forums and doing additional research prompted by comments or threads on hunting forums have given me the knowledge I have now. I take what I read and hear about online in chat forums or in direct conversation and then go home and do my own research. I never blindly by into something without having put forth some effort to validate or discredit it.

There is a lot still yet to learn, but you have to sift through the garbage to find it. Everyone is an "Internet Expert ........fill in the blank". But less are actual experts.

 

[eltx]

YouTube, then married into a family of hunters

 

[thedutchtouch]

I started bow hunting 3 seasons/4 years ago. I'm not an expert but I've killed 3 deer. Read online what I could, and then just got in the field and practiced, struggled, and persisted. Sometimes I felt like I was riding the struggle bus, sometimes I felt like the bus was running me over, but I'm damn proud of the does and spike I've been able to eat as a result.

I didn't like hearing it at the beginning either, but the only real answer is wearing out your boot leather in the field, there are no shortcuts when you're learning on your own.

 

[Clarktar]

Bought a used rifle when I was 19 and started walking around in the woods. It's been a loooong road. One that I would walk again no doubt.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[DeBear]

I didn’t get into hunting until my late 20’s. A buddy had a deer lease and invited me to take a doe but I insisted to do it by bow as I thought rifle was too easy, lol.
Borrowed my brothers bow, learned to shoot it and watched a bunch of YouTube videos and read articles online.
Got my first doe that year with a bow.

 

[Mt Al]

Had some great highschool friends teach me, then went to college with a few of them and kept after it. Looking back, it was a miracle from the Lord and the best part of my life. Color me thankful!

 

[Nickofthewoods]

I grew up in Colorado and my old man used to be an avid hunter but an accident limited his mobility significantly. As a result he took me Elk hunting every year in Northwest Colorado where we had access to private land through a family friend and we could hunt with the assistance of atv's to make it easier for him. Our success rate there was 100% every time and usually on the first day. We could get atv's or snowmobiles to wherever the elk were down so all I had to do was gut them and then we would usually haul them straight to the processor. I thought hunting was a piece of cake and had shot several elk by the time I graduated high school.

After leaving home, a few years went by where I didn't hunt being busy with life and school, but I ended up moving to a mountain town and getting a job so I decided to start hunting again but alone this time, and on Public land. That was a completely different ball game and I did not do well the first few years. It felt like starting over from scratch. Eventually I managed a few mule deer and the first time I had to quarter one and haul it out in pieces was a real eye opener. My boots and gear sucked. While I'm thankful that my father taught me the basics while on those slam dunk private land hunts, I had to figure out what real hunting was on my own. I feel for the late in life hunters just picking it up. I'm not sure I would have done it without the intro from dad. Those that find Rokslide should at least have an accelerated learning curve though, especially the gear aspect. I wish it had been around when I struck out on my own. My cabin didn't even have Wi-Fi though. Good luck Newbs.