New Hunter

[sniper7]

after you take hunters ED, pm me with your questions. I live for hunting. It is a close call but I think about hunting almost as much as sex/women

Basically anywhere in the mountains with pine trees you can go for a walk and find a shit ton of squirrels. find an area that is national forest, google map the location from the parking spot/road you plan to enter from and check closely for homes/structures etc that could possibly be within range should the .22 get through the trees.

you can also look into grouse hunting (talk to them about it in hunters Ed). that would be another good start.

if you have a shotgun you can try bird hunting. waterfowl (ducks and geese) and upland (pheasants, quail, grouse, dove). There are a ton of opportunities. Also have them talk to you about state wildlife areas. there are lots of hunters typically but at least they are close and you can talk to others that can help you out.

Biggest this is to start studying the regulations now.
http://wildlife.state.co.us/RulesReg...gulations.aspx

that will give you a link to all the types of hunting you want to look at.
There are general laws that apply all the time, and then specific regulations that apply to each species, season, unit, etc. It can be confusing and it will be confusing but just ask here or call the CDOW and they will get you headed in the right direction.

[budda]

Welcome to the hunting world I did not start hunting tell I was 25 and I dont know how I lived with out it. All the other members make a good point to how to get started. I would sugest making your next gun purchase to be a shotgun. I do think is it great for small game, in general, and you can get in to waterfowling easy enough. If you do get some squerals stew them. They have turned out good for me. My kids eat squeral and realy like it. As Pookawa said rabbit is a good small game animal to hunt aswell. Skin them and roast them as you would a chicken. Check out the DOW site they list State Wild Areas(SWA) and State Trust Lands(STL) that you can hunt on. Good Luck and eat what you hunt.

[bradkincaid]

Thanks for all the input guys. Rabbits and grouse were game I was also interested in pursuing, since I figured they may be found in the same wooded areas I would be walking around in looking for squirrel (when the seasons overlap of course).

Does anyone hunt grouse with a rimfire/centerfire rifle or handgun instead of a shotgun? I know Elmer Keith wrote about plunking grouse with a .44 Special, but I wonder how common it is nowadays to hunt these birds sans shotgun.

If I take a shine to small game hunting I will definitely look into a shotgun as my next gun, since Upland hunting has always appealed to me. In the meantime I may decide to sell my Marlin 925 and pick up a Savage MK2 so that I can have a lefty gun. Being a lefty, I can fire the bolt action pretty quickly without a scope, but reaching over a scope may become a hassle.

[sniper7]

Thanks for all the input guys. Rabbits and grouse were game I was also interested in pursuing, since I figured they may be found in the same wooded areas I would be walking around in looking for squirrel (when the seasons overlap of course).

Does anyone hunt grouse with a rimfire/centerfire rifle or handgun instead of a shotgun? I know Elmer Keith wrote about plunking grouse with a .44 Special, but I wonder how common it is nowadays to hunt these birds sans shotgun.

If I take a shine to small game hunting I will definitely look into a shotgun as my next gun, since Upland hunting has always appealed to me. In the meantime I may decide to sell my Marlin 925 and pick up a Savage MK2 so that I can have a lefty gun. Being a lefty, I can fire the bolt action pretty quickly without a scope, but reaching over a scope may become a hassle.

I have killed grouse with rocks. they aren't the brightest birds. Ever watch Jeremiah Johnson?
I have also killed several with a Bow.