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rhshooter

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Hi There,

I am a longtime target shooter and my buddies and I have decided it is time to make the jump into hunting (Meateater is an amazing show!). We are setting up our Ontario Hunter ed courses now but other than that we are a bunch of city boys (though with extensive experience working and playing outdoors in all weather). My question is: What next? For various reasons we have decided on a guided hunt with an outfitter in Ontario preferably for moose or deer. Any suggestions where to go or who to talk to? Any advice or recommendations would be welcome.

Jeff
 
No input as for who to contact re outfitter, but the choice of going the guided hunt route is a good choice. You will learn some basic tracking and hopefully have a guide that will do the field dressing as well. Pay close attention to the tracking and field dressing part as you will learn a lot. The middle part of pulling trigger and getting the game to the ground will be your job...
 
Wow, you're really jumping into the deep end for your first outing, aren't you. Hopefully your guide knows what he's doing and is willing to share his years of experience with you. If so, observe, observe, observe, and ask lots of questions.

BTW, you've already actually killed an animal on purpose, correct? For a lot of people, that's a very big step.
 
Grouse Man said:
Wow, you're really jumping into the deep end for your first outing, aren't you. Hopefully your guide knows what he's doing and is willing to share his years of experience with you. If so, observe, observe, observe, and ask lots of questions.

BTW, you've already actually killed an animal on purpose, correct? For a lot of people, that's a very big step.
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Yeah it's not my real preference but we all work too much and have very limited time. I figure a professional guide will be well worthwhile for us. I have killed animals as a kid with air guns and 22 but never any large game. If you can recommend a good outfit I would appreciate it...

Jeff
 
Outcast said:
Interested as well. Been on the fence for years, I think my biggest concern is field dressing. Going to start with grouse then move up.
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If you want a bit of a look at what it would be like cleaning a deer/moose/elk, try for some rabbits, they're more of a scaled down version to get a feel for what needs to be done.

Grouse are basically cheating, step on wings, pull feet, remove a few stray feathers and wings and you've got yourself a nice cleaned breast.
 
You may want to start with a deer outfitter for a couple of reasons.

First, you can walk in and buy your own deer tags - moose tags, even through an outfitter are getting to be a very rare item in Ontario. Second, since your bunch has never hunted before deer are a good "hunting baptism", there is more of them around, won't say easier to hunt but probably better odds that at least one in the group will harvest one and when you do get one a couple guys could haul it out - a moose could go ten times the weight of a typical whitetail.

Don't know how far you want to travel to hunt - some of the best whitetail outfitters are in North Western Ontario (between Thunder Bay and the Manitoba border) but there is many opportunities closer to North Bay, Sudbury, and then following along the north channel of Georgian Bay - also, don't over look Manitoulin Island - a couple of first nations outfitters with tons of deer.
 
I've cleaned some small game and binge-watched Meateater so I THINK I'm ready for that particular challenge (gutting/cleaning). I would be very happy to start with a deer outfitter and I agree that this is a more reasonable sized animal for us... Any recommendations within about a 10 hr drive from Toronto?

Jeff
 
For me, field dressing was one of those "I don't want to do this, but I shot the animal" kinda moments. Lots of YouTube videos helped me with what to do and what I would expect. First time was ok once I got into it, knew the job needed to be done and I did it.
 
my first lesson in gutting/dressing was at a buddies farm when they culled and butchered their pigs for the year. I watched closely the first few, then dived in and with an understanding of the anatomy and what "not" to cut , found it pretty easy. A few years later bagging my first deer, it made it much easier to get the job done. It "is" an easy job removing the innards from game animals, one has to shoot enough of them to develop their own style/method.
A guided hunt might not be a bad idea as long as you get an outfit that enjoys the questions and likes to provide the answers. Could learn a tonne in the right situation for sure. An expensive way to learn I suppose , but beats going thru it green the first time hehehe
bunnies and grouse..... right off the hop i'll tell you, most grouse and bunnies stink LOL could be a turn off if gut smells make you queezy.
head out to the farm country and look for an Abatoire , they might allow you to spectate during the dressing of livestock. Smaller outfits are better I've found. The process is the same, just a different environment than the ground in the bush.
 
I think that the field dressing part is a hurdle for a lot of new Hunters...

Personally, after shooting a beautiful animal like a deer, the apprehension disappears immediately because I felt that cleaning it was a small price. It is very educational and very rewarding. You feel very self sufficient when you put meat on the table for the first time. It certainly makes you think more about the meat on your plate...
 
rhshooter said:
Yeah it's not my real preference but we all work too much and have very limited time. I figure a professional guide will be well worthwhile for us. I have killed animals as a kid with air guns and 22 but never any large game. If you can recommend a good outfit I would appreciate it...

Jeff
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No shame Jeff in going with an outfitter early on and in fact that's an excellent way to make sure you have enjoyable experiences and a proper introduction to hunting. For a lot of folks it's just to take some of the headaches out of it and relax. Don't worry about any trepidation at taking an animal haven't seen that yet, guided one fellow who's first big game animal was a grizzly. Respect, yes, but a hard move to make it is not, nature has equipped us with the predatory instincts. Those aren't lost to time yet.

You going to an outfitter is going to wrap the package into one for you, camp gear, spots and scouting, methods, and field dressing all there for you. Just be sure to spend the money to get a good one, good luck and enjoy!
 
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RMStyler said:
Have you eaten much wild game? You may also want to try some before you have more than you want to eat. Especially a moose.
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Get the skin off fast and the guts out and there's no such thing as gamey flavour. Just lean red meat most non-hunters would struggle to identify. The odd rutted out bull is the exception. If you eat beef, there's no learning curve to game meat.
 
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