A new Wannabe hunter.

Hey All,
me and my dad really want to get into hunting, not for fun but for food and we realize what lies in our future, And where we live its kind of hard to hunt anything except rats in the alley haha.But what does it take to go hunt deer in general? We have 2 12 gauge Shotguns... Oh and we live in chicago IL if that helps.

reply to post by Thinair1


First, I would start by looking up your local hunting clubs. A lot of clubs require some type of yearly fee to use the land for hunting.
That's where I would start if you do not know any local hunters.....You can meet a lot of people, and many who dont mind teaching newbies some ropes, like field dressing etc......As far as weapons go, you may want to get a nice rifle and scope.....

Good Luck

You can hunt deer with a shotgun with the correct ammunition, although I have never done it. A scoped rifle with a stable shooting platform would offer much more reliability, as it can be difficult to get within range to get a clean shot off with a shotgun.

I suggest practicing with whatever weapons you intend to use, as that is the only way to ensure that you will be prepared when the time comes. If I were going to use a shotgun for deer hunting, I would probably use a slug. You can also use buckshot, but definitely NOT birdshot, which is composed of many small pellets. Using buckshot to take down a deer can be a bit trickier, and you also have to pick the shot out later, as it is composed of ball-bearing type shot.

I do not know anything about your area, so I cannot comment on that. I would suggest learning some techniques to attract deer by doing some online research. Learning how to properly hunt for deer will be an immense help as well, since deer are very skittish creatures. I personally do not condone shooting any animal unless it is needed for food, and although I have hunted quite a bit in the past, I just don't have the stomach for it anymore. That's about all I can think of to tell you at this moment, but I will edit if I think of anything later on.

With our current world situation...I would suggest hunting with bows. I know it may sound silly at first. I grew up 50 miles from Mt. Rainier in the Pacific Northwest and my entire family grew up hunting, with guns, 306 & 308..etc. It was my older cousin who got me into bow hunting, but we went from dear to bear. Point is, NWO does not want us to have a gun and you can kill anything with a bow that you can kill with a gun. In a difficult and desperate situation, you can make a bow/arrows out of natural resources fairly quick as well.

Here in New York there are few places to hunt deer with a rifle. Most Of the hunters I know hunt with a 12 gage loaded with deer slugs. The rest bow hunt. They all come home from hunting with their limit each year.

Find out what hunting land is available in your area. Try starting here.
Then learn to use your weapon of choice... you can use a shot gun if you use the correct loads, or a high powered rifle if that floats your boat. But I recommend learning to use a compound bow, as well as a black powder rifle, to lengthen the amount of time you can spend in the woods. The longer you're in the woods, the better you'll get to know both the terrain, and your game of choice.

You can also hunt small game (squirrels, rabbits, feral hog, etc.) and turkey (Spring and Fall) which are perfect critters for shot-gunning. I'm unaware of the license requirements for Illinois, but make sure you get your tags and fill out for quotas (if hunting public land) as early as possible to ensure you get your chance to hit the woods.
Always make sure you know what you're shooting at, and what's behind the target... there's been people shot off of their bicycles out on the "roads" of public land, so the blaze orange is not only mandatory, but also wise.

You can stop at the sporting goods section of your local Wal-Mart or Tax Collectors office and pick up all the necessary reading material for free.
Good luck, and good huntin'

I have never hunted a Wannabe.

They sound Japanese, is this the case, and perhaps you can describe them more fully?

Rule #1

Never trespass on someone else’s land, first and foremost get WRITTEN permission to hunt.

Next for Illinois you have a lot of rules & regulations this link will help.

dnr.state.il.us...

Shotguns are the perfit choice for hunting any game in your area. Just change the size of the shot and you can effectively harvest fowl, small game up to white tail deer.

Good luck and good hunting!

Hello Thinair1.

From experience.
1. Search out a hunter education program. Here in the broke state of Ohio it is mandatory. These programs are invaluable for the beginner
2. locate State or Federal lands that allow hunting.
3. Ask permission on all other lands and get written permission.
4. Since you are new to the field always hunt with a partner (just try not to shoot him, good partners are hard to come by..)
5. With your 12 ga. shot gun, use slugs only. DO NOT USE sabot slugs in a smooth bore. Do not use bird shot or buck shot. It is illegal to use on deer as well as being ineffective.
6. You may not be able to hook up with other hunters initially so when in the field watch where others go and what they do and how they dress and and and etc.
7.Be familiar on the basics on how to gut the animal prior to processing. I have seen more than once a hunter bringing in a deer that is un-gutted. Now that Sh!% is funny !!!!
8. Hunt the edges of woods and fields not deep into the woods
9. Sun up and sun down are good times to hunt (animals are moving to and from feed areas) as well as noon time when other hunters are leaving the field for lunch.
10. Dress for the weather
11. Learn the habits of your prey
12. Do not get impatient. Experience only comes with time , success and mistakes.
13. Be safe. always have your safety on never a finger on the trigger unless your ready to fire.



Welcome to the family Thinair1

First learn to shoot I would start with a 22 then work up
I would hunt Rabbit first see how you like it..more use for the 22
Then a good used .30 06

Make sure you check regulations on where you want to hunt. Different seasons for different areas are always the norm. Also make sure you are up on your species identification. Nothing worse than trying to explain to a game warden that the horse in the bed of your truck is a deer. Biggest suggestion: Hunter Orange. Most areas require hunter orange whenever a firearm is in use. Archery season is usually the only season that doesn't require orange.

Also would recommend reading up on gutting and quartering an animal. Nothing worse than nicking the gut sac and smelling the stench the rest of the cleaning time of the animal.

Be prepared to spend a lot of money in preparation for hunting and also for the hunting trips. Gas, food, licenses, ammo, and processing add up really quick. You don't have to process your meat, but it can save time and space of hanging game to the time consumption of boning, fleshing, and packaging the meat yourself.

And biggest of all, is practice shooting. Nothing worse than maiming an animal and letting it die a miserable death. Know where the vital areas are on an animal. When to take the shot. What the best stance an animal is in to effectively kill it (i.e. facing broadside, facing forward, backward)

The first thing you want to do is locate a department of conservation hunters map of legal hunting conservation lands that are closest to you, then without taking any weapon, just a day sack with some food and water and binoculars and a pillow to stuff under your ass

drive out to a conservation area about 7:30 AM and just walk around in the woods, as quietly as you can, heel to toe, move in 3 ft then stop, look around, move Another 3 ft, stop look around, look for a nice open place to sit where you can see all around you and slowly move to that position. once you've worked your way there, set your pillow down and be very quite and watch and listen to everything thats going on around you, get a feel for your environment and witness nature, if you are being quite enough all the animals of the forest will come out and go about their daily lives....including the deer. the idea is that you become enough with nature that you will experience first hand the adrenaline rush of your first deer as it passes by you, while you remain undetected, and the longer you can get them to remain the more you will learn about the hunt without ruining the day with a blast from your gun and scaring the crap out of the wildlife

good luck

go out every chance you get and learn the deer signs, like rubs and scrapes and trails and vantage points. the object is to find the closest place to your vehicle where you can set up a nice comfy place to hunt, and when the moment presents itself you've prepared yourself psychologically enough that you pull off the delivery of your harvest with the least flawless effort.

deer are easy to hunt when you know where their at and you know when they're on the move, locate the best possible hunting location and learn the area and the animals habits and when it comes time to harvest you'll be 10 steps ahead of the rest

In my opinion, from all my years hunting various game, as far as your arsenal goes, versatility is king. I like to have one firearm for each level of game.

This is what my set up currently is:

.22 is great for small game, easy to fire, light, and ammo is cheap.

.30-30 lever action, open sight...great for anything from Dall Sheep to White Tail Deer, Caribou, what have you.

.30-06 bolt action, scoped. Great for all large game. Shoot something like .175 grain and you're good to go, can take down a Grizzly with a well placed shot behind the shoulder no problem.

20 guage, single shot, break action. Bird hunting...i like the break action as you have no issues with hamming...easy to load on the fly.

Model 98 Mossberg 12 guage. Pump action...good for bird and in a pinch can take down larger game with the proper load.

M1911 Colt .45 - sidearm with stopping power...no real huinting applications outside of last ditch self-defense...but good to have a backup plan.

reply to post by Thinair1


To start you'll need to find a place to hunt
Place to find leased hunting land
then you find yourself a skilled hunter to show you how... craigslist comes to mind... yes you can indeed hunt with a 12 gage.... out your way most whitetail hunters sit in tree stands or buck blinds set up very near food plots and wait for the deer to come to them... hardly my idea of hunting but when just staring out those early skills you'll learn from your guide are invaluable!