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

[Boxerboxer]

I had my dad for inspiration because I grew up watching him hunt but we moved overseas right around the time when he would have started taking me, so I didn't grow up doing it and kind of forgot about it for a long time. When I was in my early 30s I took a job that required a move to a new place where I didn't know anybody and for some reason I decided hunting would be a good thing to try out even if I never made any friends there. Most of what I know came from reading and asking questions on forums and then going out and trying what I learned. There's so much information on forums and youtube and more recently facebook groups, and even though not all of it is solid I think you can generally wade through the BS easily enough. I'm certain I'm at a huge disadvantage to someone that grew up doing it and potentially had 20 seasons in before I even started, but I'm not in a hurry, I just enjoy the process and the successes as they come.

 

[ljalberta]

Podcasts, YouTube, and reading (articles, forums, and books). But ultimately, just getting out there is the biggest step. In the process of learning how to hunt and where to find animals I sure spent some good time out there banging around some real poor hunting grounds.

But it’s all part of the learning process.

 

[Dejhavu]

Interests.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

Ground and pound.

As others have said books, internet, RS, shows like MeatEater and Fresh Tracks.

 

[grfox92]

Self taught. A little guidance from my uncles which later found most of which was bad advice for shooting mature whitetails with the bow.

It took me about 12 years of obsessively bowhunting whitetails to really know what I was doing and become a killer.

Then, in my prime of being really good at what I loved doing, I packed my family up and moved across the country to Wyoming where there is virtually no whitetail scene.

Now I chase elk, mule deer and antelope every year and have to start from scratch, learning completely different animals.

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

 

[9.1]

I bought a Mosin Nagant, a box of ammo, a Winchester Knife, some military surplus camo, and some blaze orange. I sighted the rifle in at the state game lands range, and at work I printed out a pamphlet on how to gut a deer. On opening morning, I walked into the nearest state game lands and sat on a rock over a draw. I shot a buck at 10:00am, and I've been hooked ever since.

You just have to get out there and learn as you go.

 

[timmymac24]

My brothers and dad were big into running hounds for coons as I grew up here in north central IL. I went along for several years but about early high school I wanted to hunt deer. Nobody had any real experience in my family to help me but thankfully I had and still have a lot of buddies that mentored me in every aspect of chasing whitetails. I am an official deer junky these days. I have an uncle in AZ that did the same for me with elk when I lived out west for 25 years. It takes a village guys...

 

[Elk97]

Dad didn't hunt, didn't know anyone that did. Tried deer hunting in my early 20s, unsuccessful, got busy with life and didn't get back into it until my sons asked me to come to MT and go pheasant hunting. That led to elk, etc. Wish I'd had the time and money to get into it a lot sooner. Glad my sons still put up with me.

 

[Bugaboo]

Still trying to figure it out, lots of podcasts, youtube and Books seem to give some kind of knowledge, but It still is a great big learning curve in my Opinion

 

[michaelc10]

Just started by going solo elk and deer hunting and learned by trial and error. Now I've been hunting over 40 years and I'm still learning

 

[Insomnia]

Found YouTubers hunting similar land as I was near, bought onX, found every piece of huntable public land near me, started scouting on days off and before or after classes, learned terrain feature patterns and studied online what each pattern meant for deer. I was a competitive recurve archer as a kid, so the shooting/weapon familiarity part wasn't really an issue. I'm not sure if I overrated or underrate that aspect of hunting-- to me, since I grew up with it as a base and it's a given, I think of woodsmanship and animal knowledge as pretty much 98% of hunting skill, but I've been hanging around a bow shop recently and a lot of the people that come in have several hundred times more experience with animals than I do, but can't shoot a bow for much. I don't even know what the hell I'm talking about, I just got off a triple shift and the red bull is wearing off.

 

[pds794]

I grew up fishing and shooting .22s and clays. Never hunted until I was 24. I researched the crap out of rifles, cartridges, field dressing, butchering, etc. Put some serious hours on YouTube. First three hunts were for antelope. They're an easier hunt depending on terrain and density and I love the prairie so it was a no brainer. Also small enough were you can field dress them easily solo. My first elk hunt was a RFW cow hunt in CO. That was a great way to cut my teeth on a true big game animal. I also hunted all does the first 4 years. Makes getting access and tags much easier.

 

[TxAggie15]

My father in law was what started me. My dad and grandfather always hunted but after kids were born they both stopped. Father in law was with me when I shot my first deer at 16, and now we’re on the same lease together. 17 years later if one of us is hunting the other is usually right there hunting with each other.

 

[NE Herd Bull]

No one in my family really "hunted".
I became passionate about it at an early age, but opportunities were very few.

Started by reading every hunting and firearm related magazine and book that I could get my hands on.
(obviously grew up in the pre-interwebs ice age)

When I finally got a driver's license, it opened up a window of freedom.
I earned my way onto private hunting ground through sweat and volunteer work
Learned (good and bad) from all of my experiences
The biggest thing that I think I learned was a person hunting ethic/code that I now try to never stray from.

I am definitely not the best hunter that you have ever encountered, but I have been on some amazing adventures in cool places. These eyes have witnessed incredible vistas.
Hope to continue the joy for many years.

 

[Mtns2hunt]

When I started, I had Jack O'Conner, Ted Trueblood, Russel Annabelle, etc. Read everything I could. Now with the internet, Youtube and all, it should be way easy. No substitute for getting out and doing though.

My education was mixed. My father was a country boy and grew up hunting rabbits and squirrels for the supper table. He taught me about small game but very little about Big Game. I hunted hard for several years with minimal success. My cousin who was a Dairy Farmer invited me to hunt with him. I did and he taught me about deer and Turkey hunting . He seemed to know more about deer then the deer itself knew.

But after awhile as I became more became more independent. Hunted on my own and read magazines and watched youtube videos to learn more. I learned about different types of animals to hunt.

I learned to bow hunt and trap to learn more and better hunting skills. I hunted in Canada and a dozen other states to learn about animals and from guides willing to share their information.

There are several other states I would like to hunt but I keep going back to Wyoming and Canada. It's been an eventful and enjoyable experience.

 

[.204smokechaser]

My dad took a hiatus from big game hunting when he quit falling timber in the early 2000’s and got into the industrial tunneling industry and was always gone so grew up bird hunting. For big game I spread my wings at the local trap clubs and coffee shops and found some retired military folks I could tag along with. Made me a damn good hunter in the long run.


With my dad retired now, we’re hoping to get an annual antelope hunting and deer hunting trip in if my schedule aligns.

 

[Rob960]

A lot of trial and error.

 

[PlumberED]

A lot of trial and error.

Me too. My father wasn’t interested in hunting though he certainly didn’t discourage me from pursuing the sport. I grew up next door to my cousin and we spend a lot of time together outdoors in the wild or what passes for the wild in Maryland. We kind of learned together because his father also wasn’t a hunter. Most of what we learned was from the FF&G magazine, Trapper magazine, the hunter safety course and of course the trail and error method. We started with hunting rabbits and squirrels, trapping foxes (fur prices were high in the late 70s) and eventually graduated to whitetail deer. It would have definitely been helpful to have an older mentor.

 

[EdP]

No one in the family hunted or fished. Dad did get brother and I fishing poles so we could fish at a pond when he took us all out for a picnic. Never taught us to set the hook though so we never caught a thing. If we had figured it out that would have been the end of it. Mom wasn't going to have anything to do with something that didn't come from the grocery store.

Learning to hunt was tough. Books, magazines, trial and error, and internet helped. I've learned but most hunters my age are much better at it than I.

 

[Leverwalker]

I got my start early, by the time I was 7 or so (that's my memory of getting a Ruger Single-Six for Christmas, and taking hunter's safety with my dad), but hunting itself was on my own, chaparral jack rabbits with a Marlin Model '97, and some upland birds. I actually started big-game hunting as a bowhunter. Since moving to stalking and tracking solely, on deer, it's been a combination of as many books and videos by Hal Blood and the Benoits as I can soak up, and time in the field.

I don't think there's any comparison to having a mentor in the field. I just sold my (now, too small) Johnson Mills Jac-Shirt to a guy who is going on his first guided hunt with Big Woods Buck's, Hal Blood's outfit. If I have the money next year, that's exactly my intent. If experience beats book learning and video watching any day, experience with a guy who's been tracking for 50ish years is unmatched. I'd say, for those of us not blessed growing up doing this, buying a better place along the learning curve is about as good as it gets, if we can swing it.