Anyone in here have to learn it all on their own?

[Care_Grand]

I’m the same age and did the same thing. Get some money together, get some good hunting clothes, a rifle that’s sighted in well and go get that public land. You’d be surprised at how many people are willing to take a first timer out. Also get some books. Steve renilla has some good ones.

[Beaverhuntr]

Yes. I didn’t grow up hunting or camping. I was about 30-31 years old when I accompanied a buddy on his deer hunt. After that I was hooked and bought myself a bow and started practicing. In 2017 I drew my first elk tag in AZ and was able to tag out.

[Redbaron-1914]

I had people to give me advice but they were to old to go out with me.

Check with your local wildlife department for outdoor classes but not a lot will be available for gutting and skinning you will probably just have to follow along with a YouTube guide. Luckily its not very hard

It seems daunting but the hard part is not what comes after the kill it’s actually killing an animal

[canada1913]

I was the first person in my family to be interested in guns, which lead me being interested in hunting. I didn’t have any mentors at all for guns or hunting, and look at me now. I’ve lost track of the animals I’ve killed and eaten. I’ve shot a once in a life time bull moose, along with 4 other moose. countless deer, a bear, tons and tons of grouse, geese, ducks, doves, a turkey, a few bunnies, and pheasants.

I’ve gutted all my own animals, you’ll for sure mess them up but you won’t get better by not trying. Watch Steven rinella aka meateater. He’s got tooooons of amazing Info and videos on how to gut and butcher animals.

Idk about classes, but if you hang around your local rod and gun club, or gun store, you’ll be sure to meet like minded folks who will be happy to give you a hand. When I started having an interest in guns I hung around my local gun shop for hours, and it’s a tiny place. I ended up making friends with the whole family that owns it, and lots of other people that have taught me things along the way. I’m now at a point that Im able to pass along some knowledge.

[pope-killdragon]

I didn’t grow up around it, started on my own in my early 20s, mid-30s now. Sounded like a practical thing to get into and worked well with my own moral system re: factory farming. Learned everything from YouTube, forums, articles, that kinda thing. You’re right about field dressing in the sense that you’re 100% not gonna be confident you’re doing it “right” until you’re actually doing it and what you saw in the video starts clicking and translating into what you see in person, but… only really takes one to figure it out, tbh. Best thing to do really is to go out and do it.

In NC there used to be like… seminars and shit held by the actual Wildlife Resources Commission to teach people the basics of hunting and field dressing too, but never went to one; don’t think it ever involved anything hands-on anyway, probably not much different than the YouTube videos beyond being able to ask questions directly and in real-time, but you can at least see if your state/area offers anything similar.

Best things I can tell you to do are:

• Find out what you want to hunt

• Decide what you want to hunt it *with*

• Look up public gamelands in your area that have that animal available

• Find out *how* you want to hunt it — tree stand, tree harness, still hunting, spot and stalk, ground blind, whatever

• Get good input from experienced people on what type/brand/whatever you should get of whatever method combination you end up picking

• Practice enough to get used to using the weapon you picked

• Don’t get sucked into all the goofy hunter-focused marketing gimmicks and dump a ton of money into specialized camo or calls or overpriced scent covers or whatever the fuck — keep all that shit basic, get a decent gut knife, and put your main focus at first instead into learning how to scout (i.e., figure out where animals would be and why), how and why wind matters, how to work with and around it, what methods are successful in your specific terrain/region, etc. — there are some really great resources for this on YouTube like [Bowhunting.com](https://Bowhunting.com)’s channel, DIY Sportsman, The Hunting Public’s whole video series called “Mapping Public Land Whitetails,” Whitetail Habitat Solutions… Just a huge amount of info out there and I’m leaving out a ton of others I’m sure.

• Get OnX

After all that, if it’s something you decide you want to invest more time/money into, you can worry about upgrading to nicer equipment and seeking out private land for hunting leases and all the other shit that comes with.

[unicornman5d]

Where are you located? You could try finding a [mentor](https://thehuntincommon.org/)

[Arawhata-Bill1]

What unicornman said is good advice. Like you I learned it on my own and I struggled for years trying to get my first catch.
So I highly recommend hooking up with an older guy or guys that can take you under their wing. There’s so much to learn with hunting, it’ll take you a lifetime to learn and even then, you’ll never know it all. Let us know how you get on OP.

[c0mp0stable]

Even better than a class would be to find someone to show you. Is there a hunting club near you? Or maybe ask one of the local environmental officers if they know anyone willing to take you under their wing.

Once you gut, hang, and butcher a deer, you’ll be able to do it over and over and get better. Luckily, it’s not rocket science, but there are good and bad ways to do it.

[wojtekthesoldierbear]

You’re in GA and TX, right?

Best thing to practice on is a pig, which are everywhere in your area. Go kill a few and practice. Mess up a cut? Sausage. You’ll learn really quickly.

[[deleted]]

Everyone who tried to teach me anything about hunting was rubbish at it .
To me everyone is self taught you need to figure out what you are good at and focus on it , with the internet weather , maps , gps , and the limited areas to hunt everyone is capable of learning on their own .
The two rules are move into the wind and if you aren’t seeing game you are moving too fast .