Hunting Books

[BJung]

I've always wanted to hunt but never had the time to devote to it.

What are the most informative hunting books you've read?

[big al hunter]

Look up books written by Wayne Van Zwoll, Jim Zumbo, Bob Robb. I don't remember titles of the books, but I used a lot of their tactics.

I learned more from actual experience than from reading magazines. But they gave me ideas and inspired me to try new approaches. Read a bit, but don't think that you have to know everything about hunting before you get out in the woods. Get a GPS app on your phone and go walk around. Watch several YouTube videos on field dressing an animal so you aren't completely surprised when you cut into the first animal you kill.

Take a hunter education class. They are free in most states, and some have an online course you can do on your own schedule. It may or may not be required to purchase a hunting license, each state has its own policy. Look it up on the state department of wildlife website. There should be pamphlets or manuals for hunting seasons and regulations that will let you know what is and isn't legal in your state. The website should also have information on hunter education classes that are available. I recommend that you take the class even if you aren't required to for purchasing a license. I teach Hunter education, and many times a parent of a student has told me they learned something from our class.

[ocharry]

sounds to me like you need a mentor,,,,,,do you know anybody that would,,,,take you under their wing and show you the ropes???

hunting is an artful skill,,,,some are good at it and some,,,not so much

for me i like to still hunt,,i want to be on the ground in their living room with them,,,a ghost in their house i guess,,,but thats just how i like to do it,,,many ways to skin a cat,,,but you need some one to show you

my .02

ocharry

[bamaranger]

My first reaction was, "people still read books?"

Next was ,"Hunt what?" It's a broad hobby. There are small game hunters, bird hunters, big game hunters, waterfowl hunters, African hunters, exotics, hog hunters, and then there's bowhunters, muzzleloading hunters, handgun hunters, ....you get the idea.

Here are some old school books that I all but memorized as a kid, and I think are still a good foundation for basic knowledge.
-Complete Book of Hunting; Clyde Ormond
-Hunting Big Game; Jack O'Conner
-The Hunting Rifle: J. O'Conner
-Complete Book of Shooting; O'Conner, Dunlap, Kerr, Cooper

The Ormond book gives basic knowledge on many types of common hunting and might be a good place to start. All of these are "Outdoor Life" books and very common in my experience. Dated, but still useful...

Good luck

[stinkeypete]

yeah... hunt what?

[reinert]

If you're considering hunting and have never killed an animal for food, a good set of ethics needs to be a big part of your skill set aside from any firearms experience you've had or have. Especially in THIS day and time, anyone hunting anything needs to be on their best and safest behavior in the field or on a mountain. That's just my personal view on the matter, and nothing more. There's lots of good shared knowledge on youtube for just about anything regarding hunting, but the ethics part will be your own personal, psychological reasons for killing animals, and doing it the very best you can quickly, and humanely. There's already been good authors and titles shared for reading on the thread here, but I have a couple I go back to from time to time for the stories, and the timeless reasons as to why we hunt.

"A Hunter's Heart, Honest Essays on Blood Sport," by David Peterson (1996)

"Meditations on Hunting," by Jose Ortega Gasset (originally written in 1942)

Good stories, along with maybe the best philosophical/psychological reasons as to why we hunt (or want to). Something to consider, anyway.

[Doyle]

Read the books by Patrick F. McManus. That will be a real education for you.

[natman]

For an idea what hunting is about, read The Old Man and the Boy by Robert Ruark.

For a guide to the confusing world of rifle cartridges and what to hunt with what, Hunting Rifles and Cartridges by Finn Aagard. Or Popular Sporting Rifles and Cartridges by Clay Harvey.

I just realized that all these books are pretty old now. Well, I learned to hunt a long time ago.

[mxsailor803]

Hunting is a lot like welding. You can read about it all you want to but there is no replacement for doing it and mentorship.

[BJung]

I made of list of your suggestions and ordered one to read for now.

Reviewing topographic maps, walking as quietly to places to scope an area, minding the wind, and not seeing anything has left me wondering if I was doing something wrong.

Some years I just skipped hunting because I didn't practice enough. I didn't want to see some deer run off wounded.

[ligonierbill]

Don't be discouraged if you did everything right and saw no game. That's just how it is. Some years ago, we drew elk tags in a unit near Bailey, CO. Two days, nothing. Not a track, no droppings, nothing. We were fixing to move camp to high altitude (it was pretty warm). Late the third afternoon, I was sidehilling around the other side of the ridge where we were camped. By this time I was in a T-shirt and orange vest, taking a break, and here they came. A line of cows with a 5 point bull trailing. They went by so close I couldn't use the scope! But I did put one through his ribs, and down he went. The next day the crew worked that side of the ridge, and we killed 4 more. All tags punched! The next time we hunted that unit, we got skunked. That's hunting.

If you can find a mentor, great. But read the books, and...#1 rule...get out there. Time in the field=learning, and many times, success.

[doofus47]

steve rinella's books on big/small game hunting are pretty good. Walking around with someone who's done it is better for the hunting portion.

[Lavan]

Rinella also has a GREAT series on Netflix called "Meat Eater"
Even re runs are fun.

[BJung]

It dawned on me that hunting and fishing are similar. You learn to hunt a certain place like fishing. You buy gear but the best isn't necessary. My dad had junk to most people's standards but he'd out fish guys who had money and could afford fancy gear. He had fun catching fish with the gear he had and everyone knew he was good. It must be the same for hunters.

[big al hunter]

.My dad had junk to most people's standards but he'd out fish guys who had money and could afford fancy gear. He had fun catching fish with the gear he had and everyone knew he was good. It must be the same for hunters

It's exactly the same. You don't need a fancy rig. You need a rig that works.

I worked with a guy for a couple of years. We then spent a couple years working for different companies. He called me one day to offer me a job. During the conversation it came up that he decided to start hunting. He bought a license and went to the forest every weekend for 6 weeks, scouting for deer season. Didn't see a single deer. I offered to take him hunting during the archery season. ( He had a rifle season tag). On the first day we saw 3 deer. The next day we saw 5 or 6. He learned more each day. That was a good weekend for me too. The prior season I only saw 2 deer the whole season in the same area. That's hunting though, sometimes your tagged out on opening day, sometimes you don't see anything. A mentor would be good, fancy equipment would be nice. If you don't get out in the woods, I guarantee that you won't get an animal. Take what you have, and don't shoot if you're not confident that you will kill it. It's more fun than mowing the lawn.

[natman]

A bit of advice; learn to enjoy sitting in the woods. Some of my best hunting moments had nothing to do with shooting. I once had two quail land on a branch 3 feet away and coo at each other while I was hunting turkey. (quail were out of season). It got even better when the next year the same pair did the same thing on the same branch.

You will spend days in the woods without seeing a trace of the game you're looking for. I once had a huge buck with a spectacular rack walk right past me. Of course it was spring turkey season.

OTOH, I once got out of my car on the opening day of spring turkey season and heard a gobbler gobbling his head off. I got in position and gave one yelp. He ran 150 yards to where I was. I figured it was kinder to shoot him than have him find out I wasn't a female turkey. I was home before 10 am.

Usually it's not that easy, and it wouldn't be much fun if it was.

[Kreyzhorse]

Peter Capstick. Not how to's, but will get you interested in the hunt.

[Jack O'Conner]

Successful Deer Hunting by Sam Fadala. This book is the BEST for the deer hunter!

The Art of Hunting Big Game by Jack O'Connor.

Modern Hunting With Indian Secrets by Allan MacFarlan.

The Rifles, the Cartridges, and the Game by Clay Harvey.

These are among my favorites.

Jack

[PocketCamera]

not everyone can learn to hunt. others will learn to sit in the woods and have an animal walk right behind them. and never see it.

others will go out day after day, walk out to the blind, sit all day and freeze their ass off an d never see anything. and many will never realize that they are walking on fresh deer tracks ,,,, as they walk back to the truck or house in their foot prints from earlier in that day.

many will never learn ta they dont see anything as they bitch about it to their friends on facebook while eating a big mac and smoking a ciggarette or cigar in the blind.

[44 AMP]

I always enjoyed Capstick's books, "death in the ..." for their entertainment, and honest look at another side of "hunting".

His books won't tell you how to hunt deer in the US, they tell of his experiences as a PH and Cropping Officer in Africa, where he hunted things that would hunt him back.

One of his lines i found quite true is (paraphrased)

The most frightening sound is not the blast of a bomb or the crash of a shell, its the sound of your rifle going "click" when you expect "bang"....