Hunting wildlife can become important faster than we realize today. Wild animals provide numerous building materials that a good diet should provide. If you are traveling off-road, the stock of plants may also be too small.
If you want to hunt, you should have basic skills and knowledge. When it comes to actually killing wild animals, you have to do it without practice.
Checklist: Hunting wild animals
The most important elements
- They should wear camouflage clothing as a general rule, or at least whenever possible. Camouflage clothing should be worn in such a way that areas of light skin are also covered. If there is light, animals will be able to see you quickly, which you should avoid as much as possible. You should therefore always seek and use shade whenever trees or rocks make this possible, for example. The incidence of light can otherwise significantly reduce your hunting yields.
- Wild animals have fine sensory organs. Therefore, when hunting wild animals, you should avoid approaching them downwind. The wind would carry your scent in the direction of the wildlife, the chance would be over very quickly. Therefore, before hunting, check the wind direction.
- In addition, you must definitely be prepared not only to have perseverance but also to exercise patience. If you don’t have patience, you can very quickly destroy good opportunities – see the example of the wind. Even if you see a good opportunity, be patient.
- When hunting wild animals, you should always move very slowly (at least as slowly as possible) and remain silent. This also requires that you should assess the path you are about to take. Any cracking sound can startle well-hearing animals. It is ideal if you have fixed positions and don’t move at all.
- A wild animal knows its territory. If you want to be successful, you have to know this terrain as well as the game. You should explore the area beforehand.
- If you should have killed an animal, the hunted goods must be placed in a cool environment as quickly as possible. Put it in a cooler. If you don’t have a cool box, at least avoid storing the animal in places that are particularly warm.
- The place where you successfully hunted is taboo for the next hunts. Wild animals that know and appreciate their territory will avoid hunting grounds if hunted too often in a row.
- If you hunt with traps, you should regularly check the traps to see whether wild animals have already been caught. Attention: If the animals are only injured, they usually become aggressive. Kill the animal before releasing it from the trap.
If you prefer to hunt wild boar, you should know everything about your prey. In addition, I recommend that you inform yourself well about various things before your hunt. For example about the eating habits, the habitat, and what time of day you go hunting to achieve the best result.
Ten basics of hunting
“When the going is downhill, I’ll rely on hunting to get my meat,” I’ve heard so many times it’s almost tiresome. People think that if they have a powerful gun they can just go into the forest and bring big game to feed them. A lot of these people don’t even know the basics of survival hunting, and I think it’s better to have them forewarned.
I can’t say I’m an experienced hunter and to be honest, I think I still have a lot to learn. Although I have participated in several experienced hunting parties, I still consider myself a beginner and I prefer a humble approach when it comes to this subject.
Although humans have evolved in large part due to their hunting skills and the knowledge they imparted about taking big game, today’s modern hunter places all their hopes in the available technology.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the best gear can be detrimental to your hunting skills… I’m just saying that before you invest your hard-earned cash in state-of-the-art hunting gear, you should start learning the essentials of survival hunting command.
In a survival scenario, the grocery stores will close and you may be forced to hunt for your own food. If that happens, you’ll need to master a few things before heading out in hopes of bagging some big game. Survival essentials for hunting:
1. Know your territory
You need to know exactly where your target prey lives because going into the forest and hoping for a lucky encounter is pure wishful thinking.
You should know about your area, about the remote places where your target animals can eat or rest. What does the animal’s footprint look like? Does it live on hardwood backs over bodies of water? All of these are questions you should have an answer to.
2. What does the animal eat?
If you know a thing or two about its diet, you can easily track it or set up a campground. How does it fit into the food chain? Can it become dangerous for you? Does it eat green vegetation? Knowing the feeding habits of your prey increases your chances of chasing or catching them.
3. When does your prey eat?
Is the animal used for eating during lunchtime? In the twilight? Dawn? Does the weather play an important role in your target animal’s eating habits? Do you have better chance of chasing it after rainy days? Or maybe after a cold front has passed.
4. How does the animal avoid its enemies?
Is it a shy creature that is easily startled? Do you need to be aware of your surroundings and keep a low profile? Does the wind play an important role when the animal chooses a litter area? Where does it find security in the feeding-free times?
5. Being able to identify feces
When it comes to hunting survival, being able to identify an animal by its droppings plays an important role. Knowing what poop looks like can help you identify your target animal.
For example, deer drop pellets while bears and foxes drop coils. By examining an animal’s droppings, you can also learn a thing or two about its eating habits. When hunting deer, the presence of acorn shells may indicate that the deer have been feeding under oak trees.
6. Internalize knowledge of an animal’s senses
Knowing the animal’s senses is another survival skill you should learn. How sharp is your eyesight? How about hearing? Will the animal be able to smell you from a mile away?
If you’re hunting wild turkeys, that won’t be the case because they don’t have a sense of smell, but if you’re hunting a bear, the game has changed drastically. A stag won’t see you if you’re standing still and if you’re camouflaged well enough, and it becomes a battle of your patience with his until you find the right angle for your shot.
7. Breeding Habits
Do you know the breeding habits of your target animal? is it monthly or Yearly?
Some animals tend to be careless during the breeding season, while others are extra careful with their surroundings. Deer, for example, is easier to hunt during the autumn breeding season. Bears, on the other hand, are more active during the mating season and tend to be aggressive.
8. The right weapon
Get the right weapon and know everything about it. If you want to go bowhunting, you need to know how close you have to be to get a kill shot on a big game. What types of arrows to use and what steps to take if you miss (depending on the type of animal you are hunting)?
What’s it like hunting with a shotgun? What kind of tank should you use? A fowling shotgun is only for birds and not deer unless you want to scare them away or enrage them. A high-powered rifle is perfect for a headshot, but a bow and arrow certainly won’t be the easy road to success as a beginner, however on the flip side, a compound bow is quiet, so you can be lucky to get an extra shot at your target, whereas with a rifle the sound is just so loud, that once you shoot, it’s game over, so you better hit your target on the first go! Because if you miss, you’re going to bed hungry. Personally, I prefer a compound bow. It’s perfect, once you learn how to shoot.
9. Tracking after the shot
Spotting the animal when it’s wounded or has blood trailing behind is an art for some, while for others it’s just a false hope of a successful shot. No matter how much you read about blood tracking, the experience still reigns supreme and you should participate in as many blood tracking events as possible.
The blood splatters indicate where the animal is wounded, where it is going, and what to do when approaching it. Here are a few blood trail tips:
Bright red blood with air bubbles – this indicates a fatal lung hit
Dark red blood – this usually indicates a liver hit
Small specks of bright red blood – this indicates a light hit and as this is a non-fatal hit the animal must be approached with care.
10. eviscerate
When it comes to survival hunting, the ability to disembowel prey is a must. You should learn how to do this and you should learn which parts are edible. You won’t always be able to take the entire carcass with you.
You must learn how to disembowel it and how to store the meat without spoiling it. Once your target animal is dead, you should refrigerate the meat as soon as possible to avoid spoilage. That means you have to remove the skin first.
The most important of all rules: know the risk
Life on the land may seem easy in films and TV shows, and although we humans are at the top of the food chain, hunting is not without its dangers. The survival hunts detailed in this article should be the basic entry point for anyone planning to secure enough food through hunting.
