Brand new to hunting

[beeflomein]

You can pm me and call me if you want I will help you anyway I can. Not sure what kind of hunting your interested in but I moose hunt every other year elk hunt every other whitetail and I love pheasant hunting. It slipped my mind I bear hunt Quebec every spring.

I can't PM yet, but I will for sure when i can. Thanks

 

[ColeyG]

Hey all,

I'm brand new to hunting, 29 years old from NY. I wanted to know if there were any good beginner resources out there if I don't have any friends that currently hunt. I've been putting in range time to get better at shooting, but am at zero as far as gear knowledge and hunting knowledge goes. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Welcome and good for you. Hunting is an awesome vehicle for adventure and memorable, meaningful experiences as well as a great way to put healthy food on the table. Here are a few things that pop to mind with regard to getting started.

1. Find a mentor. Someone, or some folks close by that have been doing what you want to do for a while and that are well respected and trusted by their peer group. Do nice things for them and shower them with compliments until they are willing and able to spend some time with you and share their knowledge and experience and let you tag along for some hunts. Bring something to the table in that relationship.

2. If you haven't already, take a hunter safety class. They are required in most states anyhow.

3. Get a copy of the applicable fish and game regulations and study them well.

4. Do some research on local/accessible public land that open to hunting. OnX Maps is a great resource and a good way to get started but there are other ways as well, like through fish and game and land management agencies.

5. Get outside with the expectation that your first few years may well just be learning years and not harvesting/killing years. Pay attention to everything going on around you and try to tune into the environment. There are few insignificant details when it comes to learning your quarry and how best to take them home with you.

Good luck!

 

[PA Hunter]

In my head i wanna say whitetail and turkey, just cause that's what I've seen and can be done locally, but I'm open to making my way out west for stuff eventually.

You can call or text my cell anytime 610-888-2495 maybe I can fill in some blanks for you.

regards Steve,

 

[idelkslayer]

Call your state fish and game department and ask for contacts for local hunting/fishing conservation groups. Join one or more of the groups and help volunteer and you'll meet local people who I'm sure will be willing to help.

 

[R_burg]

great gear isn't real important at first BUT I would advise you to get the very best glass you can afford . I am a FIRM BELIEVER IN LETTING MY EYES DO AS MUCH OF THE WALKING AS POSSIBLE.
imo, good glass is THE most important gear item in any hunters aresenal. more important even then the weapon you choose .

can't kill what you can't find.

you will hear an endless steam of hunters who walk 10 plus miles a day. not necessary on most occasions.
learn to hunt smarter ,not harder and you WILL find success.

have you ever tried to pack a deer or an elk out from 5-10 miles in ? I have .it is not a pleasant experience . though it is satisfying three or four days after it's over.

In NY the last thing he really needs to concern himself with is great glass.

OP, are you thinking of hunting the catskills? I grew up hunting NY. This forum is mostly for western hunters.

 

[TonySkyline]

What part of NY? Im in upstate between Cuse and Utica.

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[Jamo318]

You mentioned Steve Rinella, the Meateater podcast has had a few episodes where they had a first time hunter on and helped them get started. May be a good listen for you if you can find them. Most hunting related media caters to the more advanced lessons so it’s important to suss that out and start with the fundamentals.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Get a bow and learn to shoot it. There is extreme archery in Mamaroneck. Flying arrow up in Carmel. There is a great shop in Brooklyn that I can’t recall and I am sure a few on Long Island. Between Nassau and west Chester county you can hunt deer from oct 1 to January. Very liberal doe policy and buck tags are usually 2 per season. Believe it or not, there are nooks and crannies of public land here and there that you can hunt within a 30 mile radius of grand central terminal. If you really get into it, there are deer management programs that let hunters get access to certain portions of parks for deer control and there are corporate deer control programs on some of the land owned by big companies in West Chester. Those nice lawns are like food plots filled with clover. One guy at Extreme hunts the wooded area around the IBM or Pepsi campus and drops more than a dozen deer a year on management tags.

Places To Hunt In New York

www.dec.ny.gov

Of course there are opportunities to hunt private land too.

 

[Wmmichael20]

If it hasn't already been said I'd look into joining a local sportsmans club and just getting out and hiking some public land to kind of absorb it all in so to speak,just kinda sit back and just watch all the little things that the wildlife do,other than that lots of info out there to be read and tons of great people willing to share it. Probably wouldn't hurt to subscribe to a few hunting/fishing magazines as well lots of articles on different subjects monthly and it's cheap info delivered directly to your doorstep. Good luck and welcome my good man

 

[beeflomein]

In NY the last thing he really needs to concern himself with is great glass.

OP, are you thinking of hunting the catskills? I grew up hunting NY. This forum is mostly for western hunters.

What part of NY? Im in upstate between Cuse and Utica.

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I'm down in the city, tbh I'm not even sure what areas I want to hunt since I don't really know what's what yet/

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

Get outside with the expectation that your first few years may well just be learning years and not harvesting/killing years. Pay attention to everything going on around you and try to tune into the environment. There are few insignificant details when it comes to learning your quarry and how best to take them home with you.

Good luck!

This is true even when you have some experience. Focus on finding fresh sign and sooner or later things will pan out. I used to get frustrated by being on multiple hunts and not seeing anything.

This year the first two hunts of whitetail bow season I saw zero activity of any kind. My stand was over a well used game trail, in an area where I’ve had success before, so I just viewed is as I was putting in my time. Third hunt I arrowed a doe, right on the game trail.

It’s easy to get discouraged by things not working out, and keep changing your game plan. Just pay your dues and keep trying.

 

[justin.bohlke]

Just get out there an learn from your mistakes. I had to be the dumbest 16 yr old bow hunter when I started.


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[agardner00]

great gear isn't real important at first BUT I would advise you to get the very best glass you can afford . I am a FIRM BELIEVER IN LETTING MY EYES DO AS MUCH OF THE WALKING AS POSSIBLE.
imo, good glass is THE most important gear item in any hunters aresenal. more important even then the weapon you choose .

can't kill what you can't find.

you will hear an endless steam of hunters who walk 10 plus miles a day. not necessary on most occasions.
learn to hunt smarter ,not harder and you WILL find success.

have you ever tried to pack a deer or an elk out from 5-10 miles in ? I have .it is not a pleasant experience . though it is satisfying three or four days after it's over.

I was just thinking today that the very first thing a new hunter should do, possibly even before hunter’s safety course, is to buy the absolute best pair of binos he can afford, and then go spend as much time as possible in the woods.


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[kiddogy]

I was just thinking today that the very first thing a new hunter should do, possibly even before hunter’s safety course, is to buy the absolute best pair of binos he can afford, and then go spend as much time as possible in the woods.


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I would agree . weren't no need for hunter safety coarses til around 50 -60 years ago when parents stopped loving their children and started letting others teach them the basic tools to get by in life.

 

[beeflomein]

I was just thinking today that the very first thing a new hunter should do, possibly even before hunter’s safety course, is to buy the absolute best pair of binos he can afford, and then go spend as much time as possible in the woods.


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Any recommendations? And is there a big diff between spotting scopes and binos in practical use?

 

[jspradley]

I would agree . weren't no need for hunter safety coarses til around 50 -60 years ago when parents stopped loving their children and started letting others teach them the basic tools to get by in life.

The decline in hunting accidents post mandatory hunters safety is incredible. Check out the stats. It worked!

To the OP- starting out with small game is an awesome intro! a .22 rifle and the other gear you might need is cheap. Plus lots more opportunities for that than going to big game

 

[agardner00]

Definitely binos. Buy a spotter when you need one to determine legality of an animal or if you want to really analyze its characteristics. Even with a spotter you’re going to use your binos far more often. I’d determine your max budget and work from there. My first decent pair were Vortex Diamondback 10x42, I think they’re going for around $250 these days. If you’ve got more budget there are great options at every price point up to $3-4K.

The common logic is to get 8x42 for eastern type hunting where visibility is limited, and 10x42 as a happy medium for pretty much everything else. Personally, 10x is the minimum I use, even in limited visibility areas, and I’m seriously considering a pair of 12x as my all-around chest bino. (I’m in Kansas, so I’ve got plains, but 12s would be handy even for some of the big ag fields.)


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[agardner00]

What are you looking to hunt? Have you done any at all?


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[beeflomein]

What are you looking to hunt? Have you done any at all?


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I was originally thinking deer and turkeys, eventually something bigger out west. I haven't done any hunting at all. Born and raised in NYC so it's just never been part of the culture

 

[jspradley]

Central park has some meaty squirrels.... jussayin