Hunters

[Muad'dib]

Okay, having just moved to an area where I can actually go hunting, I am curious.

Please self define as

a) Hunter; absolute non-hunter; want to try but haven't; tried it once, won't again
I am "want to try but haven't"
Next if you answered "hunter" or "want to try" to the above, what weapon
b) firearms; bow-related; melee

I am leaning towards firearms for a first hunt, but if I do not wind up as "tried it once, won't again", then I want to move to trying boar or croc hunting with a spear.

c) Free answer, what animals have you hunted?

[cerebus]

Not a hunter. Went through the hunter's training course as a child, but I like animals too much. I could kill for food if I had to, but since I don't have to I prefer not to...

[Muad'dib]

right now, I kind of have to...

[cerebus]

Yeah, lots of people I grew up with relied on hunting & fishing to feed their families. As long as it's for that and not just for what people call "sport" then I can definitely see the practicality of it.

[Chanchu]

Was no more, did it since young, just don't feel like it or have time now, used guns and bow, small game and deer. Bow hunting is fun you may like it since you shoot bows before?

Hunting is fun can provide food for the pantry, have to be very careful of accidents. Hunting is/was a good force in wildlife/envirionmental preservation movement.

Duck stamps, game management etc.

[Muad'dib]

Yeah, I used to be quite good with a bow, but it's been a while. Used a gun more recently. Have to learn how to dress the animals too.

[I-mon]

want to but haven't.

people don't seem to do it down here, I don't know why. maybe it's illegal to hunt kangaroos...no it can't be because you can buy game meats at a couple of the organic butchers in town so I guess you just need a special license.

[jasonf]

I've been on a couple of bird hunts with one of my uncles (shotgun) never actually got a hunting license, but all the same. I can't say that I enjoy killing an animal really at all, but I think that it would be way too hypocritical of my to eat lots of meat and not be able/willing to do of any dirty work myself.
I imagine hunting big game like deer, moose would be pretty taxing and really get your heart pumping...

[Finny]

Where are you?

What sort of crocs are you going to be hunting with a spear? Freshwater I can see maybe, but the idea of someone going after a big salty with a spear seems pretty funny to me

[Finny]

want to but haven't.

people don't seem to do it down here, I don't know why. maybe it's illegal to hunt kangaroos...no it can't be because you can buy game meats at a couple of the organic butchers in town so I guess you just need a special license.

plenty of folks do here - maybe not around canberra, but yeah, outside the metropolitan areas it happens aplenty.

[Methods]

My family was into game hunting and a few of my friends as well.
Ive hunted Deer, Bear (never got a bear - didnt have the heart), boar (pistols and knives - horrible), ducks, pheasant, Big Game fishing and abalone diving.
I dont do any of it anymore, I dont even own a gun / rifle or pistol. I lost heart and just dont want to be a killer. Hunting isnt a bad thing, learn to dress the animal well and use all that you can. My family being pretty much red blooded Americans used to do a cool thing. When we killed an animal we would thank the animal for its sacrifice on the spot. My family, not really being the prayer at the table kind of folk, would take time to pray for the animal when we were going to consume a part of it and ask god to help the animals soul to rest - pretty cool when I think back to it.
All in all it was more of a family bonding thing, it was truly amazing to be out there with four generations of my family members working together to find food.

[Muad'dib]

Finny, gator not Croc, was tired when I wrote that. No crocs in the area.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

I've hunted.

Deer, geese, ducks, prairie chickens, pheasant, turkey, bear.
I've also done traplines for rabbit, beaver and fox.

Get training first in both the weapons you will use and an understanding of the game you will be hunting.

Ask more questions than too few.

You should be fine even as a newb although you might want to go with experienced hunters your first time out. You'll learn more and faster that way.

As an aside, I no longer hunt. I don't need to thankfully.

[Muad'dib]

Darth, definitely going with more experience hunters. Already familiar with most fire arms and used to be able to shoot the caps off liter bottles of coke at 50 yards with a bow. Spear is just kind of an idea. Don't even know if I have it in me to kill in the first place. My dad went hunting a long time ago and said he just couldn't pull the trigger.

BTW, thanks for the input all.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

You want to hunt Boar with a spear?

Ok, you are going to need to train for that a little. seriously.

A Boar is powerful, when threatened double that and when in a death throw, triple it.
They move fast, stick to brush and are hard to see.

Having said that, make sure you have a good pike and that you have 1 or 2 techniques down pat so you can pin it and kill it as quick as possible.
Behind the head, through the center, straight into the body through the neck type insertions wil work best.

you have to be strong enough to actually get the pike into the beast and strong enough to drive it deep whilst teh animal struggles.

Good luck, that is a pretty hard way to hunt. lol.

why the paleo hunt?
I knew a guy back close to my home town that used to offer this. It resulted in a couple of minor disasters, but bad enough that he doesn't let people hunt with the spears until the boar is corralled and held tight, then you just stab it to death while it's trapped. Pretty gruesome, especially when people who aren't strong enough get going. It's messy. You have to drive it deep, shake it and extract it for the most hemorrhaging to occur which in turn kills the animal quicker.

He had a teen ager who could penetrate the hide and he's had guys who didn't penetrate the right sport, hit bone and lal the did was piss off the boar and rip it's skin and then it's really really hard to kill because now it's pissed off!

I'd recommend putting some vaseline on your hands and stabbing a tractor tire without steel cables in it with the spear you want to use.

Once you can penetrate the tire with slippery hands in one strike, you are pretty much ready to use it on a living animal. The difference is that the animal will move a lot, so you have to be quick and strong.

anyway, blah blah blah.