What would I be looking at in order to set myself up to hunt?

BetterThanThou

(Edited from original post because I was missing a bit, and had it badly worded)
I'm interested in beginning to hunt, part of the reason is because I'm a bodybuilder, and my meat costs have been pretty big, while, I know starting off will cost quite a bit, eventually, I'd imagine I'll be saving quite a bit on meat, as many game meats, such as deer and rabbit are high in protein and low in fat, even better than chicken. It's not entirely just for bodybuilding though, I also want to hunt partially for sport(though, justified because I'll be eating anything I kill) and because I figure, some day, it could be a useful skill. I'm only 16, a quick Google search tells me, I can get a hunting license at my age, is this true? and are there any restrictions? And how does getting land to hunt generally work out? I've heard you can't hunt in the wilderness, so, would I have to join a hunting club or something? Generally, what kind of fees would I be looking at to start myself off, including a gun, membership of a hunting club, lessons, and anything else I might need, I've got about €3,500 which I could probably use on it, would this be enough?

One shot on kill

If your body building you should start raring chickens rather than shooting deer. I thought that's what all you guys want. Tell all farmers you want to shoot to sell it. Then you will spend 1000 euro on gun alone then buying and letting land then license cost and butchering costs.

Is it worth it for you.

BetterThanThou

One shot on kill wrote: »

If your body building you should start raring chickens rather than shooting deer. I thought that's what all you guys want. Tell all farmers you want to shoot to sell it. Then you will spend 1000 euro on gun alone then buying and letting land then license cost and butchering costs.

Is it worth it for you.

Chicken is the most common source of protein for bodybuilders, but any lean meat is fine, I know the hunting season for deer only lasts a few months,so, I will be hunting other animals, if I go ahead with this. 1000 euro on a gun isn't too steep, but am I only allowed hunt on my own land or something? I read up that I can't legally sell any meat I kill myself, so, I guess the plan of making a bit of money from left over meat is out the window. I'm not planning on hunting entirely just to get meat, I want to do it partially for sport(though, justified, in the fact I'll be consuming anything I kill) too, and, it could be a useful skill in the future.

Cass

Answer the OP or refrain from posting.

Further attacks or non relevant posts will be deleted, and user infracted.


No further warnings.

One shot on kill

BetterThanThou wrote: »

Chicken is the most common source of protein for bodybuilders, but any lean meat is fine, I know the hunting season for deer only lasts a few months,so, I will be hunting other animals, if I go ahead with this. 1000 euro on a gun isn't too steep, but am I only allowed hunt on my own land or something? I read up that I can't legally sell any meat I kill myself, so, I guess the plan of making a bit of money from left over meat is out the window. I'm not planning on hunting entirely just to get meat, I want to do it partially for sport(though, justified, in the fact I'll be consuming anything I kill) too, and, it could be a useful skill in the future.

Ye that's why I said chickens. deer shooting isn't cheap to get into right and it isn't cheap to maintain. Start of small hunting in general is a lot of consumed time effort and money. Your chances of been giving that size of a caliber first time round wouldn't be great in my opinion.

TriggerPL

BetterThanThou wrote: »

(Edited from original post because I was missing a bit, and had it badly worded)
I'm interested in beginning to hunt, part of the reason is because I'm a bodybuilder, and my meat costs have been pretty big, while, I know starting off will cost quite a bit, eventually, I'd imagine I'll be saving quite a bit on meat, as many game meats, such as deer and rabbit are high in protein and low in fat, even better than chicken. It's not entirely just for bodybuilding though, I also want to hunt partially for sport(though, justified because I'll be eating anything I kill) and because I figure, some day, it could be a useful skill. I'm only 16, a quick Google search tells me, I can get a hunting license at my age, is this true? and are there any restrictions? And how does getting land to hunt generally work out? I've heard you can't hunt in the wilderness, so, would I have to join a hunting club or something? Generally, what kind of fees would I be looking at to start myself off, including a gun, membership of a hunting club, lessons, and anything else I might need, I've got about €3,500 which I could probably use on it, would this be enough?

Give me 3500 and il drop a deer a month to you for the next 5 years

Your trying to get into a sport that people live and breath ! Don't be surprised that you get negative ans ! We love what we do ! Find your self a hunter that will bring you out . If you find a stalker in your area they would be glad of the help and probally shoot a deer for you for nothing ! I know I'd be glad if the help when dragging a deer out of the woods ,

standard one

you are only 16 i think you should slow down and talk to a local hunter about pheasants and game shooting in general and maybe get out with someone to see what its like.try a shotgun first and see how you get on .its cheaper and easy to get started. i think most people hunt because they love hunting ,dogs and being outside .if you get the hunting bug you will have a sport for life.

BetterThanThou

Thank you for the answers, and I'm sorry if I offended anyone with the way my post was originally worded. How would I go about finding a local hunter to see if he's interested in a bit of help? Also, I'm a long way away from this right now, but, If I do get into hunting and get my own supplies, would I be able to train my dog to become a gun dog? He's a springer/labrador mix and he loves the outdoors, or would I have to train a dog from when they're a puppy?

An truicear tochasach

BetterThanThou wrote: »

(Edited from original post because I was missing a bit, and had it badly worded)
I'm interested in beginning to hunt, part of the reason is because I'm a bodybuilder, and my meat costs have been pretty big, while, I know starting off will cost quite a bit, eventually, I'd imagine I'll be saving quite a bit on meat, as many game meats, such as deer and rabbit are high in protein and low in fat, even better than chicken. It's not entirely just for bodybuilding though, I also want to hunt partially for sport(though, justified because I'll be eating anything I kill) and because I figure, some day, it could be a useful skill. I'm only 16, a quick Google search tells me, I can get a hunting license at my age, is this true? and are there any restrictions? And how does getting land to hunt generally work out? I've heard you can't hunt in the wilderness, so, would I have to join a hunting club or something? Generally, what kind of fees would I be looking at to start myself off, including a gun, membership of a hunting club, lessons, and anything else I might need, I've got about €3,500 which I could probably use on it, would this be enough?

Contact a local club or talk/look at requirements for a licence. sometimes the easiest way in is to join a club. Also, this amount of money is ridiculous. Go to any gun shop and you'll get a better idea of what you'll need. I think someone has alluded to the fact that there is a certain amount of skill involved to hunting and from my own experience, (I only started a year ago, mind I'm much older than yourself), it's actually pretty tricky to kill an animal humanely ( I've killed a rabbit with a body shot and it's just a mess - you loose a lot of meat and there isn't much in a rabbit to begin with). Like the others say - you need to start small so a shot gun or a .22 rimfire is probably your best bet.

As for meat - your pretty much restricted to rabbit (.22) or our feathered friends (shotgun),(unless your into eating magpie and crow??) Deer is a whole other kettle of fish - very specific, probably expensive and time consuming. Like I said, I'm pretty new to hunting in the scheme of things but I'd rather be more confident with the smaller callibers before trying deer...but that's a personal choice...

BetterThanThou

An truicear tochasach wrote: »

Contact a local club or talk/look at requirements for a licence. sometimes the easiest way in is to join a club. Also, this amount of money is ridiculous. Go to any gun shop and you'll get a better idea of what you'll need. I think someone has alluded to the fact that there is a certain amount of skill involved to hunting and from my own experience, (I only started a year ago, mind I'm much older than yourself), it's actually pretty tricky to kill an animal humanely ( I've killed a rabbit with a body shot and it's just a mess - you loose a lot of meat and there isn't much in a rabbit to begin with). Like the others say - you need to start small so a shot gun or a .22 rimfire is probably your best bet.

As for meat - your pretty much restricted to rabbit (.22) or our feathered friends (shotgun),(unless your into eating magpie and crow??) Deer is a whole other kettle of fish - very specific, probably expensive and time consuming. Like I said, I'm pretty new to hunting in the scheme of things but I'd rather be more confident with the smaller callibers before trying deer...but that's a personal choice...

Thank you, I guess I'll just have to build myself up to deer, which is the main reason I want to hunt, but hey, nothing comes without a challenge.
When it comes to buying a gun, does price matter a lot? I did a cheap search on the internet and found shotguns as cheap as €200, would buying one of these as a starter suffice?

One shot on kill

You can get a shogun for 50 euro or you can spend thousands just be realistic to your experience and the amount of use if will get. Once it works safely and is in relatively good condition. I'd say 3-400 and you should get a baigel or something simular. Most gun shops are genuine guys and will definitely put you in the right direction.

What part of the country are you in.

BetterThanThou

I'm in South Dublin.

yubabill1

Young man, if you want to shoot deer, then shoot deer.

You will get lots of different opinions about everything related to hunting and 99% of this is self-promotion.

Don't walk into a shop and take advice from the guy behind the counter with 3500 in you pocket! You will be relieved of it all.

We all got into shooting through people we know, one way or another.
Find a friend of the family who shoots and who is trusted and discuss it with them. They will know your situation and see how you might proceed. It might take a bit of time, but it's worth the wait to talk to someone reliable. If you are unsure or unable to locate someone reliable, then get some books. Preferably, do both (as I did 30 years ago, despite coming from a family of professionals).:cool:

clivej

Bit of a difficult one to get into and answer this Post without offending the OP and Mods!

From your first post I take it your looking to kill game and rabbits (they are NOT game) to eat.

Generally the game hunting season for birds and Deer starts in September and ends the last day of February. So for any Game animal you have to kill and store your meat for the Spring/Summer/Autumn months.
The really only other animal that's worth killing for meat is the rabbit and they can be shot all year. BUT again there is a better time of the year to shoot rabbits for the table, as people will say they are better for eating over the winter months.

Next is your choice of firearm.
You cannot shoot game birds with a rifle only a shotgun.
You cannot shoot Deer with a shotgun only a rifle and the rifle must be OVER a certain caliber to be legal, minimum caliber is .243 IMO
You can shoot rabbits with both a shotgun and rifle, a good caliber rifle for shooting rabbits would be the .22lr.

You have been advised to join a local gun club BUT be aware that most gun clubs only cater for shotgun shooting, not so much rifles, and can be VERY difficult to get into to join up.

You will need land to shoot over, either by joining a gun club OR going and getting farmers permission to shoot over their lands. Only one way to do that and that's get off your arse and go a'looking 'n a'knocking on doors.

Generally speaking to get a Deer caliber rifle you need land permission where deer are, NOT easy starting off. And NOT easy for your first rifle.
A .22lr rifle should be OK for a first time application but you still need land permissions.
A shotgun should be OK for a first time application but you still need land permissions.


Cost
Buy all gear secondhand as there are good deals to be had from the dealers. That's your rifle/shotgun, scope if getting a rifle, and other bits.
Know what your ammo will cost and let that deiced what rifle caliber to buy. If you like to shoot then you will use a lot of ammo. The .22lr rifle being the cheapest to run ammo wise.

A half decent shotgun €300 and up
For rabbits a .22lr rifle - A CZ bolt action from €250 and up. Good models are the American and Varmint, not the Lux, with the drop stock, if using a scope.
For deer a rifle with minimum caliber of .243 but don't overlook the bigger 65x55, .308 etc. - €500 and up
Good makes are CZ, Tikka, Savage, Sako, I don't like the Remington lower priced models.
Scope for rabbits 4-12x40mm is a good starting size - €100 and up
Scope for Deer 4-12x40mm but spend a little more for better glass - €200 and up

gearoidol

op i would recommend buying a cz 17 hmr preferably second hand ,they appear on here from time to time.This will get you all the rabbits you need but will not be suitable for anything else especially deer.Your cost would be as follows:

Gun New €650 (2nd hand 500 inc basic scope).
Scope €150 for a middle of the road scope for a hmr
Gun Cabinet €150 new (€100 2nd Hand)
Licence €80 for 3 years
Competancy course €25 >
Silencer €50
Ammo €18 a box of 50 bullets

This will get you off shooting rabbits and will be a deadly setup suitable out to betwen 150 - 180 yards.

Next step join a gun club or find family ,friends or neighbours who have land suitable which actually contains rabbits (they are getting hard to find in places) and buy your gun and apply for the licence.

Hope that helps

Cavan duck buster

I strongly recommend that you watch Feild Sports Britian, try and watch every on from 2 years ago to present, they upload their videos every wed evining at around 6-7 they cover EVERY THING that you need to know, last year i didn't have a clue about deer stalking and after watching every one i know a fair bit about it but still ya would be well better going out with a deer stalker

Here is a link http://m.youtube.com/user/fieldsportschannel

Hope this helps ya lad

This was the best advice i ever got from anyone.

hedzball

I think you are missing the point here too..

Have you ever eaten rabbit?.. I mean the way you intend to eat them for body building purposes. Not in a stew or in a curry but on there own with a few bits of greens and the like..

its horrible on its own (IMO) and you should look into it first.

I dont think you realise what is involved with deer without offending you if someone came with me
on a shoot and was like "cant wait to shoot me some protein".

shooting is about the outdoors.. its never about the kill.. I can walk miles and come home empty handed.. I regularly grab the shotgun and walk throu the woods just for a ramble.. it is about the time you get to yourself, with your dog, with like minded folk.

You seem to be missing this point. If you do intend to take up shooting walk before you can run just like body building.. you didn't start off on the biggest weight you worked your way up.

Before all that I'd suggest finding the land you want to shoot on and going for a long walk on it



'hdz

cookimonster

A lot of good points here, but, I think your age is an hindrance.
Forgive me if I make a few assumptions:

Experience: from you post you would be brand new to the hunting scene with no
friends or family involved. You need a mentor, no matter what is said here, for safety and general knowledge you should always walk out with someone experienced.

Transport: if your not living in and around good hunting areas you will be severely limited in the species you will be able to hunt. Private transport is crucial for security, privacy, getting to out of the way locations at all times of the day and most importantly the transport of dead quarry.

Sustainability of meat supply: the reality of hunting will soon sink in when you return often than not with an empty bag or just one or two birds or rabbits. Success is not just dependent on shooting or hunting skills but on the richness of your per
missions and the amount of time spent on the land. I have worked along side competition body builders and based on thier diets I doubt the feasibility of hunting to effectively add to or sustain that sort of diet.

Time and effort :I have most weekends off and some amount of flexibility during the week and i still find it a struggle to get out twice a week during the game seasons. The bodybuilding lads in work are so involved in thier training they hardly have time and under certain circumstances the energy for family, relationships, work / school and other interests.

These are just a few obstacles that you may encounter not to mention, running costs, game handling / storage etc etc.

Please don't get me wrong as I am not trying to put you off shooting / hunting, but i do believe in calling a spade a spade. Many of us here from time to time can be accused of bull sh1ting, and its all to easy to tell a young fella 'as sure its no bother' when in fact there is a lot to consider.

No doubt some one here who shoots all the time with great bag returns will offer you some first hand experience on their permissions, as this seems to be the offered on a
regular basis:rolleyes:
No seriously try to get out with some one on a regular basis before you spend your hard earned money.

yubabill1

Gentlemen, if you eat what you shoot (I am not going to pontificate), you will learn to get very selective in what you kill.
You can do a lot with rabbit to make it tasty, but if you shoot and old tough buck or a bored-out doe, your options decrease exponentionally. So you learn to recognise the succulent grazers and learn when they are abundant.
With deer, hanging is everything.
Both meats freeze really well, so let this young guy pursue his laudable aim- to eat what he hunts.

dodderangler

Pigeon is a good source of meat
Supposed to be a healthier than chicken and plenty of them pidgys about
If you should option a gun licence and get a gun the national Shooting centre of Ireland does a day course on shooting and safety
You'll learn basics of safety as its most important like don't shoot your foot off type thing and a lad will show you basics of aiming etc
Dunno the price though but here's the site
http://www.nationalshootingcentre.ie/safety.html
Atb

owelfisherman

dodderangler wrote: »

Pigeon is a good source of meat
Supposed to be a healthier than chicken and plenty of them pidgys about
If you should option a gun licence and get a gun the national Shooting centre of Ireland does a day course on shooting and safety
You'll learn basics of safety as its most important like don't shoot your foot off type thing and a lad will show you basics of aiming etc
Dunno the price though but here's the site
http://www.nationalshootingcentre.ie/safety.html
Atb

my advice is get your parents to bring you to cortlodge a crack a few shots shotgun and rifle see what you think.then go into the shop after but dont say you have 3.5k say you have 600 for a gun.beause they want your money more then yoou want a gun.
ofm

Sparks

If we're talking about what the OP shouldn't be doing, I'm a bit surprised everyone here thought it was grand for a sixteen-year-old to be doing bodybuilding at all.
Last few conferences I went to while we were working on the coaching programme in WTSC, one of the major concerns of every coach in every sport was lads that age training too hard in the gym (usually for the GAA and rugby) and winding up getting serious life-long injuries that nobody their age should be getting - ligament damage, tendon damage, that kind of thing, caused by an overly developed musculature for their age or even worse, an unevenly developed musculature (ie. you build up the biceps and quads and pecs and the other visible muscle groups but not the stabilising muscles in the shoulder and back and knees and you get horrible injuries caused when you try to use those muscles and the rest of the body isn't up to it).

Honestly, whatever about the pros and cons of rabbit as a protein source for someone who's pulling a lot of time on the free weights in the gym, the coaching and supervision in the gym would be my first worry here.

long range shooter

Sparks wrote: »

If we're talking about what the OP shouldn't be doing, I'm a bit surprised everyone here thought it was grand for a sixteen-year-old to be doing bodybuilding at all.
Last few conferences I went to while we were working on the coaching programme in WTSC, one of the major concerns of every coach in every sport was lads that age training too hard in the gym (usually for the GAA and rugby) and were winding up getting serious life-long injuries that nobody their age should be getting - ligament damage, tendon damage, that kind of thing, caused by an overly developed musculature for their age or even worse, an unevenly developed musculature (ie. you build up the biceps and quads and pecs and the other visible muscle groups but not the stabilising muscles in the shoulder and back and knees and you get horrible injuries caused when you try to use those muscles and the rest of the body isn't up to it).

Honestly, whatever about the pros and cons of rabbit as a protein source for someone who's pulling a lot of time on the free weights in the gym, the coaching and supervision in the gym would be my first worry here.

Think you are overreacting a bit here.
I am a hunter myself,and have lifted weights since i was 13.
The weight traing is the platform you build for the rest of your life,but it has to be in a linear program.
Its no use just working on your upperbody,and not your legs.
Strength training/bodybulding is about building strenght in your hole body,not just arms,chest and shoulders.
And Rabbit is a perfect food for bodybuilding.;)

low in cholersterol
low in calories
low in saturated fats
high in protein
low in sodium
all white meat

Sparks

long range shooter wrote: »

Think you are overreacting a bit here.

All I'm doing is repeating what the leading GAA and rugby coaches in Ireland were saying at the time about what they were seeing in their day-to-day professional lives (this would have been 2009 or so). Hey, if you know better ...

(And yes, rabbit's fantastic meat. And if the buck or doe was old, that's good - all the great dishes were created for older meat, to the point where these days you can't even find the ingredients for them because we just don't raise meat animals that long anymore. So if you shoot an old buck, just make rabbit au vin ).

long range shooter

Sparks wrote: »

All I'm doing is repeating what the leading GAA and rugby coaches in Ireland were saying at the time about what they were seeing in their day-to-day professional lives (this would have been 2009 or so). Hey, if you know better ...

(And yes, rabbit's fantastic meat. And if the buck or doe was old, that's good - all the great dishes were created for older meat, to the point where these days you can't even find the ingredients for them because we just don't raise meat animals that long anymore. So if you shoot an old buck, just make rabbit au vin ).

Well Sparks there is a difference.
In bodybuilding you build muscle,that means many reps with lower weights,and gradually increase.
In strenght training like the GAA and Rugby,it heavy weights with lower reps.
And i can see why there is so many injuries,cause if you start with heavy weights without a gradual increase or proper warm up,you will get injured
And yes i agree with the rabbit,its one of the best natural meat sources around.

dev110

Maybe you guys would be interested in this forum:
Strength & Strength Sports

Lets get back to the Hunting side of the OP's questions.

Sparks

long range shooter wrote: »

And yes i agree with the rabbit,its one of the best natural meat sources around.

Shame it's not come back to even a percent of where it used to be - time was, rabbit was the protein of choice - it was the skinless chicken breast of its day. But between the post-war push to breed larger chickens and farm them intensively to put a chicken in every pot; and the worries over mixy and the stigma of it being poor person's food, we pretty much dropped rabbit completely.

Sparks

One shot on kill wrote: »

To be honest I though you would have had better advice for the lad.

My honest advice would be that (a) tescos is better from the cost-benefit viewpoint he was using; and that (b) if he really did want to source protein faster from the wild, fishing was probably a better approach from that viewpoint.

Honestly, if you're hunting for the pot and trying to do something that demands a huge amount of protein like bodybuilding, and you haven't hunted before... well, hunting just isn't going to be a solution in the short term. Maybe over the course of a few months, but not next week, y'know?

dodderangler

Sparks wrote: »

All I'm doing is repeating what the leading GAA and rugby coaches in Ireland were saying at the time about what they were seeing in their day-to-day professional lives (this would have been 2009 or so). Hey, if you know better ...

(And yes, rabbit's fantastic meat. And if the buck or doe was old, that's good - all the great dishes were created for older meat, to the point where these days you can't even find the ingredients for them because we just don't raise meat animals that long anymore. So if you shoot an old buck, just make rabbit au vin ).

When I started playing rugby at 14 our coach was bit strict on diets and spending time in the gym
Eat healthy and don't burn out was main thing but our age never popped into question
For the op if it's rabbits he wants to eat there's always ferreting?
Most lads started ferreting a lot younger than 16 and can a lot of the time be easier to get rabbits than shooting them and be more in the pot sometimes
I'm in south Dublin aswell OP
Im sure it'll be no problem to come ferreting with myself and my mate
You can do the diggin seen as your a body builder
Lifting weights is easy 8-)
Try dig 4-5 foot for a stinker you'll know bout it lol
Just kidding

SeeZee

Hunting: Try get out with someone in the style of hunting the interests you most and see does it suit you. The equipment is different for each discipline so decide which suits you before you buy.

Meat: I assume your living at your folks place. Would they allow you to keep rabbits. Ive read that 4 doe rabbits and 1 buck rabbit will produce enough offspring to supply a family with meat for ever.

Hunter21

Original poster have you ever been hunting before with friends? Have you ever cleaned and prepped animals for the table before?

Reason I ask is I've seen some lads all talks about shooting until it comes to picking up the dead animal. Some lads won't even pick up a dead rabbit or pigeon they've shot not to mind clean it out and get it ready for eating.

Pulling the trigger is the simple bit, blood work is the hard bit- you'd be surprised how many people are squeamish around the sight of blood.