So, I finally built myself an AR and would love to go on my first hunt.

I am currently slogging through the incredibly dull online hunter's education course and I'll do the field test next week.

Is there anything I should know about the field test? Any tips in general?

I'd love to hunt coyote for pelts and rabbit for fur/food. Anyone with information on where I should go for that? I have a couple of friends in the same boat as me--wanting to hunt coyote but no experienced guide, bah.

Any farmers with coyote problems?

drachek wrote:So, I finally built myself an AR and would love to go on my first hunt.

I am currently slogging through the incredibly dull online hunter's education course and I'll do the field test next week.

Is there anything I should know about the field test? Any tips in general?

I'd love to hunt coyote for pelts and rabbit for fur/food. Anyone with information on where I should go for that? I have a couple of friends in the same boat as me--wanting to hunt coyote but no experienced guide, bah.

Any farmers with coyote problems?

Do you have a 22 LR upper for that AR? If not, the first rabbit you hit with an AR round clicking along at anywhere from 2500 fps (heavies) to 3000 or so fps (lights) isn't going to leave you much to work with...

"Taxes may be raised and cut, legislation may be passed and repealed. But Liberty, like rock worn away by rushing water, is very difficult to restore once lost.". --senorgrand

Friend has a .22 and a .17HMR that he would want to use on rabbits, so that works nicely for me.

I just wish I knew where I should go to quietly wander the woods for this.

I'd add that before you go randomly popping coyotes, consider that they are a predator that keeps the rest of the food chain in balance. Unless you specifically know of a problem coyote raiding livestock operations, I'd decline to hunt them.

Feral dogs and other invasive non-native animal species on the other hand, need to be controlled. Ask around in the area you want to hunt and call the DFG, most DFG folks I have spoken to are happy to talk with you.

Finding the animals is the fun part of hunting. Invest in a quality spotting scope and spend enough time with it so you can identify animals quickly. Seeing an animal you want to harvest is very exciting, and the more animals you spot, the more calm and collected you'll be for a safe and humane shot.

One of the core principles of firearm handling is know your target and what is in front, behind and around it before firing. When hunting I'd add this nugget of wisdom from the California deer hunters handbook "No one is twisting your arm to make the shot"

best of luck...

I'm wondering why you think it's incredibly dull. There's a lot of useful information in those courses. You're new to hunting. I would suggest slogging through the hunter's ed course, absorb all that you can, question yourself why you want to go hunting and why you want to kill your intended prey, talk to some landowners...

Hmmm .. first hunt ever? pelts a dollar or two for top quality undamaged rabbit pelts 7 dollar for a nice green deer hide.. some money if you know how to properly tan a hide, both hair on and hair off but still only about $50 for a deer. some folks get their green hides professionally tanned for $40 so they can make ten bucks selling them for 50.. Just typical prices.. fur goes up and down like silver, daily, minute by minute when the auctions are open.. and to complicate things , individual pelts are graded on about 10 things including size color condition and individually priced when you go to a live buyer.. actually buyers travel a circuit and you go to them when they set up near you.

most folks trap for pelts .. just saying

tip getting all that fat and guck off the inside of the hide.. try those green scrub pads or go to store where you can buy furniture upholstering supplies and get some 1" thick rubberized horse hair chair padding and cut handy sized scrub blocks out of it .. works good on defleshing the hide, especially as a finishing touch so you don't have to shave so close with the scraping knife.

lot of learning curves on multiple skills .. some requiring a certain level of skill and mastery to have a profitable hobby, lot of stinky physical labor

Good luck

If you can find somebody already making some money hunting pelts you might want to team up and see if you can work an intern or apprentice thing where you don't have to pay full boat for a teacher...

Lot of you tube videos on prepping animal skins .. taxidermists and professional trappers and hunters have forums where you can ask questions .. My brother is a taxidermist and has made some decent money and got to go on a lot of free hunting rips in exchange for mounting the trophies.. had a deal with several vets especially several wild animal vets to mount the ones they couldn't save and split the profits

Got his start blowing up sparrows and robins with a pellet gun, and then cleaning them up and sewing them back together and mounting them.. those feathers can hide all sorts of stiches

If you hunt rabbits I would suggest you would be further ahead by eating them rather than try to sell their fur. We bought our farm 53 year ago so I would always have a place to hunt and shoot. I still do a lot of the latter, but lost my taste for hunting after a couple of years. Nowadays when a rabbit family tries to attack our vegetable garden, its my wife who grabs the .22.

JamesH wrote:I'm wondering why you think it's incredibly dull. There's a lot of useful information in those courses. You're new to hunting. I would suggest slogging through the hunter's ed course, absorb all that you can, question yourself why you want to go hunting and why you want to kill your intended prey, talk to some landowners...

The courses were dull simply because it was, by and large, things I already knew. I read extensively about the subject before deciding to get around to the course.

I don't intend to sell any pelts or meat. I've got some friends who could likely make some nice, toasty winter clothes out of hide and fur.

Coyotes up here don't really have any natural predators (as we've exterminated most of the wolves, and a lot of the farmers kick up a fuss over reintroducing wolves) so their numbers are really only checked by hunting. The state allows for hunting them via all legal weapons throughout the year. I like the idea of having to really outwit an animal to get it, hence why predators like coyote and cougar intrigue me.

Hunt nutria. Problems solved.

senorgrand wrote:Hunt nutria. Problems solved.

You can try, Gringo

HuckleberryFun wrote:

senorgrand wrote:Hunt nutria. Problems solved.

You can try, Gringo

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Wow that critters plaque build up is worse than mine.

HuckleberryFun wrote:

senorgrand wrote:Hunt nutria. Problems solved.

You can try, Gringo

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Just don't get them mixed-up with beaver...that will cause you some trouble.

Maybe ask to see a greencard?