Hunting has been a part of the human culture since the beginning, whatever beginning you may believe in. Domesticated animals arrived to the scene pretty early on, but the art, and I say art for a reason, of hunting was and continues to be honed.For homesteading purposes, we at Survival & Homesteading try to tackle each issue from the perspective that money is an object and if the problem can be solved without it, perfect. Hunting is one of those arts that a person can benefit from simply by having a profound knowledge of the subject through studying and getting out and actually attacking a hunt (or hunts) to learn from the experience. The one thing we obviously need to hunt is a weapon, whether that is a firearm, crossbow, bow, atlatl....whatever. But those few seconds of "pulling the trigger" come at the end of a much bigger journey we make to arrive at that point. Many people consider hunting going out into the woods with whatever rifle they can put the best scope on and waiting for deer to arrive at a food plot. If you have that capability, more power to you because at the end of the day, it puts meat on the table. But what do you do when life throws a curveball and you may not have the money to drop on a hunting lease or food plot or expensive firearm? At that point it pays to actually know and understand the "art of hunting."
The art of hunting is, for definition's sake, the ability to track a quarry through terrain with an end goal of killing that animal to help sustain a family's nutritional needs. The one point of that we want to drive home is the word "track." When you sit in a deer stand for three hours waiting on deer to come by, that is not tracking. Again, don't get me wrong, it is an effective way to hunt as much work does go into scouting and setting up beforehand, but tracking is a skill that can be learned over time to truly make you an effective hunter should the need ever arise. During those summer scouting sessions, much of the same technique and sign you would look for is applied but you want to try and determine direction to that animal's sign. See how fresh tracks and rubs are, look for the edibles for that particular animal goes after, and learn that species' particular habits. You don't need an expensive weapon or set up to put meat on the table for the winter...or anytime for that matter. I'm going hunting with a $200 pump shotgun this year, for squirrel, rabbit, deer, turkey, duck, goose, and hog. Besides that and my normal tools like knife and camp equipment, I'm relying on my tracking ability to put me in a solid place for a shot on the animals like deer and turkey.
I urge those of you who don't hunt to try it. Get out with a friend or family member who you know hunts and just tag along, learn a little and increase your knowledge over time. It'll be worth it in the long run, especially when a freezer of meat knocks a couple of hundred dollars off your grocery bill for a season.
The art of hunting is, for definition's sake, the ability to track a quarry through terrain with an end goal of killing that animal to help sustain a family's nutritional needs. The one point of that we want to drive home is the word "track." When you sit in a deer stand for three hours waiting on deer to come by, that is not tracking. Again, don't get me wrong, it is an effective way to hunt as much work does go into scouting and setting up beforehand, but tracking is a skill that can be learned over time to truly make you an effective hunter should the need ever arise. During those summer scouting sessions, much of the same technique and sign you would look for is applied but you want to try and determine direction to that animal's sign. See how fresh tracks and rubs are, look for the edibles for that particular animal goes after, and learn that species' particular habits. You don't need an expensive weapon or set up to put meat on the table for the winter...or anytime for that matter. I'm going hunting with a $200 pump shotgun this year, for squirrel, rabbit, deer, turkey, duck, goose, and hog. Besides that and my normal tools like knife and camp equipment, I'm relying on my tracking ability to put me in a solid place for a shot on the animals like deer and turkey.
I urge those of you who don't hunt to try it. Get out with a friend or family member who you know hunts and just tag along, learn a little and increase your knowledge over time. It'll be worth it in the long run, especially when a freezer of meat knocks a couple of hundred dollars off your grocery bill for a season.