What did you first hunt?

Edgar Shiggins

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Hey guys, I want to do some Turkey hunting this season. It will be my first time hunting and I will be going with a friend.
Just curious, what was the first thing you hunted and what do you think is the easiest for a beginner?
Thanks
 
Never hunted turkeys myself, the first "real" hunt for me was a black bear over bait. If you've got the means to keep a bait site going that's about as easy a hunt as you can get in terms of success rate, at least in my area.
 
2nd for grouse and rabbits. Grouse in particular. Doesn't get any easier than grouse in BC, and I don't think I've gone a hunting season without bagging at least a few.
 
First animal I hunted as a group was whitetail. Same year, hunting on my own was grouse, then rabbit and squirrel and finally geese. I'm 44 now and this will be my first year for turkey.

Easiest animal to hunt in my area, which is 85c in Ontario, would have to be squirrel, followed by whitetail. Turkey is on the list as well, they'll likely be at the top of the list in 2 years. There are several parcels of public land where you can do both, although I never have personally.
 
My first real hunt was a success. Muley down on my second day in the woods.
I can still visualize how everything went down, and that was more than 60 years ago.
 
Ruffed grouse (aka "partridge" back then), snowshoe hare, and ducks. This was late '70's, and deer numbers were so low it was rare to even find a track. I didn't see my first moose until 1984 or 85.
 
Might be a thing about words used? As a kid, I shot and killed many gophers, magpies, crows, etc. - mostly with a bolt action .22, but was considered to "go hunting" as going out for white tail deer with a 303 British rifle - I guess "hunting" meant to eat what you shot, versus just shooting and killing something. When on my own, I was in on a few goose shoots over decoys - we were "pitted in", in a field, most times; I had got some "prairie chickens" - aka sharp tail grouse, and jack rabbits by walking various pastures - usually was carrying a 12 gauge BPS, by then. Over the years, I've taken many dozens of white tail deer, some mule deer - I have used 308 Win, 7x57, 30-06 for that, three elk (first one with that 308 Win; next two with a 338 Win Mag), and so on. We did see numerous wild pheasants in the brush and grasses near the Frenchman River in SW Sask., but I never shot at any - we were looking for mule deer at the time.
 
^Ha! The retired farmer next door - his farm was on Eastern edge of Saskatchewan - maybe 15 miles from here - he talks about getting "bush partridge" - I have no clue what that is, but he seems to know. Probably ruffed grouse or spruce grouse - or possibly Hungarian Partridge - I have seen all of them around here in Western Manitoba, plus the "sharp tails".

Some years ago, South of Carnduff, Sask. - was a flock of wild turkeys in an abandoned farm yard - first and only of those that I have ever seen - not "normal" where I grew up in Saskatchewan.
 
Snows, geese, duck. Just outside Regina by the old drive-in. Was introduced to it all by a old friend I no longer have contact with but showed me a lot...... as well fishing.
2 Labradors, trailer of decoys many years later..... still love it all.
 
Got started with grouse and snowshoe hare. tip of unsolicited advice, make sure you are ready / prepared to handle the meat if you are successful. You will enjoy the experience much more if you have some well cared for meat to share with family and friends afterwards. Good luck.
 
First animal I ever successfully hunted was a mountain goat with my 11 year old daughter. It was 2 years ago and I was 36.

I had been deer (white tail and black tail) hunting before that, but never shot any


The real answer might be squirrels with a pellet gun as a kid
 
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