from knowing literally nothing about hunting to your First rack on the wall
If your Google search history has ever included:
What’s the difference between an elk and a deer?
Can you eat squirrel meat?
Should you shoot a deer in the head?
Can I use exploding arrowheads like Sylvester Stallone?
You’re in the right place!
You didn’t grow up hunting, aren’t really sure you know any hunters, and you’re staying up late at night lost deep in a web search trying to figure out how to find, chase, shoot, clean, and eat these critters you’ve been dreaming of.
Maybe you’ve even done some research, pulled together some gear, and you’ve been out in the field trying to get it done…but so far you’ve only taken your weapon for nature walks.
You watch the folks on outdoor channels or YouTube slaying these massive deer or screaming elk, and you think, “where do these guys even find these things…much less how do they hunt them???”
Every new piece of gear, every new tactic you learn from an expert, every time you head out to a new spot you think, “this will be the one”…and most of the time, it’s just not.
I get it! I married into a hunting family with precisely ZERO exposure to big game anything my entire life. I had a great hunting mentor in my father-in-law, and still felt like I was drowning while I tried to figure it all out. I’ve been on more trips than I can count that can only be described as “camping with guns” because let’s face it: the learning curve for a new hunter is steep! Sure, there’s information scattered around the internet, but finding answers to what sometimes feel like dumb questions can be tough (and, if we get really honest with ourselves, we’re kind of embarrassed to ask).
We’ll cover things like: Navigating the rules & regs, weapon selection, finding animals, what to do after the kill, plus a few simple recipes to have all your non-hunting friends saying, “seriously…this is game meat?” We’ll also discuss gear, tactics, shooting technique, and plenty of other things a new hunter needs to know. There’s also an extensive glossary in the back to give you simple definitions to all the terms you hear in the hunting world and are too embarrassed to google.
How to Hunt: A Total Beginner’s Guide to Hunting Big Game is the book I wish existed when I started hunting 15 years ago! You’ll go from knowing nothing to successfully harvesting an animal. Packed with great hunting stories to get you fired up, it’s a DEEP dive into what an aspiring hunter needs to know so that you can get out in the field and start to find success.
The first big game animal I ever harvested!
It also happens to be my most embarrassing hunting moment. You can read about it in chapter 3.
I’m not a TOTAL BEGINNER…what’s in it for me?
Fair question. When I started hunting, I only had vague Boy Scout memories on how to survive in the outdoors, was a self-taught recreational shooter, and had the internet. Yikes.
Between that and my in-laws providing some guidance, it couldn’t be that hard to figure this out, right? False.
Turns out, there’s a truck-load of time and money I could have saved (and bad habits I wouldn’t have to break) if I had a methodical approach to getting ready, gearing up, finding animals, and ethically harvesting them.
It’s certainly not the only source of information you’ll ever need, but it’ll build a solid foundation of everything a hunter should consider before heading out into the field. Even if you’ve already spent a fair amount of time in the field, it’s a great double-check that there isn’t a gap in your approach that’s been costing you critters.
Or…Maybe you’re planning to take on a new challenge, a new animal, a totally new region or style of hunt (Western hunting, anyone?) This book covers that as well. Hunting whitetails in the East is not hunting elk in the West…and vice-versa. With this book, you can know what to look for and what tactics to use.
Even a hunter with some miles under his boots will become a better, more informed, more well-rounded outdoorsman (plus, there’s just something about hunting stories that will make you feel better just knowing that somebody else makes dumb mistakes like you do). Grab a copy to build your hunting strategy on a firm foundation.
