New to Hunting

[Scottr479]

Western wa guy here. I agree with what everyone’s saying, you don’t need to spend a ton of money to get going. Especially in western wa. Find some public land or timber company land near by. Park at a gate and walk/bicycle in. Stop at every clear cut and glass a bit, and move on unless you find a spot you really want to sit and watch for a morning/evening. You will turn the most black tails up in the hours closest to dark but they could be out and about mid day randomly too. The good news is in almost all the western GMU’s you can shoot a doe with your bow and there’s no shame in that.

Thanks for the great advise. We're going to GMU 524 to scout elk this weekend.

 

[2ski]

Welcome to the Fraternity of hunters. I honestly think the fun is in the learn.

As you read through, realize that a lot of advice you will receive is from hard core backpack hunters. And they're used to giving advice to people that want to be the same. If getting out hunting means you have to go out in tennis shoes, jeans, flannel shirt, and a $20 pack that fits the essentials, then as I tell the kids I teach hunters education to, go out in what you have. Just know your limitations. You're not walking in 5 miles in that and you're not hunting when you might get rained on. But lots of game have been killed dressed like that. Rokslide is a forum that'll start with you looking for $150 pack and then convince you to spend far more than that. But its what most of the members here want from their gear. You're figuring out what hunting is. Don't worry about clothes that won't funk up as bad after a few days or boots you can hike a thousand miles in. Man just have fun and enjoy the experience of learning with your son. Don't set your expectations to shooting a 350 bull. Set them to learn and see cool stuff. Make the harvesting of an animal the icing on the cake.

Other than that, my advice to you is check out the Hunters Connect channel on YouTube. Its a partnership between hunter education, Randy Newberg, and a some of the well-known good companies in the hunting world. It is seriously a great resource. From patterning a shotgun to field dressing an animal to scouting for waterfowl, it was built for people like yourself to have simple short videos to learn more about hunting and maybe make it a little less daunting. And I'd invite any of you other guys to check it out. I don't know sh!t about turkey hunting. So I learned some things from those videos.

 

[brsnow]

Keep it simple and use the Internet/forums for purchasing gear at good deals and entertainment. Don’t use it for advice and insights.

 

[Scottr479]

Good for you and welcome to a fantastic sport.

One thing you should know is that you're making things more difficult if you're starting out with bowhunting. Usually people will start with rifle and then build up the skills to eventually be successful with a bow.

It also might help to focus on a single animal (elk, mule deer, or blacktail) and a single general area and learn both of them well before branching out.

Then again, first and foremost, the point is to have fun. So if you enjoy the diving into everything at once, go right ahead--just be aware that it's optional, and your chance of putting meat in the freezer (or even seeing animals) will be higher if you focus your efforts at first.

My son has been bow hunting for several years with other dads. He loves the bow side and has been successful. As the dad I want to get into the sport mostly to spend time with him. Now that he's graduated from high school. Really I'm most interested in the time with my son before he leaves and gets married.

 

[Mlank]

Great dad! Great, great, great dad. Keep it up. You are in it for the right reasons and are already on a successful path in hunting. Doesn’t matter if u kill zero or a hundred.

 

[Troutnut]

My son has been bow hunting for several years with other dads. He loves the bow side and has been successful. As the dad I want to get into the sport mostly to spend time with him. Now that he's graduated from high school. Really I'm most interested in the time with my son before he leaves and gets married.

Sounds like a great reason to go with bowhunting, then!

 

[TheGDog]

My son has been bow hunting for several years with other dads. He loves the bow side and has been successful. As the dad I want to get into the sport mostly to spend time with him. Now that he's graduated from high school. Really I'm most interested in the time with my son before he leaves and gets married.

I'm right there with ya! My boy got his first Hunting License this year at 12yo soon to be 13yo. So I'm going to try to test the waters with Rabbits, and popping Squeeks. To see if this could be the year to have him on the sit with me for Deer. Thing of it is ya gotta be committed in order to deal with those temps, and all the being uncomfortable out there while you're waiting ya know? And remain quiet all threw that. So I'm hoping to engineer a high success outcome for Rabbits to hopefully spark the desire to take it up to the next level with deer when the season starts.

With all the pre-planning and prepping it requires I really want him to get into it because I know it will help prepare him for life in general, and give him great incite into the way you'll need to think and be adaptable to the situation with the focus being centered around the goal.

I would feel soo lucky where I to be able to witness him take a buck! Like bucket list moment right there! Give him something awesome to talk about back in BSA scout meetings, that's for sure

 

[tjihrig]

My son has been bow hunting for several years with other dads. He loves the bow side and has been successful. As the dad I want to get into the sport mostly to spend time with him. Now that he's graduated from high school. Really I'm most interested in the time with my son before he leaves and gets married.

What a gift. I’ve hunted my whole life and some of my best memories were of that age with my dad and brother in deer camp. I use to count the days to opening day. I spent 6 hours crawling through nasty stuff a few years ago to watch and help my son shoot his first cow elk. Didn’t even think about bringing my rifle so I could help him. He was so patient and made the right shot at the right time. I challenge any man not to get emotional when they see their kid put in the work and get excited about their success. That cow elk hunt has been the best hunt of my life. Given the option, I’d take that hunt again over the chance to shoot a 300 inch bull myself.


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[OFFHNTN]

This is great to hear! Congrats on getting started and best of luck to you!

 

[Michael Pawul]

In addition to what some of the other folks have said, get yourself some decent rain gear and consider wearing gaiters. The jungles of Western Washington get a bit wet on occasion... Shoot as much as you can. If you can't in your own backyard, check out Skookum Archery in South Hill or Tacoma Sportsman's Club off of Canyon Rd.

 

[Droppndrakes]

The gear list never stops. I would put my money into great glass and exterior clothes (Swarovski/Sitka). You can get buy with cheap odds and ends to fill out the kit. Good glass is a game changer and the clothing will make it much more enjoyable if you get the right stuff for the job.

 

[Lelder]

Can’t tell you how many great stories I have hunting with my dad. Hell sometimes we end up bsing and forget about the deer or whatever. Some of the best times of my life.

 

[Xycod]

That’s great man.

 

[mission_shooter]

Glad you joined the hunting community


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[Carpenterant]

Have fun and enjoy it. Don’t kill yourself hiking around and don’t be afraid to take a nap when you’re out. You don’t need the best of everything or anything to be successful.

 

[TheGDog]

Hehe... when you sit on an area, when you had to wake up at dark-thirty in order to drive out there, then hike in 5-6miles BEFORE the sun came up... trrrrust me... you will be nodding off and waking back up a few times during that morning sit.

 

[WeekendWarrior33]

I've hunted Western Oregon a lot and I will say this, all the gear in the world won't do you any good if you're not in shape. There are some nasty drainages that you'll need to bomb into if you want a chance to take an animal, especially on public/accessible land. Start a good workout plan if you don't already. Get out and scout, not just walking the roads but practice getting down into, and back out of, some of those steep, overgrown canyons.

 

[TheGDog]

I've hunted Western Oregon a lot and I will say this, all the gear in the world won't do you any good if you're not in shape. There are some nasty drainages that you'll need to bomb into if you want a chance to take an animal, especially on public/accessible land. Start a good workout plan if you don't already. Get out and scout, not just walking the roads but practice getting down into, and back out of, some of those steep, overgrown canyons.

Before you go hog wild on droppin' down into some gnarly draw. Unless it's just too thickly grown and you can't see into it at all. You just might be surprised what you can see someday if you post up with good binos on a tripod looking down into it. Like maybe plan the hike-in such that you're in an opposing ridge able to look over down into the area you're curious about. And it's probably easier to plan to be there one day nearing sunset. Remaining until last-light.

Meanwhile, like he's saying it's a good idea to do many hikes into the areas you plan on hunting, you'll learn the harder parts of the terrain. Maybe even wanna come back and do some trail trimming so when you're pack is full of meat and heavy you don't have to deal with something sticking out into the trail.

Or a spot looks like it's optimally placed to take a sit at for ambush.... but some things block your vision, take some time to prune a lil. Take some take to clear away a lot of the leaves on the place you're gonna sit on. Or if you need to cut away a zig-zagged rear entrance to that hidey sit spot such that other hunters passing thru the area don't see your path you cut over to that spot.

Also think of it as a way to confirm that all your gear will work and not fail you when the season comes. You want this time right now to figure out if your boots are comfortable enough, or are they too hot? if your socks are comfortable enough. Have you tried liner socks together with those sock yet? That sorta thing. Ways in which you can do foot care when you get back home to speed up being healed for next weekend.

Also it'll help you get an idea for just how much water and food you'll need for that area. The steeper it is, the more water you'll need. When you find an area that holds promise, you just might have to consider hiking in water to stash out there ahead of time if you plan on a multi-day backpacking, so you can keep your hike-in weight lower when season starts. (It's glorious to have excess water on hand!)

Plus... having an idea of just how hot your area can get during the hottest parts of the day will help you pick your layering system well. Also, when you're out there and it's hot, you'll just naturally notice that some places are cooler to hang out in than others.