I met a hiker
Whitetail Deer
I met a hiker in the wood last fall. I was scouting for deer and I forgot about our brief encounter. I ran into the same young man yesterday. He asked if I had taken a deer last fall. I told him that I worked very hard (If you can call hunting work) to take a deer and finally took one. On a whim I asked him if he has taken up hunting. He said no but wants to learn. I told him the best way to start is to go scouting with an experienced hunter(me) and get to a safety course. I am excited to think I can, in a small way, help to preserve and nurture the hunting life. In case you care I will not limit his exposure to bow hunting. In my option any legal tool employed to take animals is fair game and helps all hunters in the long run.
Great job greenmountain ! We should all do what you did every chance we get , and weapon shouldn't matter . Hunters really need to stick together no matter the weapon or any different ways or types of hunting . Anti hunters want to get rid of all hunting ! So all hunters need to pull together !
Rather than bowhunting, scoped crossbow hunting would be much easier to teach him.
Congratulations on stepping up and doing a part in saving a dyeing breed. I have had several plebes in the past and you will get more out of it than you give.
Congratulations! Sounds like you are going to have a great time! Keep us updated on how it progresses.
Excellent! Good for you (and him).
Leave it to Missouribreaks to piss in the punchbowl. Must suck to wake up sour every day.
What??
I am a selfbow hunter, would not suggest that to a first time hunter unless he has plenty of time to practice. Scoped crossbows or rifles if allowed are good places to start.
"Rather than bowhunting, scoped crossbow hunting would be much easier to teach him."
Why does it have to be "easy"?
Good on you, greenmountain!
Good point Rut. Why did compounds gain acceptance for increasing let off, I do not know. And, why are crossbows growing in use where legal while compounds are declining? I was simply facing reality I guess, however you are correct and I agree with you. I thought the whole crossbow and compound issue and SUCCESS was for recruitment, by making things easier. The hiker is potential recruitment.
A few years ago I mentored my nephew in Michigan to start him deer hunting. The guy was in his late 20's and wants to hunt to provide for his family and self reliance, not for trophies. He was not interested in archery for fun, he just wanted to hunt. So I let him use my scoped crossbow, fifteen minutes of training and after a few sits in the woods he was successful with a nice doe and hooked. He has his own crossbow now, and I donated mine elsewhere. So yeah there is a place for scoped crossbows and newbies. The only option was a crossbow or gun, some people are just not interested in a vertical bow.
Way to go greenmountain.
SMH at Missouri though. You are one miserable human being.
Good job bud,whatever it takes to get them started.safety and ethics always come first.
I agree with PECO. Crossbows are not for me, but I have a friend who never hunted with anything but a gun, and I got him to go hunting for antelope using a crossbow. After being successful two years in a row, he is gonna be deer hunting with it this year. He's blind in his right eye from birth, but that didn't hinder gun hunting even though he's right handed. Someone like him, who thinks he's too old to learn to shoot a bow, can still enjoy some of the same aspects of bow hunting that makes it attractive to us vertical archers. I know the haters don't want to share "their" season with crossbow hunters, but I feel like I'm gonna kill what I kill, they're gonna kill what they kill, and we're not either one gonna suffer from what method the other chooses to employ.
Good for you Green, we need all of the recruits we can get. I'd suggest that you help him find a Hunter Safety class, as they fill up fast and a lot of new hunters get frustrated that they can't find one. You might even offer to take it with him.
We can pretty much fill up all of the classes we offer here in CT, both firearm and Bow. Believe it or not a significant number of graduates never buy a hunting license. And the number who are still hunting 3 years later is disappointingly low. Most of those dropouts say they didn't have a place to hunt, or anyone to show them the ropes.
We all like to keep our secret spots to ourselves, but our numbers are dropping and we need new blood. Introducing a newbie is a tremendously rewarding way to give back.
I'd start him with a firearm. He needs to make some kills and understand the essence of hunting, the scouting, tracking, guts, butchering and finally the food part of it. If he does this and is really into it, then I'd have him start to shoot a bow.
Maybe others will disagree, but IMO the only way to really become a hunter is to make kills. The more you make the more you learn, and when someone starts bowhunting they will need all the knowledge they can muster because it IS harder to do than gun hunt.
I'd also get him in a treestand too for many of the same reasons, not the least of which is being able to view deer in their natural state and learn their behavior. I'm primarily a ground stalk/stillhunter now, but I only evolved to that after spending decades in trees and shooting a lot of deer.
One other plus of starting out with a firearm is that the odds of making a good clean killing shot on his first few deer is much better and will make for a more positive learning experience.
I'd let the end user decide where his interest lies. For someone who already enjoys the outdoors, hunting is one more reason to spend time afield successful or not. I know people who do not regularly harvest but that doesn't keep them from enjoying hunting.
Good for you G-Mtn,
After a scouting trip or two I think the hiker will make his choice of weapon.
Some how we all do :^}
This is awesome! Good for you GMtn! I hunt turkeys in an area that has a TON of hikers and tree hugger types. I have interactions probably 5-6 times per spring season. Most of the people you meet are genuinely interested in what it is and how you are doing it. Taking that time to explain it to them and educate them really helps people accept hunting and develop an interest. When my daughter is with me they really get excited and can't believe a little girl is out killing critters with a bow. She can't wait to tell them "how awesome it is". I know of 3 families personally that we have met on our spring hunts that ended up at our archery range shooting together after meeting us on the trails. Pretty cool and a great feeling when you see that!
Out in our "classroom" is the best place to teach and gain interest. I would say 90% of the hikers/campers who were non-hunters that I have met were genuinely interested in what I was doing and accepted it. Probably only 10% at most looked down their nose at my pastime. Treat them with respect and they usually reciprocate.
Good for you GMNT.
Read the opening post and got giddy with excitement thinking of the anticipated pissing match in the comments section... Haha! it didn't disappoint!
Joking aside, I think it's awesome. Hopefully you can help him fill a tag (with any weapon) and set the passion ablaze...
When I'm talking to Hikers about Hunting, I point out that one is observing nature and the other is participating in it.
