LEARNING
TO HUNT

Free adaptation of an article by Bec Byfield published in March 2020

There are many things that set hunters apart from each other: the style of hunting, the weapon used, the prey they choose to pursue, even the reason why they hunt, their motivation, can be very different from one another.

But there’s one thing all hunters have in common. Whether they grew up hunting or discovered their passion as adults, everyone was a beginner at some point. All of us who hunt have at some point been novices and we have all had to learn to hunt.

For those who are starting out on their hunting journey, here are some tips that could be useful.

Patience

Hunting requires patience and patience, especially in hunting, is a great virtue. One of the biggest misconceptions non-hunters have about hunting is that everyone seems to think it’s something anyone can do, effortlessly, quickly and easily. Actually, the only quick thing in the learning process is how quickly you learn that you’re going to spend a lot of time waiting.

Patience is definitely a virtue when it comes to hunting. Learn to move slowly and be careful when walking, as you never know what may await you behind the next cliff, covered by the next gum rockrose or at the next bend in the road.

Hunting also involves a lot of sitting and waiting. Either sitting on long, silent still hunts, or waiting for an animal to get close enough and get into the right position to ensure an ethical and accurate shot, or stationed on a hill sweeping for hours with binoculars the slopes of a mountain waiting to see the sought after animal appear or even lying immobile on the ground so as not to be detected after slowly crawling trying not being seen or smelled. Even the most physically demanding hunts involve large doses of patience and waiting. As a matter of fact, when not hunting, doesn’t the hunter wait patiently for his next trip or for the opening of the next season?

The game of waiting never disappears and always goes hand in hand with the hunter. In fact, the longer you hunt, the more willing you are to wait for just the right animal to show up and the more you realize that there’s nothing wrong with coming home empty-handed from a hunt.

Silence

It may be hard to imagine that hunting is a silent thing for the neophyte who hears the detonation of a rifle. However, the hunter will soon learn that almost everything in the hunt, until the moment he pulls the trigger -if using and firearm-, must be done with maximum stealth.

Being quiet and not making noise doesn’t come naturally to humans. We are a pretty noisy species, so we have to learn to be silent hunters. Animals have astonishingly developed senses. They see, smell, and hear better than we do. Some species use these attributes to avoid being hunted, others to hunt more efficiently.

An important lesson to learn as a hunter is to consciously think about the noise you make.

Practice walking in silence and watch carefully where you’re stepping on every step you take. Almost every hunter has experienced (or will experience) the frustration of breaking a twig, rustling dry leaves underfoot, or rolling a stone involuntarily, thereby alerting all the animals in the area. Moving very slowly and quietly is a challenge that needs to be overcome if we want to be successful. This is especially true when stalking with a bow, when reducing the distance from the prey to a very few meters is a must. Some hunters even take off their boots for the final approach.

The gear you bring with you will also help reduce or increase your noise levels. Do you carry metal items in your gun or backpack that will hit and rattle when you move? Do your boots squeak when you walk? Do your clothes that looked so perfect makes a loud sound when brushing against the bark of a tree or the branches of bushes? Do you have Velcro fasteners? Did you think it was a good idea to carry a snack in a package that is noisier than a rave party when you try to open it in the mountains? When you need silence is when you realize how much noise we are able to emit by ourselves or through the equipment we carry.

Get to know the area

We have already mentioned that animals have senses superior to us. They also know the landscape better. They are so in tune with their natural surroundings that they detect anything out of the ordinary and immediately put themselves on high alert.

When we hunt we are the visiting team and our opponent plays at home. Taking the time to learn about the area you are going to hunt helps a lot to balance the scales.

We’re not suggesting that you need to memorize every leaf and twig in the land you’re hunting, but it’s worth taking the time to explore the area before you hunt it. You have to walk around, study the landscape, analyze the type of terrain you are going to face, know geographical features and possible obstacles and hazards, look for observation points, discover routines and animal traces, if only to avoid ending up setting up camp in the middle of a trail.

Finding water points, food sources, beds, deer rubs and poo will help us learn a lot about the animals in the area, their homing instincts and their possible feeding and escape routes.

Walking, sitting and observing, and all this combined, if possible, with the use of trail cameras that will help us establish patterns of behavior and identify specific individuals.

And last but not least, knowing the area not only increases the chances of a successful hunt, but also reduces the risk of accident or loss.

Learn about the animal you are hunting

If it’s important to know the terrain you’re going to hunt on, it’s absolutely essential to learn as much as you can about the animal you’re going to hunt.

Learn to identify its tracks. What traces do they leave? What does their poo look like? What are their food sources? What time of day/night are they most active? Can you recognize the difference between males and females from a distance?
Although the distinction may seem obvious in species with marked sexual dimorphism, this is not always the case. In many species both the male and the female have antlers, in others it is not easy to distinguish between a young male and a female without antlers. And then there are all the other species we hunt that don’t have horns at all!

Studying species is part of our responsibility as hunters, as well as being a very rewarding part of hunting.

When shooting, it is important to know the morphology of the animal in order to choose the most suitable projectile or arrow, ensure the best shooting placement and guarantee a quick and ethical death.

Knowledge of the animal’s anatomy also affects what happens after the hunt. We must learn how to skin and filed dress game to take advantage of their meat. While the basic concepts are always the same, there may be small differences or particularities between different species.

Find a Mentor

Nowadays you can learn a lot about hunting through books, publications, and the infinite world of the internet, but a good mentor can really accelerate your learning curve.

Traditionally, most hunters learned to hunt from their parents, older siblings, or relatives. The bond that is created between a father and a son through the hours spent in the field is priceless.

If you don’t have that possibility, friends and social media today offer many possibilities to find that partner, friend and mentor who will be willing to guide you in your first steps. The important thing is to learn correct habits and values from a good teacher because bad habits are easy to acquire when you start, difficult to overcome later on and can set the course for who you become as a hunter.

At this point, I think it’s clear that there is a lot to learn and that the process is not quick. But it’s not a difficult thing to do either. Like everything, practice makes perfect. The more you go hunting, the more skills you’ll learn and the more hunting will become second nature to you.

Learning is a path we travel one step at a time, moving forward a little bit every day and, as in so many other worthwhile things, what really matters is not reaching any safe harbor, but the journey itself.

While it may seem like a lot to learn, knowing all of these things before you get in the field can save you a lot of time and effort, not to mention some very costly mistakes.