So you’re interested in hunting but you’ve never done it and you don’t know where to start. Well for starters “Welcome” and relax it is not as daunting as you may think. This article is going to lay out some of the basics and make it easy and fun.
Best place to start is with your state Department of Fish and Game. The name of this department varies from state to state but a quick search of your state government website should lead you right to the correct agency or department. Most states have copies of their regulations available online or for free at your local Wal-Mart.
Don’t panic yet, you don’t have to read the whole regulation all at once, this is just to let you know what type of hunting is available in your area and so you have access to the regulations to look up answers to your questions as you go along. A quick glance through the information is all you need to get you started. What you want to look for is the type of book your hunt game that is available, when the seasons are and what weapons are allowed for the game you choose.
You don’t want to spend money on a great Elk hunting rifle then find out there are no Elk or no rifle seasons for Elk in your state. Most, if not all, states have some sort of Deer seasons, but not all states have book your hunt rifle seasons for Deer.
At this point we have the state hunting regulations, we know what type game is available to hunt and what type of weapons we can use. See how easy that was. You’re well on your way already.
Now that you know what game is available, what method of take is available, and when the season is, you want to look into where the seasons are open. Check the regulation to see if the season is on public or private land. If it is public you’re done for now but if it is private you will need to find contact information for the owners of the land to see what is required to hunt the land. Sometimes you just need written permission and other times they require you to pay a fee. Personally I would plan on public land whenever possible.
Next it’s on to the weapon. Let’s say you found a rifle season for Whitetail Deer in your area but with little experience the “Caliber” is a little confusing. In a nutshell caliber is the inside diameter of the barrel. book your hunt Just to get you started think of caliber in relation to the game. The bigger the caliber, the bigger game it is designed for. Imagine a .22 caliber for rabbits and a .338 for Moose. Somewhere in between there is the Whitetail deer and somewhere in the middle of that caliber range is the .270. Of course this is an extreme over simplification but it will get you started. What this means in short is that a hunting rifle with a caliber in the .270 range should be well suited for your Whitetail deer. There are of course a number of other calibers that would also do well but this article is just to get you started.