I haven't been hunting before, but I want to give it a go this year. Looking at mainly deer and boar, but i'll cook up and try anything, so anything that's legal is fair game once. I was thinking of getting a mosin nagant or 2 for the job during general gun season. When I was looking at all the regs, a lot of the WMAs allow boar hunting during small game season, but no centerfire rifles. I'm going to start looking around for a 44 mag revolver for that, figure with enough time I should be able to unearth a deal. Other option would be slugs out of a shotgun. Not sure what would be better in that case. Any advice you can offer a noob getting started? I already had the pleasure of going through the state's hunter safety course. A lot of good info that I wouldn't have thought of, like never cross a fence with a loaded gun. But really they told us what not to do to stay safe, and I'm still a bit lacking in what to do to have a successful hunt.
Howdy TDH! I will leave the "hunting" advice to others, as we have some true masters on this site. I would like to suggest that you also acquire the tools and skills to deal with your game AFTER the shot! Sounds silly, but I have been out with more than one person that had spent the time to learn what they needed to know in order to find and kill game, but had absolutely NO CLUE what to do after the kill. How you treat your carcass will have a large impact on how it tasts later.
[smiley=smiley_up.gif] Very good advice. As far as success in a hunt, I'v never not had success because to me it is about the hunt itself not the kill. I have spent countless hours preparing for a deer season hunted straight thru a season an not harvested a deer yet I am alway thankful for the time and beauty nature gave me. Keep an attitude like like and you'll never be disappointed I'v been blessed with some pretty successful harvest too but every hunt has been great . One of the best tactical lessons on deer hunting I ever picked up is from long time archery hunters. They know the woods and the animals better than rifle only hunters because of all the extra time spent hunting (normally archery seasons run longer than firearms seasons do.) I decided years ago to archery hunt every other year , amazing how much more I learned and it made me more successful in my rifle hunting. Good luck and welcome to The Great Outdoors
Hey TD&H, Welcome to hunting. I've not been into guns for that long, although I've kinda gone whole hog on the issue, but still, I don't have that long, deep history of guns/hunting. I missed my first deer. 4 times. That doe climbed up into my stand and dope slapped me for my poor shooting, then walked away. She paused at the tree line and turned broadside to me. I then missed her for the 5th time. Since then I've bagged one with a rifle, one with a hand gun. It is a lot of fun, and what Burley said is true. I saw a bumper sticker about fishing that said "if it was easy it would be called catching". Same for hunting. Your state regs sound like Georgia's, except that "no center fire rifle" is "no center fire ammo". If you can't use a 30.06, you can't use a high power handgun either. Where do you live? I picked up a .22 mag rifle for hog in small game season. Light for the beast, but they say an eye or ear shot will do. I've not had the privilage to see a wild hog yet, let along shoot at one, but I'd sure like to. One thing you didn't mention was squirrl hunting. It is a longer season (Ga starts in August) and it is very good practice. You can spend hours on the range practicing, but the real world is different, more real. Scan thru the threads in "the great outdoors". There is some neat stuff here. I'd be real suprized if you lived near another ktoger, and he (or she) hunted, and you asked nicely, that they wouldn't take you on a hunt with them. Take care, Lop
all good advice posted above. to be successful is to be out there. now to be able to find and kill your quarry you need to learn everything you can about the animal and the terrain you will be hunting in. knowing what it does, where it does it, why it is doing it, and when it will be there, is about all you need to know. sounds simple but i have been hunting deer for 28+ years and still get it wrong more times than not. but for those times when everything does work out as planned, nothing beats the feeling you get.
My mother's late-life companion was from Idaho, as was she. He once told her of killing an elk (or perhaps a moose, I forget.) It was late in the fall and late in the day and he was alone up on a mountain with his horse and this large, dead animal. It started to snow, heavily. My mother exclaimed, "Oh, Comp, why didn't you just leave it?" He gave her a long, curious look and said quietly, "Jeanie, winter was coming. I had to feed my family." He was quite a guy. Paul
Thanks for the advice everyone. I would say I do need to figure out how to process the meat and all. I have a general idea of anatomy and all. I love getting out into the woods, although that's a relatively new thing for me too. Although I've been avoiding it when the weather turned hot. I love the fishing analogy. I love fishing, and know what it means to have good and bad days. You have to enjoy even when you're not successful. I've been doing a lot of fishing lately. Nothing like a salty breeze blowing by. I live in orlando florida, I went through and looked at all the area rules, there's even an area where you can use rifle, whatever you want for hogs during archery season straight through small game. Squirrels around here run from general gun season through small game. I guess I need to start studying then, learn the habits and activities of my quarry.
