What is the biggest challenge for you in hunting?

[Nick87]

It’s not that hard. Take a gun for a walk. Go slow. Keep the wind in your face.

There is so much information available that I feel 100% comfortable in saying there is no need for someone to teach you.

If the insta douches can do it. I'm convinced anyone can

 

[Hircine]

It’s not that hard. Take a gun for a walk. Go slow. Keep the wind in your face.

There is so much information available that I feel 100% comfortable in saying there is no need for someone to teach you.

I understand where you're coming from. But at the same time, hunting has been handed down generation to generation from teaching and guiding. Not by "figure it out yourself" mentality. Nothing against those who find this method suits them best, but even then, they have recieved help in some fashion from another human whether it be reading, watching a video, listening to a lecture etc.
If that way suits you best for everything then you're a better learner than I. For me, I prefer another route. Not saying that will be the ultimatum of learning how to hunt or not. But it's the way I learn best.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I understand where you're coming from. But at the same time, hunting has been handed down generation to generation from teaching and guiding. Not by "figure it out yourself" mentality. Nothing against those who find this method suits them best, but even then, they have recieved help in some fashion from another human whether it be reading, watching a video, listening to a lecture etc.
If that way suits you best for everything then you're a better learner than I. For me, I prefer another route. Not saying that will be the ultimatum of learning how to hunt or not. But it's the way I learn best.

I've had a ton of people ask me to teach them, and I've helped a couple. If you aren't willing to take hunters safety, buy a license, and go for a walk in the woods it's not worth my time mentoring you.

Lots of folks want a free guided trip and to shoot an elk, they don't want to actually learn how to hunt.

 

[Four22]

Finding people who want to go and will actually be in shape enough to hike and hunt hard.

I’m no model of fitness, but I train for season and can put the miles on if needed.

 

[DouglasR]

For those of us that didn’t grow up in the free lands of the west, I see how it could be intimidating to get started.
I felt a little weird the first time I took a gun out in the state park.

 

[antlerradar]

The biggest challenge for me is coming to grips with the reality that many of the places I hunted in my youth will never again live up to what I hunted back then.

 

[Bc1992]

Time and property lines seem to be the biggest problem I have.

 

[OntarioHunter]

No complaints. It's harder to find pheasants these days but that's okay. The harder I have to hunt, the longer I'm in the field. I have all the time in the world and plenty of money. My health is great, especially for +70 years. Never a problem finding ammo or components for 30-06. It was tricky finding steel shotshells during the pandemic but I managed. Finding a spot to hunt elk that isn't overrun with clowns on SxS has become a challenge. I think it's time to throw in the towel. Gave up on moose hunting here decades ago. Not interested in compulsory party hunting and buying points etc etc. I have discovered Africa and Alaska. Standing in line in Montana just doesn't excite me anymore. I can still shoot a buck there easily enough (typically three days max hunting) but I can see the writing on the wall for that. I've had a helluva kick at the can. No regrets.

 

[Treeshark]

Time. No close second place for this question for me, not at the moment anyway.

 

[Don Fischer]

Getting tags to hunt near home.

 

[00BUCK]

Getting enough time away from work is my biggest challenge

 

[Gerald Martin]

I understand where you're coming from. But at the same time, hunting has been handed down generation to generation from teaching and guiding. Not by "figure it out yourself" mentality. Nothing against those who find this method suits them best, but even then, they have recieved help in some fashion from another human whether it be reading, watching a video, listening to a lecture etc.
If that way suits you best for everything then you're a better learner than I. For me, I prefer another route. Not saying that will be the ultimatum of learning how to hunt or not. But it's the way I learn best.

I beg to differ. My Dad took me hunting but his way of teaching me was to take me to the top of a ridge at daybreak and say I will see you at the truck at lunchtime or at dark. I was eleven years old.

It took me decades to learn on my own what I can find on the internet and learn within 20- 30 hours now.

Fear of failure ensures you will never taste success. Experiencing failure ensures success because you will learn and as you learn you succeed.

I’ve been hunting for 35 years now and have never had an unsuccessful hunt. I have had lots of hunts where I didn’t kill anything but never a hunt where I didn’t enjoy my time in the woods or learn something worthwhile in the process.

I can’t fathom staying at home because someone doesn’t know how to hunt?

 

[Hircine]

I beg to differ. My Dad took me hunting but his way of teaching me was to take me to the top of a ridge at daybreak and say I will see you at the truck at lunchtime or at dark. I was eleven years old.

It took me decades to learn on my own what I can find on the internet and learn within 20- 30 hours now.

Fear of failure ensures you will never taste success. Experiencing failure ensures success because you will learn and as you learn you succeed.

I’ve been hunting for 35 years now and have never had an unsuccessful hunt. I have had lots of hunts where I didn’t kill anything but never a hunt where I didn’t enjoy my time in the woods or learn something worthwhile in the process.

I can’t fathom staying at home because someone doesn’t know how to hunt?

Who said anything about staying at home?

 

[Nick87]

The biggest challenge for me is coming to grips with the reality that many of the places I hunted in my youth will never again live up to what I hunted back then.

Truer words....

 

[Gerald Martin]

Who said anything about staying at home?

You make it seem from your posts that you have excuses why you can’t? Maybe I’m reading it wrong?

If so, don’t read my post as criticism but rather as encouragement to be willing to invest the time, energy and money it takes to be successful.

Looking back at how much I didn’t know it’s laughable. However, I always had a drive within to be present in the woods and get as close to any animal as possible. I suppose I absorbed a lot of understanding of how to do things without knowing what I was doing.

Somewhere between an interest to keep exploring until I found game and an agressive predatory instinct to figure out how to get a shot once I found game it seemed to click.

I actually kind of miss the wonder and excitement of having an encounter work out and realize that I had actually killed an animal in spite of my incompetence.

 

[Gerald Martin]

@Hircine, what are you wanting to hunt?

 

[thebestusernamesaretaken]

My wife finding out I purchased another point or tag One elk hunt cost me three Disney trips and I'm not sure she's done.

 

[Hircine]

You make it seem from your posts that you have excuses why you can’t? Maybe I’m reading it wrong?

If so, don’t read my post as criticism but rather as encouragement to be willing to invest the time, energy and money it takes to be successful.

Looking back at how much I didn’t know it’s laughable. However, I always had a drive within to be present in the woods and get as close to any animal as possible. I suppose I absorbed a lot of understanding of how to do things without knowing what I was doing.

Somewhere between an interest to keep exploring until I found game and an agressive predatory instinct to figure out how to get a shot once I found game it seemed to click.

I actually kind of miss the wonder and excitement of having an encounter work out and realize that I had actually killed an animal in spite of my incompetence.

I'll go out and learn to hunt alone if it comes to that. It helps to have a physical mentor.

 

[Hircine]

@Hircine, what are you wanting to hunt?

Western big game. I'm from a whitetail state, however I'm hoping to move out west for a job soon.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Start hunting whatever is available locally near you. Squirrels, rabbits, deer, whatever. Most skills are transferable over to western big game.

I learned by hunting squirrels in the woods behind my house and found that I loved slipping quietly along listening for squirrels rustling through the leaves on the ground or moving through the trees. When it came to hunting deer, I found that I enjoyed hunting them the same way.

When I moved to Montana, I added a good pair of binoculars and found that the same tactics I employed for small game and deer in Virginia were just as effective for deer, elk and bear out here.

If you can learn to still hunt and get close to a Midwest or Eastern whitetail, you can kill any animal in the woods. There’s some difference in how they use the landscape but the tactics are very similar.