rifle hunt deer. where do i start.

[vujade]

Hello.

I'm new to hunting. I've taken the hunter safety course. I'll get my 2 licenses at Walmart later this week. I have an Uncle who has taken a deer before so can help me when it's actually time to make the kill, clean it up.

I have one of those hunting guides (current one with the picture of the cat in the front) from Walmart which has maps of where the hunting lands are.

Questions as I'm a newbie:

- do you just pick a place on that guide, drive over there in the morning and look for deer to shoot?

- any suggestions on where to go in the middle TN area?

- no plans to sleep overnight...just want to get there in the morning and hang out until I find deer.

- to make sure I understand the classes and the book right - no shooting doe unless you have the special 94 tag. Just shot the buck. Up to 3/day. (is there really that many deer around that the limit is 3/day?!).

- to manage my expectations, how fruitful is an average hunt? should i not be disappointed if I don't get a deer my first season or should i question my skills if i don't get the 3/day?

- I understand to get a boar, I pretty much need to find a landowner that needs my 'services'?

thank you. Sorry for all the newbie questions. This seems like an awfully hard sport to get into.

[jay1313g]

You have a lot of questions that some on here will be more qualified than I to answer but, please let me know if you can find a "public" place to hunt and get 3 deer in a day.

I originally hunted for 6 years before I gave up with nothing to show for it. A career and kids kept me busy.

When my 12 year old son wanted to hunt, I was ready to try it all over again.

HE DROPPED A FIVE POINT WITHIN 15 MINUTES OF BEING IN THE WOODS WITH ME SITTING BESIDE HIM AT THE BASE OF A TREE!!!! (I really had to bite my lip!)

Good luck with your hunt. Enjoy your time sitting quietly and enjoying what God has put together. Consider it a true bonus if you SEE a deer.

And most important of all, don't shoot at movement. Clearly identify that you do see a deer before you pull that gun up!

[10-Ring]

Hello.

I'm new to hunting. I've taken the hunter safety course. I'll get my 2 licenses at Walmart later this week. I have an Uncle who has taken a deer before so can help me when it's actually time to make the kill, clean it up.

I have one of those hunting guides (current one with the picture of the cat in the front) from Walmart which has maps of where the hunting lands are.

Questions as I'm a newbie:

- do you just pick a place on that guide, drive over there in the morning and look for deer to shoot?

Good hunting requires work. The earlier you start scouting out an area the better. Just driving over in the morning and looking for deer is not advisable. If for no other reason you need to be aware of the lay of the land of where you are hunting. The better you know the land the better off you will be. You certainly don't want to be shooting towards roads or houses so it is important to learn where everything is when you are hunting a new area. So get out there before you hunt, walk around, learn where everything is and look for scrapes, rubs, bedding areas, droppings, etc.

- any suggestions on where to go in the middle TN area?

Lots of good places in Mid TN, that is where I do all of my deer hunting. LBL is really good for big deer. Public land is tricky, I hate public land, the best advice that I can give you for hunting public land is find the most remote, hardest to get to spot of public land and hunt it. If you can't do that hunt where everyone else is hunting but figure out where the deer are escaping that area at and hunt there. At that point you aren't hunting deer, you are "hunting" people, let them drive the deer to you. I've hunted every inch of public land in Wilson County, most are small pieces where using some common sense and thinking like a deer can result in other hunters sending deer right to you. Bad part is since most of these areas are so pressured a lot of times the deer just go nocturnal and avoid the public land during the day.

- no plans to sleep overnight...just want to get there in the morning and hang out until I find deer.

Don't plan on seeing deer. You may get lucky and take a wall hanger 15 minutes into your hunt. What is more likely to happen is not seeing anything at all. Get used to it, it's called hunting for a reason, if it was that easy it would be called "deer shooting"

- to make sure I understand the classes and the book right - no shooting doe unless you have the special 94 tag. Just shot the buck. Up to 3/day. (is there really that many deer around that the limit is 3/day?!).

Depends on the county but yes, that is accurate for MOST of middle TN. Limit on buck is 3 per year, not day. 3 does can be taken per day. Before you decide to take three does at once ask yourself if you are prepared to process them or pay to have them processed. I've taken 3 in a day on multiple occasions.

- to manage my expectations, how fruitful is an average hunt? should i not be disappointed if I don't get a deer my first season or should i question my skills if i don't get the 3/day?

Not uncommon at all to not get a deer your first season. Spend lots of time in the woods learning about how deer behave. Read as much literature as you can about deer. It's not as easy as it seems.

- I understand to get a boar, I pretty much need to find a landowner that needs my 'services'?

Pretty much, can't think of any WMAs in your area where there are pigs, that I know of anyway. Pretty sure none of them are open to pig hunting.

thank you. Sorry for all the newbie questions. This seems like an awfully hard sport to get into.

Good luck!

[vujade]

thanks for the info. drat; i thought it was deer-shooting that i was getting into. where do i sign up for that?

on a serious note - what is LBL? ..a few days before the 19th... I'll head off to public land and basically start to scope the area out.

got it - it's 3 bucks per year. 3 doe per day but you need that special #94 license for that right?

[Westwindmike]

LBL= Land Between the Lakes.

Type 94 license for does.

It's too late to start scouting for this year. Start in the spring and be ready for next year.

[DaveS]

LBL is closed to "Open" hunting with firearms. It is by quota hunt only which has a July deadline. There still may be some bow hunting going on, don't know. Fort Campbell is open to bow, shotgun and muzzleoader and is one big PITA to hunt! On the plus side, the Fort allows you to harvest feral hogs while deer hunting.

Good luck in your search...

[10-Ring]

It may be later than I would like to start but it is never too late. Get in there, even if it is just a few days before you are going to hunt. Just look around for deer sign and trails, find the most heavily used game trail and set up where you can get a shot on it.

Although it is ideal to start scouting for next year the day the season ends that is not always practical. I used to hunt north of Memphis and it was not feasible for me to scout the land all year. I quiet walk around the day before the season opener was usually all I got. I can take a walk around some land and have a good idea of how I can hunt it successfully. Still the more scouting you can do the better.

[Westwindmike]

If you go in scouting now, you are just going to piss of the muzzleloader hunters out there. If I was in my tree stand, trying to get a big buck to come in, and somebody comes tromping through the woods scaring everything, I'd be ticked off!

[whiskey]

The best advise I can offer is to find a hunting buddy that can show you the ropes. You can go wander around the woods, but you stand a good chance of becoming frustrated by the process if you don't have a mentor.

Watch some hunting shows on TV. It's not the best, but it can help. Read a few hunting magazines.

Try to remember that getting a deer close enough to shoot is just the first challenge. You still have to make a good kill shot, effectively track the deer, gut it and drag it out of the woods. The walking around the woods is the easy part...

[R_Bert]

The best advise I can offer is to find a hunting buddy that can show you the ropes. You can go wander around the woods, but you stand a good chance of becoming frustrated by the process if you don't have a mentor.

Watch some hunting shows on TV. It's not the best, but it can help. Read a few hunting magazines.

Try to remember that getting a deer close enough to shoot is just the first challenge. You still have to make a good kill shot, effectively track the deer, gut it and drag it out of the woods. The walking around the woods is the easy part...

That. In order to find a knowledgable buddy, you might want to check out wildlife groups. I don't know which ones are focused on deer, but many guys in specialty groups are also excellent deer hunters. So, check out the local chapters of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Wild Turkey Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Quail Unlimited, etc. All of these groups will be doing banquets in a few months, and you can meet lots of knowledgable woodsmen..

Maybe someone can suggest some local chapter Nashville area wildlife organizations.

B.

[Sidinman]

Three a day is possible as said above, but like also said previously you have to think about the after. I have a friend that killed 4 in 2 days the second weekend of ML season htis year, and also had friends that have killed two with one shot. One actually killed three with two shots, but thats not the norm. I hunted for years before I killed my first. My brother on the other hand bought a rifle on a Friday night and killed his first the very next day. So don't be disappointed if you don't see a deer while hunting, thats why they call it hunting. Try to enjoy being in the woods and the beauty of it. Good luck!