Most info on hunting is created to be consumed by people who already hunt, but what if you are a non-hunter with hopes of learning how to fill your own freezer with succulent, lean, wild game meat? Getting started hunting is not too difficult as long as you take care of most important details.
First off, take a hunter education course. They are most likely required anyway. Buy all of the proper licenses and tags. As anyone knows, getting into a new hobby as serious as hunting is best done under the tutelage of a mentor. However, a real do-it-yourselfer can take some initiative and be ready for their very first hunting season by reading the regulations and consulting local wildlife management representatives. Understanding regulations and laws can be very difficult these days and ignorance is no excuse to break the law, so put your tax dollars to work and ask the wildlife managers to clarify any confusion.
Before you even begin to ask someone to mentor you in your hunting exploits, learn what you can about how to sight in a rifle with a scope, or if you want to bow hunt, learn how to adjust your sights and tune your bow. If you can help yourself with the basic tasks of learning to hunt, it will show that you are worthy of receiving guidance from anyone willing to assist your endeavors.
Know your limits. You should learn to know what your range limit is on length of shots, for bow or rifle. Making bad shots is terrible and unethical. You should also know how long you can sit in a stand or a blind without having to take a walk or move around too much. Spooking deer is a huge sin and knowing how long you can effectively hunt is really important.
It also wouldn’t hurt to know what your budget is for equipment and gear so you aren’t let down by high expectations. Most hunters would say that you should buy the very best binoculars that you can afford and build your hunting gear around those. Using binos is essential for hunting and scouting and you cannot see what bad binos won’t let you, so don’t cheat yourself out of opportunities by skimping on optics.
Finally, learn what you can about making you and your clothing scent-free. You will never be truly scent free to a deer’s nose, but you can lesson your stink factor by using modern scent control products that are applied to clothing, and you can also use scent-free soap to hide your body odor.
