The mission of this site is to bring to you the lessons learned from my years in the woods.  I will take what I have learned from both the field in the military and my past hunting experiences and present them to you.  I am not an expert or professional hunter; I'm just a person that loves being in the outdoors and hunting... mostly bowhunting.  I hope to bring an interest to new hunters and also share techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) with both newbies and the experienced alike.  I am also interested in learning new things from others as well so feel free to email me on my contact page.

Know the Rules

I figure this would be the best place to start if you haven't hunted before and are interested in getting involved with it.  "How do I start hunting?" is something I get asked by people that learn I hunt regularly.  First of all, they are surprised at how much I love hunting.  I guess I don't look like the type that would hunt.  And second for those that have an interest they say they don't know how to start.  So this is where I'd begin if doing it all over.
Prior to getting involved in hunting you should get a copy of your state hunting regulations and find out when your hunting season begins.  I regularly review the state hunting regulations to ensure I fully understand them. Hunting regulations are typical of any government regulation and can be confusing at times. My game warden once joked about them saying that is why they require wardens to have a degree just to read and understand the hunting regulations. I’ve never had an issue with calling my warden and asking for clarification on the regs so keep that option in mind too, but know the rules. Also, you should find a hunter education course. You can find links to hunter education courses in your hunting regulations. You can also find them through word of mouth by talking with hunters you may know.  I’ve seen postings on cork-boards in the sporting goods section of a local Walmart where certified Hunter Education Instructors post their class dates and location with their point-of-contact information. In my county, our local game warden runs hunter education and I’d call him if someone were interested in a class to get his dates and location for his courses. If you are over 16 years of age these are required for safety reasons as well as learning the basics of hunting. Children can waive this requirement to a certain age if hunting with a qualified adult. They can take the course prior to the required age but you should ensure they can comprehend what they are reading when they are in class and can take the multiple-choice question test at the end of the course.  I think my middle son took the course at age 10 with no problem. I have never heard of anyone failing hunter education and I believe that the instructor will make sure the student understands the information.
If archer season opens for deer in your area it does not mean all other animals are free to hunt as well. If you happen to see small game for instance where you hunt they may not be in season and harvesting them at that time may not be allowed. Your state may be divided up into sections and each section may have different rules.  For example with “Bag Limits” in Tennessee where I hunt the state is divided up into “Units”. I hunt in Unit L and Unit L allows a hunter to take 3 antlerless deer a day from the opening day of bow season in September to the last day of the season in January. Other Units in the state have lower bag limits and this must be known prior to hunting.  Also, there may be specifics on types of deer by sex, age, antler size, and point count.  For example, we have a two-buck limit in Unit L and only one buck may be taken in one day along with your two antlerless deer.  We do not have an antler restriction.  But you cannot take two bucks or antlered deer in a given day.  Also, you need to know what is considered an “antlerless” deer.  A deer may have tiny antlers but they are under a set measurement like on button bucks and fall under the antlerless category and do not count against your bag limit of antlered deer. Although it is good practice to allow those button bucks to pass by, some hunters take them either due to poor identification of the deer’s sex or usually it is a child’s first hunt and they are allowed by the accompanying adult to take the first deer they see.  If you hunt in special areas such as a U.S. Forest or a Wildlife Refuge you will have a separate set of rules and licenses.   One area I’ve hunted is Land Between the Lakes (LBL).  LBL requires a separate hunt license along with your state license and hunter education card.  LBL also has separate hunting regulations, code of conduct, and bag limits. The LBL bag limit does not count against your state limit for deer. So you can harvest more deer outside of your state bag limit; which is more meat for the freezer or you can donate your deer at designated processors that in turn give the meat to the needy.
Another topic to note is Youth Hunts. These are days set aside specifically for kids to get out and hunt with a qualified adult. There are specific requirements needed for these Youth Hunts such as the adult must be within range of the youth hunter to take control of the firearm if needed.  Also, the adult must be a graduate of a hunter education course and adults cannot hunt during the Youth Hunt.
In Tennessee's hunting regulation magazine, there are portions to take note of in your such as “Prohibited Acts” and “What’s New”. States do update their regulations and you need to be aware of those changes. For Prohibited Acts, there are listings of specific actions or equipment that are strictly illegal. For instance, using explosive broadheads or poisoned broadheads. I’ve never known anyone to use these types of broadheads but evidently, there is a reason to say they are prohibited.  Shooting firearms from or across roads is not allowed, and I would hope not.  Under What’s New for my Unit the year of this posting our antlered deer seasonal limit was lowered from three to two. The state is trying to raise its number of bucks and forcing hunters to choose their bucks wisely and allowing more bucks to walk so they can mature.
When you go to get your hunting license, and this is extremely varied by state, Make sure you know what you need to have to hunt the type of animal(s) you are going for, and the type of weapon(s) you will use. I keep mine simple in Tennessee. I get an Annual Sportsman License. That covers me for hunting, fishing, and trapping for all species; plus allows me to hunt Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) that normally require a regular gun/bow/muzzleloader hunter to acquire an additional permit. If I want to hunt a Wildlife Refuge or LBL then it requires a separate small fee permit for those areas. Do not depend on the licensing agent to get you the license you need. I have seen people at the sporting goods section of Walmart trying to figure out what they need and sometimes the person running the counter doesn’t even know what they need for a license.  The varied permits are listed in the regulations but review them thoroughly. You do not want to spend extra money on unneeded fees or not receive the type of license you wish to hunt under.  I have called my game warden in the past to ensure I had the right license until I was educated thoroughly on the specific permits.  In your state outside of Tennessee, you may need to buy a license based on your weapon type and then a separate tag for the animal you hunt.  I know in Missouri where I hunted years ago, I had to buy either a doe or buck tag or a combination of the two depending on what was allowed for that portion of the season in that particular county. Also during the Missouri hunts, they would open for instance “doe only” periods. Just review and understand what you need before you buy your license and in some cases, you need more specific tags.
Know your state's current hunting regulations and review them regularly, plain and simple.  A thorough review of the current season’s regulations will save you a run-in with game wardens.  I do get stopped now and then by the wardens to inspect my licenses and kill tags.  They are out there preventing illegal acts and protecting hunters from doing unsafe acts and they should be.  Know the rules.  For Tennesseans here is the link.  Tennessee Hunting Regulations

Choosing Your Weapon

I saw people in hunter education courses that knew nothing about what type of hunting weapon they were going to use. Their first real exposure to either a hunting rifle, bow, muzzleloader, or shotgun was in the course.  This is completely fine, especially when you just begin and want to see what hunting is about. Some seem to get an idea of what type of weapon they wanted to use during the course, and it helps if they had a good instructor that could explain the different weapons effectively.  Now the biggest factor in choosing your weapon is interest.  If you’re interested in that device, you’re going to take the time to learn it and practice with it.  Then you develop confidence in both the weapon and your ability to be effective with that weapon.

Confidence in your bow (or firearm) and ability to shoot effectively is key.  You must practice. Lots of practice. This goes for bow, rifle, and muzzleloaders.

Here is a story about confidence in one’s bow: I once had a friend that insisted that all hunters should hunt with either a flintlock muzzleloader or a hand-made wooden bow with wood shaft arrows; because “That’s traditional; that’s real hunting.” Now there is nothing wrong with traditional archery hunting if you are comfortable with it, but that is a personal preference. I would not tell people they must hunt traditional first or not at all.  Now I never knew this man to actually go out and hunt, but he pushed that ideology.  His wife wanted to bowhunt, but he never had the time to get her out hunting. I offered to take her hunting at a location I regularly saw deer.  I have no problem-taking new people out to hunt, but I wanted to see her shoot her bow first.  I needed to know that she was capable of shooting effectively before taking her into the woods. She came over to our house, and she was shooting her hand-made wooden bow with my wife, my son, and me. We were shooting our compound bows at a 3-D deer target. She told me quietly that she did not feel at all comfortable shooting at a deer with this bow; she didn’t feel she could make the shot when that moment came to put a deer down quickly. Her husband insisted this was the only way she was allowed to bowhunt.  In my mind, this was completely wrong and could actually push a person away from hunting.  Her desire to become a bowhunter was being hindered and almost snuffed out by her husband insisting she hunt one specific way, his way “without technology.”  I presented to him that a modern bow was not bad and only made the hunter more effective at making a humane shot which is paramount.  I also stated that a bowhunter with a modern bow still has to get close enough to shoot, draw without being seen by the deer, and overall MAKE THE SHOT. All of which still requires practice, scent control, woodsman-ship, etc.  The modern bow will not do all of the above on its own.  She did “try-out" my son’s compound bow since it was a left-handed bow which she is a lefty, and was immediately blown away at how it felt and said after a few shots she said that she could hunt with this bow.  Eventually, this woman did go bowhunting with a compound bow that season.  She didn’t see anything, but at least while she was on the stand, she felt confident in her weapon of choice and her ability to use it effectively.

I plan to cover bowhunting more in later posts; remember, the same philosophy is applied to hunting with firearms. It would be best if you had confidence in your ability and your bow, along with being proficient in making effective shots.  That means practicing throughout the year, not just during hunting season.