5 Things You Must Do to Hunt

5 Things You Must Do to Hunt

Throughout the years, women have asked me how to get into hunting. I started at the ripe old age of 40, and so I have been hunting now for 27 years (and, I'm still learning every time I go out). Here are 5 things you must do to hunt. While four of the items are physical, one is mental. First of all, you must prepare yourself both physically and mentally to take the life of an animal. If you follow these rules, you'll be ready to hunt.

Find a Mentor

Me with our state rep at the time, Hannah Kelly (Jason Baird photo)

You will absolutely benefit from finding someone – male or female – whom you trust implicitly to teach you the ethics and methods of hunting. (For me, that person was my husband.) Although I understand the importance of women's organizations introducing women to hunting, I believe that a one-on-one experience – over time – is necessary to create the best hunter you can be. 

Practice With Your Firearm or Bow

Torrie Roodhouse

When you decide whether you're going to use a firearm (shotgun, pistol or rifle) or bow to hunt, you'll need to practice with it. First, trust someone to help you obtain (borrow or buy) a tool that fits your body. And then, find an instructor to teach you how to effectively use that tool. You want to be able to not have to think about how to load ammo or an arrow. You want to just do it, check to make sure it's safe and go from there. You want to ask your instructor for all the various positions you might have to use to get set up to shoot. Get ready to go prone or on a knee.

Familiarize Yourself With All Accessories

Angie Perry

We're talking scopes, slings, whisker biscuits, magazines, quivers. You'll need to be so familiar with these things that it's almost second nature for you to adjust or insert. Find an instructor – it might be your mentor, or it might be in a class with an instructor who runs you through the drills again and again.

Visualize

Lanny Barnes uses her training from her Olympic biathlon days to find success afield.

Just like athletes do ... imagine what it might be like to look through a scope or down a barrel. You can find plenty of videos on YouTube that conceptualize this action for you. You're going to imagine reaching out and touching that animal at whatever distance, and the tool becomes an extension of your arm.

Know the Rules

Before going afield, you must check the regulations in your state. What are the limits and hunting hours? Can you use electronic devices? Can you use lights? You may be a beginner, but that status will never hold up as a defense if you break wildlife codes because of your ignorance. 

The Other Things

Emily Perreira

Here's where a mentor or instructor will help you.

• What to wear





• What not to wear





• How to check in an animal after the hunt





• How to field dress an animal





• How to process an animal 





• How to take respectful photos of your tagged animal

I highly recommend, if you can hunt as an apprentice and like it, that you go ahead and then complete a Hunter Education course online or in person. It will fortify some of the things you've been taught and introduce you to new things you probably hadn't thought about. No two hunters do things the same way, it seems. Also, it’s required after an apprenticeship in hunting, if you intend to continue hunting.

Finally, accept that you might not want to pull a trigger or draw a bowstring back, and that's OK. You've tested yourself, and you've found that it's not the time and it's not for you. 

Or, you might find, as I did, that you're genetically wired to hunt and your life will change forever. 

Source: 5 Things You Must Do to Hunt