Free: Contests & Raffles.
Welcome to the forum! Persistence pays off, knowledge comes later... I hope. Still waiting.
Welcome to the forum! It’s a great place with endless amounts of information. Thanks for not making your first post asking for someone’s honey hole. If you ever make it into north Idaho hunting shoot me a message. Best of luck
A good hunter isn't gauged by knowledge. A good hunter is ethical and plays by the rules unless the rules would make him unethical. Fair chase is exactly that and each person will have a boundary or limit to what they believe is fair chase for them. The knowledge will come and keep coming every time you step foot in the hills. There will never be a day where you say to yourself, "well I guess that's it, nothing else to learn out here." Over the years, I've learned that those beliefs I had when younger, don't apply anymore or if being honest, may not have been accurate and based in reality in the first place. At 62, I walk into the hills every time with only a few basic things that I know for sure. One of which is, I wasn't going to see a nice buck while sitting on the couch watching football. Another, as stupid as it sounded the first time I heard it and every time I say it, "they're where you find them," is as true today as it was the first time my father said it in 1968. Next, getting locked in to a belief of where you're going to find an animal is one of the best ways to go hungry. Be vigilante at all times when in the hills. Another lesson that has been cemented over the years because it's just a fact, if you see them first, you have a chance, if they see you first, you might as well have stayed on the couch watching football. Always move slower than you think is possible and always have something against your back. If you need to cross a large opening, skirt the edge if possible. If not look the area over well before getting out into the middle of it. One I've learned here in the last several years, if by yourself, when the animal is down and the fun has begun, if possible, move him to a place with as much visibility as possible and never ignore your surroundings. Always keep a rifle or sidearm on your person or close enough to grab it if needed. Wolves have no reason to consider a gun shot a threat. Some might even consider it a dinner bell. Then there's just the old basic life lessons that apply to the outdoors as well as the rest of life. If it seems to good to be true, it probably isnt, doing stupid stuff usually hurts and last but not least, just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should. Just enjoy the outdoors and understand you'll learn, you'll change your mind and there ain't nobody that knows it all when it comes to being in the outdoors. Go have fun and be safe!
Welcome to the forum and good for you to become a hunter for your family. You and your kids will learn far more than hunting from the pursuit of wild game.
Welcome aboard! Just remember, that having patience will teach you more than anything while out in the woods. Gary
Welcome, I started a few years ago too and mostly hunt solo. A lot of tag soup but i can look back and am amazed what I have learned and so many good memories. First time I finally had a shooter in front of me I was not ready, did not react the way I rehearsed in my head and the second time too! Lol. I hunt modern in the NE units. Our Camps always open to fellow novice hunters to stop by and chat if your in 105
Mike Tyson once said "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face buck fever!". Hunt elk with archery. Once you've been close to and kill elk, you'll never get buck fever again. You might get bull fever, but...
Here is some advice you have probably already heard. Don't focus on fully visible animals in open terrain; those are not difficult to see. Train your eyes to focus on the harder to see aspects. A lighter or darker patch, a contour line, an ear, a face, part of an antler, a small movement. Then, unless you are a super long range shooter, keep the wind in your face.
In that pic we were fortunate enough to be blessed with a lighter patch, a contour line and part of an antler. Bedded bull elk in lower right quadrant. Just a big 6 point is all. Here he is in the center of this second pic.
Here is a lot easier one.
What was the range on the elk in the first picture?
Mule Deer are specialist at concealment. A few years ago, I started down a ridge I hunt all the time. Fog thick enough that 50 to 75 yards was as far as you could see and between the rain and the fog blowing through, the visibility was going from 10 to 15 yards to 50 to 75 and back to 10 to 15 every 30 seconds or so. I stepped away from a sapling just far enough to get a view of the crest of the ridge because I'd found bucks laying there before when it was raining. There was a spindly 3 point standing up next to a large Ponderosa pine about 70 yards below me. The buck didn't know I was there so I just figured I'd have some fun and see just how close I could get. With my back to the saplings, I stayed as tight to the cover as I could without brushing up against it and slowly cut the distance in half. At this point, to get closer, I was going to have to step away from the cover behind me. When the buck turned it's head and looked directly down the ridge, I figured with the noise of the rain and the fact that I was above the deer and my scent should be going up hill away from the animal, I started to slowly step away from the cover. I was able to cover 10 to 15 feet. The deer was still oblivious to my presence and I figured that was close enough and stopped and stood still. I had spent the last 15 minutes focused on my feet, the deer and whether I would brush up against anything. At this point as I started to take in all of my surroundings and as I pivoted my head, I saw movement behind and over my left shoulder as a monster mule deer buck stood up at about 10 yards away from behind a dead fall with branches sticking in all directions. He'd actually been laying amongst all of the dead limbs on the uphill side of the deadfall trunk. I realized afterwards, as I stepped away from the saplings, if I had turned my head and looked to my left, I'd have been looking right at him. Had the buck jumped at that point, I may have gotten a shot. With the buck waiting until I was below him, his second or third jump put him over an edge and going into thick timber above me. The only lesson or lessons I learned from that episode are first, deer are smart, next, when hunting, never get fixated on anything and then last, hunting is the most fun a person can have legally. The few times in my life when I've been up close and personal with a really big deer, there is nothing else in life that is more exciting than that to me. Good luck out there!And yes, the spindly three point was legal and had my goal been to bring home a deer, I could have shot him. I guess my goal is to spend and enjoy my time in the outdoors and if the right situation presents itself, maybe I bring home a deer or a bear.
Hey all, I'm in a similar boat myself. Didn't grow up with guns at all, so no hunting in the family. I started whitetail hunting in 2021 in the NE corner. Got lucky with a buck the first year, but skunked the last two seasons. I keep trying to find a good "how to" podcast for basic hunting strategy but can't seem to find one specific to whitetails in the PNW. Have you found anything good along those lines?
