Hunting was a way of life for our ancestors and, in some ways, it’s a way of life for many of us today. Some still rely on hunting to put food on the table, but most engage in it for sport.
Whatever your reasons for pursuing the activity, there are few things to note before starting. One, you need a credible hunting resource to depend on. Second, there will always be an element of danger to hunting regardless of your approach, so be careful at all times!
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What else is there to know about hunting?
Hunting Tips for Beginners
Hunting has been around for so long that the tips surrounding it have been thoroughly tried and tested. Below are some that can truly help out the newbies.
1. Patience Is a Virtue
The thrill and excitement surrounding a potential hunting trip or a kill can make it difficult for any hunter to be patient. A seasoned veteran may not be as prone to impatience as a beginner, but they have their moments all the same.
The fact remains, though, that patience can be crucial to your safety. Making a racket and rushing through the woods alerts prey to your presence or tips off predators to a potential prey’s arrival. Both things don’t bode well for you, but we wager you would personally prefer the latter. Though, chances are, you would have scared prey away with all your commotion, too.
Being patient means walking through hunting grounds with care and caution, exercising vigilance because you never know what could lie around the corner.
Patience also helps when hunting very elusive prey. It means you understand a hunt might more often end in failure instead of success, but you still keep at it. A lot of the time, it’s patience that allows hunters to achieve a rare kill.
2. Landmarks Are Essential
Hunting in the woods or any maze-like hunting ground wrought by vegetation can be confusing. Sometimes, you forget which road you took or which path you came through.
Seasoned hunters aren’t likely to make the rookie mistake of leaving their paths unmarked. If they decide to forego landmarks, it means they know the place by heart and don’t need them.
A beginner, however, needs to use markers more often than not. Aside from helping find a way to and from your hunting spot, landmarks provide a reference for where to keep a lookout for potential prey and predators. Hunting is a dangerous business, and you don’t want to make the mistake of failing to create markers and reducing your awareness.
3. Get Rid of Obstructions
Clear the path to your ideal hunting spot. Obstructions can stand in the way of an all-out visual or prevent you from having a clear shot of your prey. Thus, you want to clear them out before your target moves along.
Don’t risk shooting without clearing up these interferences since that can cause you to miss your target more often than not.
Removing obstructions also makes trap-setting easier and less dangerous, as you don’t have to worry about a stray branch or something else triggering it.
4. Be as Quiet as You Possibly Can
Noise isn’t usually our friend, but it’s especially intolerable when hunting. Not only does it scare prey away, but it also alerts predators to your presence. Neither of which is a good thing.
The thing about “noise” when hunting is it can mean the sounds of reckless movement. Thus, one might not necessarily consider it as noise, but it will trigger the heightened senses of animals all the same.
So, you’ll want to avoid that twig than risk it breaking, possibly ruining your chances of making a kill or increasing your chances of getting attacked by a wild animal. That also means ensuring your equipment features silent operations. Anything that makes a crackling sound is better left at home.
5. Clean Up After Yourself
This is a rule often heard at the dinner table but applies to hunting all the same. You could either be so excited after a kill or too disappointed at missing your shot that you forget to clear some of the things you set up. This could prove harmful for some animals or other parts of the ecosystem, especially if some of the items left behind were toxic.
But say you were responsible enough to clear your hunting spot; it still won’t hurt to do a little extra cleaning. Consider it as a “thank you” to mother nature for letting you use her backyard for your entertainment.
Use These Tips To Help You Get That Perfect Shot
You should find this guide incredibly helpful as a hunting beginner. It’s both time and energy-saving and should set the stage for some reasonably successful first couple of goes at the field sport you love so much.
