How does one get into hunting...

Well, you are in the best province in Canada for hunting, without question. A great start, but you are in a tough corner of it to hunt from, not much left within easy reach of the lower mainland. I would start with birds, Grouse in particular, and rabbits. Small game isn't too hard to find, and is a perfect introduction. Cruise some logging roads in the fall where you have a season, with a .22 or shotgun, and you will undoubtably come across one or both. I had great small game hunts up Hwy 3 going towards Princeton, in the Cascade area, lots of backroads into some beautiful country up there. Before you leave, study some youtube videos on field dressing each, they're both very easy. From there you'll look to deer, and onwards and upwards.
 
Put up some signs in gun stores, sporting stores, ranges, gun clubs, etc:

. Hunting partner wanted.
. Newbie will cook for advice.

Seriously.

Small game hunting is a good way on your own, as noted. Do some research first - hunting tips, how to skin and clean, etc.
 
Except for the occasional grouse you may opportunistically see, I find the advice to start out hunting small game totally useless. This ain't Ontario.

Unless you're real high at just the right time you will rarely see a snowshoe hare. Rabbits are equaly rare and shooting wild squirrels in B.C. is illegal.

Do you have your B.C. hunter number and PAL?

Good. Now go get a black bear and mule deer tag and go hunting.

From Maple Ridge you are close to some potential hunting spots close enough for a day trip or a one or two day overnighter though I personally hate to do those after Dayight Saving Time kicks in.

Go to Huntingbc.ca and read everything you can. There is a correspondent named Jelvis there whose writing appears to be done by an alien but he mentions good spots.

A lot of BC hunters primarily road hunt, driving around on logging roads until they see a deer in a clear cut, on the road or at the edge of a cut. Smarter hunters get out of their vehicles, explore the top edges of cuts, slowly hunt ridges and hollows behind or in between cuts or even hike into the alpine seeking mule deer.

You can learn a lot about deer habitat by scouting in the summer, looking for rubbed trees from the year before, game trails, old and fresh droppings, etc. Where deer are in August may not be where they are in October and November, but you might be in the right area, just too high or too low.

Whitetail hunting starts to get better past Keremeos. Spring bear hunting unlike deer hunting often relies on a load of road hunting until you see bear pies in the middle of roads, then get out and look around if one isn't standing right there on the road.
 
Actually, where I am from it is called slob hunting - blowing stuff away just for the thrill of it or laying waste to whatever you come across in the woods just for the hell of it.
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Sort of like:


Easiest way is to start off slow if doing it by yourself. Take your shotgun out in the woods for a 1-2 hour walk and blow stuff away such as crows, squirrels, magpies, etc.
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By the way squirrels are considered small game in some locations, and are restricted by the trapping regulations in other locations, so just walking around in the woods, shooting them may not be legal. In Alberta, it was only made legal to shoot red squirrels last year, and it's still only legal on private land, so if you are walking around on crown land and shooting them, you are breaking the law.

From the Alberta trapping regulations

Important Changes for 2011 – 2012
 Additional traps have been certified under the Agreement on
International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS). Trappers
are reminded that it is unlawful to use traps that do not meet
the requirement of the AIHTS (page 13).
In addition to a licensed trapper's authority to harvest red
squirrel during the open season, Alberta residents may now hunt
or trap red squirrel on private land to which they have the right
of access (on page 16 the red squirrel is now listed alongside
badger).[/QUOTE]
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On topic,he is in BC,so not a lot of use to him.
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Actually suggesting that he does need to learn what is legal to shoot and what isn't legal to shoot, is of use to him, no matter where he lives. As for me quoting Alberta legislation, I was pointing out that the advice that he was being given from Bitumen,who is from Alberta, is badly flawed.
 
Yup.


People often talk about squirrel hunting in B.C. when the only legal animals are the imported species like gray squirrels, not often found in the bush.

Last year there was a guy on a BC hunting site who proudly posted a photo of his two little daughters with two dead Douglas squirrels which are not legal game animals in B.C.

I hope he heard from the Conservation Officer Service.
 
I taught myself to hunt deer. The first year -- nada. The second, I connected with a little basket buck on the last day. In the 14 years since then, I've successfully filled a big game tag more than 65 times. The first couple of years can be slow but now I find that I am the guy that others (even those with more years deer hunting under their belts) turn to for advice and tips. Frankly, I think learning on my own helped because I wasn't trapped into doing things "the way they've always been done".
 
Maple Ridge? You should be able to find a hunter. I'm going for my CORE in Jan 2013 so I can't really help you there.
 
1. Every month buy a hunting magazine or two and read them from cover to cover to get to know the terminology about guns, gear, game animals and the methods of hunting.
2. Download or get a hrd copy of the BC hunting regulations and get to know the seasons, bag limits and the general regulations on transporting firearms in your vehicle, where you can leagally shoot (distance from roads buildings school, forestry operations, when you need permission to hunt on land, stuff like that.
3. Study the firearm manufacturers websites or order their catalogs and get to know as much as you can about the different types of firearms.
4. start small with maybe snowshoe hare or grouse hunting and if you like it the rest will be easy.
I hope you can make a few friends as this will speed you along in your learning the sport and you will have more fun too.
 
1: take a hunters Ed course

2: get a gun or bow and sight it in

3: get out there and look for the animal.



You will learn more from experiance mistakes than the Internet or a magazine could ever teach u.
 
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