What Else Can I Hunt?

[jackstrawIII]

I grew up in a family that did NOT hunt. As a first generation hunter, everything I know has been gleaned off of friends and forums.

Where I live in upstate NY, deer hunting is a big deal and I'm finally finding some success there, but I don't have any good friends who hunt other species consistently. At this time of year, in this area, we can hunt: fur bearers, coyotes, small game, and sometimes turkey.

Here are my questions:
1. Any advice for someone looking to break into new types of hunting that aren't as popular or widely discussed as deer hunting?
2. Is there a certain game animal or type of hunt that would be a good gateway for me into broadening my horizons?
3. Is there such a thing as a "fast paced" hunt? Tree stand hunting really tests my patience, which is a good discipline for me, but sitting still is a huge challenge for me.

Any input from you experienced hunters would be greatly appreciated.

[T. O'Heir]

Read your hunting regs for what is in season first. Turkey's are probably not in season in January.
"...a "face paced" hunt..." That supposed to be 'fast paced'? Still hunting(aka stalking), though not particularly fast, requires extreme movement and wind reading skills might be for you. It's about sneaking through the bush in complete silence with the wind in your face at all times looking for game. Usually better to do alone vs in a mob. It's best learned by doing without necessarily having a firearm with you. And as daft as it sounds(and assuming you have one), trying to sneak up on a snoozing house cat. If the cat's ears move, you lost.
Rabbits with a .22 instead of a shotgun is challenging too.

[Boogershooter]

Squirrel hunting would be a good thing for you to try. If nothing else you may want to give trapping a try.

[NoSecondBest]

Get into predator hunting this time of year. Fox, coyotes, etc. They are a lot of fun to call in and hunt. You can start with hand held calls and a spotlight at night, or simply call during the day. You can sit for a while in one location and if you get no results you can get up and move somewhere else. If you like it you can get an electronic caller and use a remote switch to turn it on and off. That way the animal you're hunting won't be looking for you when you turn the call on and are sitting fifty or a hundred yards away hidden. Good luck.

[FITASC]

Another aspect to fur-bearers is their pelts can buy you another gun in short order if decently full

[Blindstitch]

Most things are probably coming to an end but there's always next year.

If you can sit for deer then you should try spring turkey. That's when the male turkeys come to you. Otherwise turkeys don't care about you and just run.

Birds can be fun to hunt and you're not sitting for most of them. Ducks, geese, pheasant, quail, crow, woodcock, grouse, dove....

[rickyrick]

Predator hunting can be fun too, but I heard the don't taste that good.

[Backroad]

Woodchucks....

al

[buck460XVR]

Late winter/early spring can be tough for a hunter. Most game seasons are done, predators have been educated and Turkeys ain't yet gobblin'. What I enjoy doing in this time of year is prepping/scouting for next year. Old snow is great for checking out new areas for deer because it shows trails used over a period of time, not just a week or so. Even month old tracks can still be visible. Those few tracks off to one side or the other of a heavily used trail is the bucks trail, and can be hard to spot any time else. It's why so many times we get busted by him from behind as we concentrate on watching the main trail. Old snow also tell you what's left in the area. Altho deer may move to an area of available food, how heavy the sign is, will give you a idea of local numbers. This is also the time to clear shooting lanes and find new trees to clean for stands, instead of messing with it during the regular season. Finding where the flocks of turkeys are hangin' out will be a good indication of where they will be in the early part of the season. In the northern part of the country where they flock together in winter, they will slowly spread out from that core wintering area as the Spring winds down. If Spring is late, they may still be flocked together there and may not go far. Knowing exactly where that is can mean scouting right before season can be more focused.

IMHHO, the mistake many new hunters make is thinking hunting season is just beween those dates the state gives us to kill a particular animal. Knowing where they are and why they are there thruout the whole year, gives us a good idea of where they should be during hunting season. While if one only has a small parcel to hunt, it might not take long to scout and prepare, putting the pressure in that small area long before hunting season means you won't have to go back till the day you go to sit. On large parcels(especially large public land tracts) it can give you a better idea of where to start and where animals could be, even when sign is hard to find, like it is in early fall. So even if you can't shoot anything, you can still be in the woods.....hunting.

[GarandTd]

If sitting still is a test of your patience, turkey hunting might not be the best. Turkeys should be called in. It is dangerous to stalk turkeys. It's how many hunters get mistakenly shot. I would recommend pheasant, quail, and doves. They should fall under small game which has the longest open season. Take a walk in a field and see what pops up in front of you.

[big al hunter]

Upland birds of any sort are fast paced hunts. You will likely need a bird dog depending on how thick the cover is. If you have a buddy that has a dog, or a guided hunt you can try it out before spending money and time on a dog.

[GarandTd]

Buck460, those are some great points about scouting for the next seasons.

[Savage99]

Do you still have any woodchucks there in Upstate NY?'

I don't see as many now here in CT and East NY. That used to be the best shooting and the farmers welcomed me.

Give it a look anyway when it warms up. You might find another good spot for deer hunting.

[Scorch]

You can hunt small game (rabbits, squirrels, game birds). You can hunt predators (fox, weasel, coyote, bobcat). You can hunt exotic non-game animals (rock dove, starlings, sparrows). You can hunt varmints (ground squirrels, marmots, rats, skunks, etc). There are as many things to hunt as you can find in the field.

As far as fast moving hunting, movement alerts animals that another animal is nearby. If that animal presents a threat, they either find cover or hunker down and wait until the threat passes. If you have no patience and/or cannot sit still and/or cannot move slowly and carefully in the field, you will not be very successful at hunting. About the fastest moving hunting I know of is hunting pheasant or rabbits: their threat threshold is relatively low and they like open areas, so you can chase them down or snipe them from farther off.

[cptjack]

wood chucks all over in upstate ny. tons of roadkill ,makes good dog food

[Chainsaw.]

Coyotes. Good rush of hunting, they are here and gone in a flash, really gets the heart pumping. You are also helping the other animals survive being coyotes are basiclly carnivorous goats. They will eat anything they can get their mitts on. Takes a while to get any good at it but once you do...

[bamaranger]

My first thought was squirrels. If you are deer hunting a bit, you are likely in country that holds squirrels as well. If not, it shouldn't take long to find some.
It's normally sit and wait.....but usually there is some shooting involved in pretty short order. If not, you move to another spot and see if any surface there. Shotgun or .22 rifle, or mix it up.

Groundhogs come summer...if you've got access to land that holds them. I used to do quite a bit of spot and stalk hunting in contour farm country, working to within rimfire range and getting a stable shot at under 100 yds, loved it, and miss it.......coyotes eat most of our groundhogs here.

Likely nothing as faced paced as a dove hunt on a food source, roost or water hole. When I started dove hunting, I was amazed at all the shooting I got. Again, mostly farmland, and pick your spots so you can recover your doves easily. You might get on some pigeons as well.

Calling coyotes is a paced hunt too, move in, call periodically 30-45 minutes, move on. Problem is, coyote is dang slick and I see very few. I think of them as gobblers that can smell. Still learning.

Turkey hunting is addictive, how well I know, but it is a total game of patience and perseverance. Even with today tutorials and the popularity of the sport and its wide publicity, there is a learning curve. Well worth it if you have the bug, but frustrating for the beginner. Takes some real territory in most instances as well.

Waterfowl is more specialty hunting again. Guys love it, but it gets more and more complicated. Leases, blinds, dogs..... I used to wade a smallish river and jump shoot mallards and woodys. That was the days before steel shot. And arthritic hip, and knee injuries.......

[Jeff1965KS]

Predator hunting is the answer to your question if


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[TheFriendlyMarksman]

I don't know if there are wild hogs near where you live, but I have had much fun hunting them. You can also hunt wabbits.

[jackstrawIII]

FriendlyMarksman,

I know hogs are very destructive, so I hesitate to say that I wish we had them here... but I wish we had them here. That seems like a really fun animal to hunt and to eat, but no hogs here.

[stillquietvoice]

staye game laws prohitit hunting hogs here in ny. nydec traps them to "prevent them from spreading".