Thread: Interested in Hunting

I'm looking for any and all advice...I'm a long-time gun owner/target shooter, but I've never been hunting before and would like to enter the sport. What advice would you give on how to get started? Is deer the best way to start? I've read some books and watched some videos, but that is the extent of my knowledge right now. I don't run in circles with other hunters, so I haven't had luck that way. thanks!

Deer on public land are becoming harder to take every year. Be prepared to take your rifle for a walk. I do it every year, but it can be a big let down. Elk and bear too. If you want to hunt something that has an easy payoff, start with birds. Small birds up to duck can be found all over the valley. E.E. Wilson has organized hunts that are very popular and any old cheap shotgun will work. Don't need the 3000 dollar over under, bring grandpas beat up remington 870 and start walking. http://www.dfw.state.or.us/resources...nt_seasons.pdf

Definitely be prepared to come home with nothing. Hunting is a lot about luck as it is skill. The deer are where they are. you just have to find them. Often during hunting season they all group up in areas where you cant hunt.

Ground squirrel hunting in eastern Oregon / Washington is a ton of fun. Just don't eat them. Birds are another good option. get in touch with the Oregon Hunters association. most likely you will be able to find someone who would be interested in taking you along to teach you some tricks.

for deer, find a good clear cut that you have good visibility of. sit in the tree line out of sight, and wait, and wait, ow and wait. watch the tree lines for movement. Or go walking and try and spook them out. deer don't run far.

look for apple trees, Deer love apples. Other then that it is kind of a trial and error. don't make noise, watch the wind direction.

Hunting is more than just about bringing meat home for the table. Its about getting away with family and friends being up in the woods testing your own might and woodsmanship . Getting the deer elk or what ever is the prize for your hard work but even if you don't score its about building memories and having a good time and bringing home stories.

If the only reason to hunt is to bring meat home well you might try safeway its a lot cheaper just to buy prime rib.

as far as advice well you should find a hunting partner or party preferably someone with some experience .

Originally Posted by eldbillbo

Hunting is more than just about bringing meat home for the table. Its about getting away with family and friends being up in the woods testing your own might and woodsmanship . Getting the deer elk or what ever is the prize for your hard work but even if you don't score its about building memories and having a good time and bringing home stories.

If the only reason to hunt is to bring meat home well you might try safeway its a lot cheaper just to buy prime rib.

as far as advice well you should find a hunting partner or party preferably someone with some experience .

well said.

Do you want to get into hunting to kill animals or are you wanting to eat what you shoot?

As eldbillbo stated it's not all about guns and animals. Course...that's what everyone says that doesn't fill their tag!

Originally Posted by eldbillbo

Hunting is more than just about bringing meat home for the table. Its about getting away with family and friends being up in the woods testing your own might and woodsmanship . Getting the deer elk or what ever is the prize for your hard work but even if you don't score its about building memories and having a good time and bringing home stories.

If the only reason to hunt is to bring meat home well you might try safeway its a lot cheaper just to buy prime rib.

as far as advice well you should find a hunting partner or party preferably someone with some experience .

I have a totally different point of view on hunting. I hunt for the meat and usually hunt alone. Last year hunting season lasted 5 1/2 hours,left the house at 7:00am and had 2 hanging ,dressed and ready to bag with a beer in my hand by 12:30pm. The shorter the season the better and you can move on to doing something else. Just watch the habits of the deer in the area you choose to hunt. Watch for food (apples and close by farmers crops) and a good water source. Get the pattern/times down for feeding and watering and find a good in between spot to wait if you want to sit and hunt.I usually pound the brush and sneak up on them. I shot one and went to gut him out and jumped another bigger boy and took him too. Thats what's nice about getting an additional hunt tag every so often.
Just remember this "NO I will not take you hunting".

Originally Posted by deadeye

I have a totally different point of view on hunting. I hunt for the meat and usually hunt alone. Last year hunting season lasted 5 1/2 hours,left the house at 7:00am and had 2 hanging ,dressed and ready to bag with a beer in my hand by 12:30pm. The shorter the season the better and you can move on to doing something else. Just watch the habits of the deer in the area you choose to hunt. Watch for food (apples and close by farmers crops) and a good water source. Get the pattern/times down for feeding and watering and find a good in between spot to wait if you want to sit and hunt.I usually pound the brush and sneak up on them. I shot one and went to gut him out and jumped another bigger boy and took him too. Thats what's nice about getting an additional hunt tag every so often.
Just remember this "NO I will not take you hunting".

well i have those years as well 4 years ago my truck broke down worked all week trying to figure out the electrical problem but no dice so i thought i would take my car and broke a axle the night before leaving so sent it to get fixed then drove it over eastern oregon got there Sat noon 2nd day of the season set up camp then went hunting 10 minutes later i was gutting a deer and next day stuffing it in the trunk of my civic for the ride home. while other years i had to work for em.

Hunting alone if fine depending on where you hunt and the amount of experience you have but this is the first outing for the OP,and despite what my my wife tells me not to do, i have on occasion hunted alone (just don't tell her, she thinks i'll shoot my eye out)

albany area i take it you hunt alsea ? thats a good unit for black tail back side of some WV farm land . I was thinking of hitting it this year since we did not get out eastern tags

All depends on what you want out of it. If its just meat you're probably better off buying 1/2 a beef when you total the costs and your time. If you want a rewarding experience that takes you away from civilization for awhile, and can build your confidence in yourself and others, you can have that and more. If you do it long enough you will have stories that most people will not believe...but you and maybe your hunting buddies will know what many people will never experience. I have memories others will never have......think I was born 100 years too late.........

Thanks everyone, this is great stuff. I'm interested for all these reasons: the memories, the meat, and the skill building. Unfortunately, my dad never took us hunting. My oldest boy is 10 and I'm hoping to get a few years of experience so I can take him out in a few.

As for finding someone with experience to go with, I haven't had much luck there. Most guys have their party already set up. So, I have a good friend, who's also a rookie, and we're gonna start going out and see if we can figure this out.

Thanks and keep the advice coming!

Originally Posted by johnboy

All depends on what you want out of it. If its just meat you're probably better off buying 1/2 a beef when you total the costs and your time. If you want a rewarding experience that takes you away from civilization for awhile, and can build your confidence in yourself and others, you can have that and more. If you do it long enough you will have stories that most people will not believe...but you and maybe your hunting buddies will know what many people will never experience. I have memories others will never have......think I was born 100 years too late.........

I don't eat alot of beef and prefer elk and venison. You can't buy a deer/elk heart or liver in the store. I do not live in town and grew up in the country so the whole cumebyyah,or however you spell it, experience isn't what I hunt for. I hunt to have the meat I prefer and as far as memories go that is remembering the short and easy drag hunts. I understand some people just want to go camping with a bunch of other guys and have the city dwellers idea of a "hunting trip" but some of us are real hunters and take it a little more serious. By the way it only cost me about $20.00 above the cost of the tags and applying for the additional tag to harvest two deer. Try buying half a beef with that.

True, if you hunt in your backyard...we cant all do that...like I said, its whatever you want from it but realistically speaking most hunters will not have your success........

Originally Posted by deadeye

I don't eat alot of beef and prefer elk and venison. You can't buy a deer/elk heart or liver in the store. I do not live in town and grew up in the country so the whole cumebyyah,or however you spell it, experience isn't what I hunt for. I hunt to have the meat I prefer and as far as memories go that is remembering the short and easy drag hunts. I understand some people just want to go camping with a bunch of other guys and have the city dwellers idea of a "hunting trip" but some of us are real hunters and take it a little more serious. By the way it only cost me about $20.00 above the cost of the tags and applying for the additional tag to harvest two deer. Try buying half a beef with that.

whoa, are you saying some of us are not real hunters cause we like the whole experience ? some of us as mentioned by johnboy don't have the privage of hunting in our own backyard we actually have to get out of the truck and and into the woods and hunt for our game. you know get out in the brush spend days walking tracking stalking not just drive up spend 5 hrs and crack open a beer i call that shooting not hunting. cause some of us built memories of dragging out big bucks from deep woods with our fathers sons and daughters or brothers so we like to kick back by a fire with buddies after a long day of beating the brush or dragging a 5 point 3-5 miles in the woods sorry you can't do that in 5 hrs .or spending a day bringing a elk out of the woods thats right you down a elk a mile in it will take you a day to quarter and drag it out in deep snow. and you call these people not serious hunters ? your a serious hunter cause you live near the land you hunt and get your deer on opening day and call it done .

please explain

just because you hunt alone drink alone may just mean you don't have any friends

My Uncle lives in the Country in Wa and is a pure red neck, deer come into his property and he does not shoot them, he works back hoe for for a logging company so he knows where the animals are calls it shooting not hunting however he occasionally buys a Oregon Tag to go hunting with us

I wish I lived in the country. I'm still within city limits and these damn deer keep eating my garden, they sleep in my backyard or the neighbors. Last night I went out there and there it was, just sitting on my lawn, not a worry in the world.

I shooshed it away. I checked back 15 min later and it was there again. I'm on the edge of town but not that far out where I can "take care" of the problem. lol

Last post was off topic.

Everyone has good advice on where to start. I'd say a good tip when going big game hunting is to always buy a cougar and a bear tag. You never know, might go out looking for deer and come home with a bonus. And, if you are planning on taking your son hunting in a few years. Start looking at controlled hunts and start applying.

Look into the youth hunt program as well. Here is a copy of the 2009 Big game regulations.

2009 Big Game Regulations

It's actually a pretty easy read. Good Luck

Originally Posted by unionguy

I'm looking for any and all advice...I'm a long-time gun owner/target shooter, but I've never been hunting before and would like to enter the sport. What advice would you give on how to get started? Is deer the best way to start? I've read some books and watched some videos, but that is the extent of my knowledge right now. I don't run in circles with other hunters, so I haven't had luck that way. thanks!

deer is more plentiful than elk , elk is a bigger better prize taste better also IMO

have you decided where your going to hunt i take it your hunting western as the eastern draw is over. are you heading to units outside of the Portland area units ? you'll find lots hunters in areas close to large cities so if you plan to camp go deep you'll see more animals

if you stuck doing the weekend warrior way of hunting be prepared to see lots of hunters and weekend shooters, this can work in your favor for a while as it gets the deer moving but they wise up and end up in deep cover if your with a party you can organize a hunt and drive them out to a clear cut and your parties shooters . watching clear cuts are not bad idea except odds are you'll be watching it with others and will have frequent drive bys try to find a clear cut with out a lot of traffic. road hunting in western is a crap shoot a lot of guys do it few are lucky most are just burning gas. do some pre scouting if you can to pick a area to hunt. i have seen most deer on opening day then they wise up when they hear all the shooting and see the orange hat army tromping through the woods

as mentioned areas near farms are great but a lot are still private property

Here is a link to another thread that was started a while back with a similar topic. SDR has good info on that one.

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/for...ad.php?t=10455

I believe in Oregon if you have never had an Oregon hunting license, you need to take the hunters safety class also regardless of age....could be wrong though. Check the regs.

Originally Posted by johnboy

I believe in Oregon if you have never had an Oregon hunting license, you need to take the hunters safety class also regardless of age....could be wrong though. Check the regs.

I never took any class. I just had to show proof of 6 month residency in Oregon. Youth hunters need a hunter safety class though.

Originally Posted by eldbillbo

whoa, are you saying some of us are not real hunters cause we like the whole experience ? some of us as mentioned by johnboy don't have the privage of hunting in our own backyard we actually have to get out of the truck and and into the woods and hunt for our game. you know get out in the brush spend days walking tracking stalking not just drive up spend 5 hrs and crack open a beer i call that shooting not hunting. cause some of us built memories of dragging out big bucks from deep woods with our fathers sons and daughters or brothers so we like to kick back by a fire with buddies after a long day of beating the brush or dragging a 5 point 3-5 miles in the woods sorry you can't do that in 5 hrs .or spending a day bringing a elk out of the woods thats right you down a elk a mile in it will take you a day to quarter and drag it out in deep snow. and you call these people not serious hunters ? your a serious hunter cause you live near the land you hunt and get your deer on opening day and call it done .

please explain

just because you hunt alone drink alone may just mean you don't have any friends

My Uncle lives in the Country in Wa and is a pure red neck, deer come into his property and he does not shoot them, he works back hoe for for a logging company so he knows where the animals are calls it shooting not hunting however he occasionally buys a Oregon Tag to go hunting with us

I think if you re-read my reply you'd see that I do brush hunt. I however research the area I plan to hunt and have enough experience to know where they will be when it is time to hunt. I would suggest that it might be prudent on your behalf to map out and explore the area you plan to hunt and you might have better results. Obviously I struck a nerve with you and it is more important for you to spend time with your guy friends than to have a sucessful season.
To each his own but I and my friends punch our tags every year and have since we started hunting 30 years ago. It doesnt matter what area whether it is 1 mile from home or 40 If you know what to look for and do your research it pays off.

If I wanted to be a deer shooter I would stay at home and shoot one in the field from my backyard. As far as elk go that is a different story I don't shoot one where I have to quarter/drag one more than a mile.I tend to let them go if I get that far away from an access road. Too much access to travel more than a mile away from your camp/rig. I don't hunt for the racks or bragging rights I go hunting to get meat.