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How do I get into hunting for the first time
Background: Have never been hunting before. Didn't grow up around guns, got into them a few years ago. Don't really have any friends around here that hunt either.
So I take hunter safety and then what? Should I pay to go on a guided hunt the first time or two to figure out what the hell I'm doing? Seems like an expensive way to get into the sport...
What do you want to hunt?
Elk, Deer, Duck? I would try anything/everything and see what I like I guess.Originally Posted by newracer
Get your hunter safety done and then post back up here. I'm sure there are people willing to help.
Obama.....
Change you can take to the bank(rupt).
Yes, call CPW and sign up for a hunter safety course ASAP. The instructors can help you with advice, as can the hunt planners at the CPW offices. Then get in on the drawings for deer, elk and pronghorn licenses. The deadline for big game applications is April 5th. You have enough time, but don't delay, you need your hunter safety before you can apply. Read the CPW website and the hunting brochures thoroughly. There are application seminars being held across the Front Range now, see http://cpw.state.co.us/aboutus/Pages/News-Release-Details.aspx?NewsID=5689
Consider applying for doe deer and cow elk instead of hunting bucks and bulls. You'll have a much higher likelihood of early success.
Go to the library and pull any books on hunting, you can learn a lot by reading. Spend time in the outdoors, search for and watch wildlife of all kinds to develop your outdoor and observational skills. Get some decent binoculars and use them daily. Small game hunting this summer will help condition you for the big game seasons, mentally and physically. Hunting isn't shooting but it requires good shooting skills. Both time in the outdoors and time on the range are important. You'll get out of it what you put into it.
A guided or drop camp hunt can be a good way to accelerate your learning and increase your success, but it's costly.
If I could afford it, I'd probably hire a guide or outfitter myself. Damn expensive, but trying to go it alone just sucks. I have nobody to go with, and have no idea where to go either. And who has the time or gas money to drive all over the state scouting? I sure don't. If you don't know a friendly landowner with critters or a good public place, you're pretty much sca-rewed.
I bought a leftover tag last year for unit 104 because it's close to home and there's lots of deer, but there ain't a speck of public land there, and my tag was for white tail doe, not mule deer. There ain't no goddamn white tails there either, not that us unwashed heathens can get to anyway. The CPW folks will tell you they don't want white tails in this state and want to get rid of them all, but they won't help you get one either.
Shooting and gutting the animal is the easy part, getting it out of the field is another challenge altogether. But IMO, the really hard part is finding a place to go in the first place. For that, a guide/outfitter just might be worth it. If you can afford it.
There's a lot more of us ugly mf'ers out here than there are of you pretty people!
- Frank Zappa
Scrotum Diem - bag the day!
It's all shits and giggles until someone giggles and shits.....
Finding a place to hunt is not hard. Finding a place that you will be successful is hard.
I will echo getting your hunters safety class done then I'd say start small with bird and small game. There's a SWA in Hudson that I have smoked a few ducks and it's not a 3hr drive. Post up when you get your class done and I'm sure someone will chime in with some learning opportunities for you to take advantage of.
Once you get into a hunter safety course you'll be good to go. You literally learn everything to learn.
I must have just gotten the abridged version. They didn't tell me anything about any of the areas or have any discussion about migratory patterns of game animals or anything. Heck, they didn't even have instruction about field dressing or anything.
It was probably a good thing I had over twenty five years experience hunting before I had to take the course.
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