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Hi, I'm just looking to learn how to shoot. Rifle and Handgun?

I hope to become proficient in time to go hunting in 2020. Deer for sure and then maybe Elk in the near future.

I grew up in Pennsylvania but my grandpa's health was not up to teaching me to hunt.

I've had an interest for a while, I don't own any guns but I'm a fan.

My dad was a Marksmanship instructor in the Marines and served on the Forrestal. I never got to meet him before he passed away.

I moved to the Northwest and time goes by, suddenly I'm 40 and its past due for me to be out hunting.

All my friends that hunt are in Texas, so I'm here needing to get something started so I can get out there and get my mind clear and reconnect to the ancient world by hunting and filling my freezer with venison.

I need exposure to firearms safety and advice on what I need. Hopefully I can rebuild a circle of like-minded friends and get out there hunting together.
 
This forum is a good place to start.

Have you taken the Hunter Safety Course yet? Looked into range memberships? From my reading here in this forum, it would appear that Tri County Gun Club has lots of classes.

What have you shot before? Some experience, or none at all? Members usually suggest new shooters learn with a .22lr rifle as a stable tool that is not expensive to get the amount of experience needed to build enough skills to move up to deer/elk caliber.

What kind of pistol shooting interests you? What purpose would you use one... plinking, target, self defense, hunting... ?
 
First off welcome to the forum. Not sure what part of Vancouver you are in but I know that Safe Fire up in camas does some pistol classes and you can rent from them to see what you like. As for hunting, that is a tough one. Become friends with people and hope they are willing to take you. Its a tough crowd to get in with.


Or you could be like me and just wander through the woods with a rifle!! :s0140:
 
Or you could be like me and just wander through the woods with a rifle!! :s0140:

Trail cam footage to prove it. Although you seem bigger in person.

Big-Foot-1-832-832x476.jpg

:s0140:
 
Hi, I'm just looking to learn how to shoot. Rifle and Handgun?
.....
I need exposure to firearms safety and advice on what I need. Hopefully I can rebuild a circle of like-minded friends and get out there hunting together.
For starters, you have hit the gold mine and the motherload of like-minded people.

You are too far for me to assist, but if you are ever down this way.. I'm sure we could make a day of it.
 
Answers in no particular order.

I've held a couple rifles when I was a kid. Never held a handgun.
I've done some archery target shooting with an old Browning compound bow.
Target shooting sounds fun and looks fun.
I miss fun things.

I slipped into becoming a bit of a recluse over the last decade just work and home, work and home etc. I love hiking and feel at home in nature. I get along well with everyone, Intelligent conversation or gutter humor depending on the situation. I'll end up recruited as a pack hunter eventually lol but I know I'll do ok on my own if thats how it plays out.

I just want some locals to point me in the right direction for where to learn. I'll stop by one of the places mentioned above and see what they have to offer. I took a hunter safety course in Highschool. Pennsylvania mid 1990s but I don't have any paperwork so I'll take another one here. I would spend most of my free time out wandering in the forest as a kid.

I just need to build contacts and friends to get pointers and find the opportunites to get things moving. My learning curve will go smoother if I'm not out on my own.

I have been in Vancouver since 2005, I live on the southwest edge of HazelDell where its nice and quiet, my wife and I bought a bigger house last year with a garage. First thing I did was get a giant freezer and dream of Venison. Our first house was downtown north of the courthouse but traffic was turning into a beast and property values had more than doubled so we decided it was ripe for a move into something better, I step out my front door and I'm on I-5 or SR-500 in 2 or 3 minutes.

I'm not 100% sure but I might eventually want a concealed carry. I'm very calm in stressful situations. Adrenalin kicks in and time slows down and I'm instantly clear and in the zone.
Just having that discreet option and self defense confidence would be ok if I was ever in another situation that required self defense or defending others.
Target shooting for fun also sounds interesting.

I got totaled by a drunk driver in May so I had the summer eaten up with physical therapy, knee surgery for 5 miniscus tears because the dash mashed my knee. A highlander hitting a stratus is apparently not a fair fight :) I am past the physical therapy. Finally got back to work at the factory in October and feeling pretty good. Just the nagging random twinges and pains but I feel it fading week by week. I've been listening to the Joe Rogan Podcast and I'm feeling motivation to start hitting the gym to get strong again and my desire to hunt has been rekindled.

Also I'm fed up with being a damn recluse. I had a solid group of friends when I lived in Beaverton but one had a random undiagnosed heart defect and passed, and another was hit with agressive cancer and was gone in a couple months. It totally shattered the rest of us and people moved away and drifted etc. I think that was the seed of my reclusive decade.

It's high time I'm back in the world. So getting into hunting is the key.
 
Welcome aboard...

To learn to hunt your required to take a Washington Hunters Safety course, half of it is online then the other half is outdoors..

For proficiency in rifle and pistol in Vancouver try shauncurtain.com, he is an NRA Instructor and Hunters Ed as well...

I've worked with him all over Oregon and Washington...
 
Last Edited:
Hi, I'm just looking to learn how to shoot. Rifle and Handgun?
I need exposure to firearms safety and advice on what I need. Hopefully I can rebuild a circle of like-minded friends and get out there hunting together.
For starters, you have hit the gold mine and the motherload of like-minded people.

You are too far for me to assist, but if you are ever down this way.. I'm sure we could make a day of it.


X2 on what Dyjital said. If you ever feel like making the trek to Albany I am sure we could get you a decent amount of practice and some coaching.
 
I started to get into fishing with buddies at work and caught a spring chinook on my first day (3rd cast). Unfortunately now I'm on the opposite shift so my days off are their days on.

You caught a springer:

#1... you did better than 95% of fishers
#2... you caught one on the 3rd cast... this will not be repeated.

So you won't get to go anymore? That's okay, a couple forum members are saying that salmon fishing sucks now due to no salmon. Better to stay home and drink... ;)
 
I'm looking at a couple busy weeks to close out december then I'll have time to hit the ground running in January. Just want to say thanks for the warm welcome here. I'm getting a solid welcome and advice which is great to keep motivated.
I made the mistake of placing a similar adb
You caught a springer:

#1... you did better than 95% of fishers
#2... you caught one on the 3rd cast... this will not be repeated.

So you won't get to go anymore? That's okay, a couple forum members are saying that salmon fishing sucks now due to no salmon. Better to stay home and drink... ;)
I'll be going on my own :) at the very least. I'm also hearing that crabbing from shore is fun on the coast.
 
I'm looking at a couple busy weeks to close out december then I'll have time to hit the ground running in January. Just want to say thanks for the warm welcome here. I'm getting a solid welcome and advice which is great to keep motivated.
I made the mistake of placing a similar adb

I'll be going on my own :) at the very least. I'm also hearing that crabbing from shore is fun on the coast.
I know I'm new to salmon but I was watching a lot of salmon videos to see how they swim. They seem to like faster water sometimes for more oxygen. The fry need that fast flowing water as they grow or they suffocate. So when I was at the Bonneville dam they were all lined up on a straight stretch of shore but I went further down to a little spur of rock where the water was a little turbulent and moving faster. I did the whole deal to keep hand oils off so i washes my lures with the dishsoap that was recommended. I had food handling gloves on when i was fishing. I used some of that fish oil blood/scent to dose the spinner/lure. I know its mainly luck but I like to think I at least boosted my chances by a measurable %. Nobody there was using gloves or the fish blood oil scent. After I caught mine they were asking me about it so i passed the bottle down the line and they were all putting it on their lures, i never even got the bottle back somebody pocketed it.
 

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