[Guide]Hunting & You or How to Not be an Elmer Fudd.

[SaintBatemanofWallStreet]

So I'm a long time hunter. I've harvested a ton of different game, came close to getting a Texas Grand Slam one year. But I missed the Pronghorn I was shooting at. And I was excited that the hunting update came out. It occurred to me after my first trip out into the field that most people have no idea what hunting actually is or how to do it. So here I am. I'll spare the hunter's safety talk. It's straightforward. Let's go.

What is hunting?:
It is the practice of seeking, pursuing and capturing or killing wild animals. Fairly straightforward.

Why do people hunt?:
There's an exponential number of reasons that people hunt. But the top reasons? Removal of nuisance animals, food, sport, and my personal favorite - to get out into nature and experience it first hand. There's an appreciation for getting out there and being a participant in nature. If you've never done it, it's hard to describe a hunt and what that actually brings when all the stalking and calling comes to fruition when you down the animal. It's almost a moment of zen. There's an appreciation to be had for everything that goes on around you during the hunt, and the animal itself.

 

What do people hunt?:
White Tailed Deer:
Also known as the Virginia Deer, but I've never heard anyone call it that. But then again, I'm not anywhere near Virginia. Generally speaking, if you are east of the Rockies, you have White Tailed Deer at your disposal to hunt. I won't dwell too much on this species since they're really not native to the island of San Andreas. Unless somewhere in time they were introduced and thrived, which could happen I guess.
Male: Buck
Female: Doe

Spoiler

Mule Deer:

Mule Deer are divided into ten subspecies. They fall under the Black Tailed Deer family which is further down the list. Easy to see the difference between the Mule Deer and the White Tails. They're darker, they're bigger, they have a different antler structure. A mule deer's antlers are bifurcated, which means they'll split, versus a White Tail who's tines generally come off of a single main beam. Their behavior is different as well. White tails run. Mule Deer stott. What is that? Good question. Stotting is where they spring themselves into the air, all four feet simultaneously. And they come down and push off the ground, and come down and continue to push themselves forward in the same motion. Not to say they don't run at all, they do, but they stott too.
Another big difference between the two? Mulies are native to the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and the Southwest part of the United States. That means that we could theoretically have them in our world. 
Male: Buck
Female: Doe

Spoiler

Black Tailed Deer:

Same family as the Mule Deer. What's the difference between the two? The species covered above are generally bigger in all aspects. Outside of that? Fairly similar.
Male: Buck
Female: Doe
 

Spoiler

Hogs:
Feral Hogs, the menace to many farmer, and hunter alike. Fun to shoot, nigh impossible to wipeout. Like most states there is no bag limit, and no season on hogs. They can be taken at any time of the year. Disease wasn't the only thing Christopher Columbus introduced to the Americas. He introduced pigs. And then they went wild, literally and figuratively. There is an estimated 6 million wild hogs in the United States today. They drop between 5-6, sometimes up to 12-15 piglets per litter and have approximately 1.5 litters per year. They are the most prolific large mammal on Earth, except for humans, I guess. They are responsible for millions of dollars in farmland damages per year. Kill them all.
Male: Boar
Female:  Sow
 

Spoiler

Mountain Lions:

I know that Mountain Lions are going in to be able to hunt, or at least spawn in the wilderness. If we're sticking to anything close to real life, they should not be hunted. They should not be hunted. They shouuullddd nooooottttt beeeee hunnnntttteeeddd. They are a specially protected animal in the state of California. In fact according to the California Fish & Game, they've received protection as an Endangered Species. Get caught trying to hunt one of these, and you'll probably end up in the penitentiary. Couple facts about them. They are fourth largest cat species in the world. They stand up to about 3 feet tall at the shoulders, the males get around 8 feet long from nose to tip of the tail. They're an ambush predator and they have the largest hunting range of any wild animal in the Americas. It ranges from 80-200 miles for males and 20-100 miles for females. They can be very aggressive when they feel threatened or if you're just in their territory.

Male: Tom
Female: Queen

Spoiler

 

Side note: Look at this massive boy.

Elk:

There are six subspecies of Elk in the United States. I'm only going to cover the ones that would be in our area. That would the Roosevelt Elk, which is going to be in far far NorCal. The Tule Elk, which is native to Central California and prefers moderate climate and vegetation type. And the Rocky Mountain Elk. I was hesitant to even put this one on here because the population of them is so small, estimated between 500-700 that it's highly unlikely you'd actually see them on the island of San Andreas. They are big animals. They big big animals. The Roosevelt elk is the largest in body and the bulls average around 1000 pounds, and the females around 600 pounds. The Tule Elk? You're probably not hunting him. He's protected. There around 6000 of them in the wild, and California is having a tough time controlling the wasting disease known as Johne's Disease with them. So until the numbers boon, I wouldn't be RPing slinging a round downrange at anything like that. Rocky Mountain Elk. Nearly hunted to the point of extinction and in the early 1900's the government started reintroducing new herds into old areas. Now their numbers are over half a million easily. I think there are more than 300,000 in Colorado alone. Now these are not common in California, like I said, but you know, had to mention them. If for some reason you do decide that you're gonna RP hunting one of these big boys, there are some things to know. a 6x6 is called a Royal Bull. A 7x7 is called an Imperial Bull. An 8x8 is called a Monarch Bull. I'll cover antler scoring later, maybe. One of the trademark characteristics of an elk, is their call. They bugle. You've heard it before I'm sure, and maybe just didn't know it. It is a high pitched, almost squeal. I'll include it in the pictures.
Male: Bull
Female: Cow
 

Spoiler

Tule Elk:


Roosevelt Elk:

 

Rocky Mountain Elk:


Bonus Content: Elk bugling.

 

 

Turkeys:
Turkeys. Probably my favorite animal to hunt. There are 5 species of Turkey in the United States, 6 in North America as a whole. I'm just gonna cover the ones that we would possibly see, but probably never will. There are two. The Rio Grande Turkey, which is native to South West and Central Texas on up through Oklahoma and into Kansas. The California Fish and Game Commission started importing thousands of them from Texas starting in the 1870's for hunting. The numbers dwindled and they went on a big push in the 1950's through the 2000's releasing Rio Grandes at over 200 locations in the state. The numbers are estimated to be around 250,000. There is also the Merriam's Turkey. These are historically found in the ponderosa forests of Colorado, New Mexico and Northern Arizona but were transplanted and introduced to Utah, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California into the piney woods there. The two turkeys are roughly the same size, but the biggest differences between them is that the Rio Grandes have tail tips that match the plains, a bronze to golden colored tip whereas the Merriam's Turkey has tips that are nearly white, and the spurs and beards on the Rio Grande Turkeys are much larger. Merriam's also have the weakest gobble. So this is kind of hard to explain, but I'll try. The way that you decided which turkey you're going to harvest is a few different ways. One is size. Full grown males are called Tom turkeys. Adolescent male turkeys are called Jakes. A single Tom, you'll know him when you see him. He takes charge when he comes in. Another way is their beard. Turkeys have beards, though not what you'd traditionally think of. It is a tuft of hair that hangs from the middle of the chest. Adolescent turkey beards get up to about 5 inches long and a full mature male's beard can get up to 12-14 inches long. About 3-5% of the female population may also grow a beard, but it's generally just a few strands. The hair has about the consistency of a horse mane or tail. Their mating call? I'm sure everyone knows it. It's a gobble. I'll attach it below. Generally what will happen is when they hear hens clucking, they will gobble in return, and puff their feathers out and strut around. It's called the gobble and strut. They do have spurs above their feet. They fight with them. They're sharp. I can tell you, getting spurred by a turkey is not a fun experience. I still have the scar.
Male: Tom
Female: Hen

Spoiler

Rio Grande:

 

Merriam's:

 

Turkey Beard:

 

Turkey Spurs:



Turkey gobbling:

 

 

I left out ducks, geese, and other upland birds because we don't have any of it, and I'd be here all day talking about that. If we get something like coyotes or wolves, I'll be happy to add them to the list as well.


Licensure:
According to the the California Department of Fish and Wildlife a license is required for any resident 16 years of age or older who takes birds or mammals. Now, that doesn't mean you have to have them in your possession. If you're out with a weapon, in a high game area, and you have all the familiar symptoms of somebody who is hunting, you can get a ticket. You can get your gun confiscated. You can even get your vehicle confiscated if it can be proven you used it in the commission of your crime. States don't mess around with illegal hunting. It's serious.

Why is it serious? Because of the 14 million hunters in the United States, about 22.1 billion dollars is annually spent. If hunting was a corporation, it'd rank 35th on the Fortune 500 list between JC Penney and UPS. States want their piece, and so does the federal government. But luckily for us the federal tax comes in the form of a Duck Stamp, and since we don't have ducks, we shouldn't have to worry about that.


Apparel:
Pretty straightforward here. As a hunter, we're trying to blend in. It's not so much as they animals can see in color. In fact most of them cannot. They see in either black and white, or some shade of green/yellow. The exception to that is the turkey. They can pick up colors, namely the blaze orange. Other animals however do not, and that's why the blaze orange is the popular safety choice. Camouflage is what we're after. Not so much for the color, but more for the patterns. We're trying to break up our outline in the woods as we move. I can't tell you the number of times I've seen a deer at about the same time he's seen me. And one of two things happens. I stop moving and hope the camo works. He looks at me for a long time and then goes back to what he's doing in an ultra paranoid state, or he's caught me in the open with nothing else around and runs away. It happens.

So there are several brands of camouflage that people like to wear, but the main thing you need to consider when selecting your stuff is the environment you're going to be hunting in. If you are in open grasslands, it doesn't make a terrible lot of sense to be dressed like a tree. And vice versa. Like I said, most animals can't see in color, but they are pretty good at recognizing something out of place.

I'll drop a few name brands of popular camouflage. And this stuff for the most part comes in as you'll see below and the mixing colors with blaze orange for better visibility. Because a damper on a hunting trip is getting shot by someone else. Don't let someone Dick Cheney you today.
 

Spoiler

Realtree Hardwoods:

 

Realtree Xtra:

 

 

Game Winner Brushy Moss:

 

Gameguard Original (My personal favorite): 

 

Mossy Oak Obsession:

 

Mossy Oak Shadow Grass:

 

 

 

 

The possibilities are endless with camo to be honest. That being said, if you show up in ACU, or OCP, you'll probably get chuckled at. I knew a dude who hunted specifically in Marine Corp MARPAT. But he was a goober.

Weapon Selection:
This gets a little iffy. Obviously we have the bolt action rifle. You can RP that thing as whatever you like. If you need somewhere to start, I'm suggesting go with a Remington Model 700, a Browning A-Bolt or an X-bolt if you're feeling fancy, a Winchester Model 70, a Weatherby Vanguard, a Tikka T3X, or a Savage Model 110.

Now for calibers, this is where it actually matters. The most popular calibers for medium to big game hunting in the US today are the .30-06 (thirty ought six.), the .25-06 (twenty five ought six), a .30-30 but those are mostly lever action rifles, a .270 WInchester (personal fan of this one), a .243 Winchester, the .308, and a .300 Win Mag. However, the 6.5 Creedmoor has seen a lot more use because of it's long range applications with a superior ballistic coefficient at range. What does that mean to you? It flies far and hits hard, with good accuracy. Usually it's one or the other. But the use of 6.5 Creedmoor is minute in comparison to the others.

How Do We Hunt? Like For Real?:

If you've made it this far, you might actually care about hunting. Let me tell you what you shouldn't do first. Do not sprint around until you see an animal. That's not what hunting is about, and honestly at some point we brush up against quality of roleplay if you just sprint until you see an animal. And day one? I've seen a lot of it. It's wrong. Hunting is not a race. Hunting God Steve Rinella has a very good mantra. Eyes first, feet second.
It's a patient man's sport. Generally what you'll be doing is a lot of glassing with binoculars (use a camera.) Find an elevated point and survey the land. Find your animal. Move towards it slowly. The goal here is to stay concealed, out of sight, and make as little noise as possible. It's a slow walk, and even sometimes a crawl. You get in range of your animal, and then you take your shot after you've made sure he's legal. We currently don't have any laws on spread or tine numbers, and unless we start adding variants of animal in, it's not likely to come up. Then you take your shot.

The other way is ambush hunting. From a treestand or on the ground, it's all the same. You set up in an area you know the animals will come and you wait for them to come. Be aware however that in most states it is illegal to bait an area to draw deer in.

Always take an ethical shot. You're shooting a living thing, not a piece of paper. You do not want your animal to suffer any longer than necessary. A good shot placement is going to be right behind the front shoulder. That's where the animal's lungs and heart are. The neck is also a good area to shoot as well. It's a spinal snap. It's instant death, they drop on the spot. You know right away whether you hit or missed. Though be careful on large game, the force may not be enough to snap the neck unless you actually penetrate the spine. A shot directly behind the front shoulders is almost a guaranteed kill. You're going to hit at least one lung, and could actually hit the heart as well. They will run when this happens. But they usually don't run more than a few hundred yards. It's minimal suffering.

My Trophy of a Lifetime is Down. Now what?:

First thing's first. Confirm the animal is dead. Usually after I down a deer, I give it about a half hour to completely expire. I can tell you, there is nothing worse on a hunt than walking up on your animal, and have him get up and run off. It adds a multitude of issues like trailing it, and such. So just give it a minute. When you're pretty sure the animal has passed, I always give it the eyeball test. I poke it in the eye with the barrel of my rifle. If he don't blink, he's dead. I know, you might think it's childish to poke it in the eye, but if it works, it works. So, depending on what you want to do with the animal is how you proceed next. If you have a hunting camp, and a vehicle near by, you can drag it close to the road, and load it in the truck. Take it back to camp, hang it and skin it. If you're trying to save the animal to be mounted by a taxidermist, you cape the animal out, which is basically where you cut the skin and fur out from the front of the chest up to the neck, severing the head from the spine. You're left with the head, antlers and a long bit of skin/fur/hair/whatever. Now, if you're going to pack your animal out of the field, which means in pieces, what you want to do is first gut the animal, dispose of his/her innards. You can leave them out in the wild. Nature will take care of them, and you're not wasting anything you could/would want to eat anyhow. Then you're going to quarter your animal. That means you're going to cut it up into large pieces. But don't cut it into pieces so large you can't carry it. Because it's gonna be all you. It can take several hours to pack an animal out of the field. But basically like I said, pieces you can carry, back to your camp. You're gonna want it on ice. Or if it's cold enough, hanging in a tree so the bears can't get it. And by bears I mean anything that might come try to eat it up to and including bears. Cold enough is freezing or near freezing, by the way. Most people don't process their deer in the field. In fact, in some states it is illegal to process your deer before it's arrived at his final destination, which would be either your house, or a meat processor's shop. As someone who's processed their own animals before, I can tell you it can be a giant pain in the ass, and you're better off taking it to someone who can process it for you.

 

 

Scoring Your Trophy:
Scoring your trophy is a process. And there's a very very specific way to do it. It is governed by the Boone and Crockett Club. There's two sections of scoring. Typical, and non typical. It is exactly what it sounds like, if the deer looks like what is concerned the typical antler structure of the species, it's a typical. If it doesn't, it's non typical. The differences can be shown below.

 

Spoiler

Typical:

 

Non-Typical

See the differences? You get it. You're a pro hunter by now.
Now, to score this beast. You need a tap measure. And you have to know what you're looking at. Don't worry. I have another picture for you. It's a lot to take in.

 

Spoiler

 

So according to Boone and Crockett, we measure tip to tip spread from the ends of the main beams. Then we measure the spread at the widest point on the outside. Write this stuff down, it's some math. Then we measure the widest point on the inside of the rack. If there are any abnormal points, we measure the length of them. And then we measure the main beams. Then we go down the line measuring G1-G whatever you have. Then we start measuring circumferences of the antlers at the base and in between each point. And we add it all together. If it comes out to more than 160 inches, congratulations, it's Boone and Crockett certified trophy. If it comes out to more than 170 inches, real big congratulations. It's an ALL TIME Boone and Crockett trophy. The picture above is for a white tail, because that's what I know how to score. The minimum scores for Mule Deers and Blacktails, which is what we'll have is 180 B&C and 190 AT B&C.

Now, I know a lot of you gonna be like "Oh yeah, he was 195 B&C, or 220 B&C." No. No he wasn't. I'm not saying it's rare. I'm not saying it's impossible. But the average deer? Not even gonna come close. You're probably going to be in the neighborhood of 140 inches. And on public land? Which is what we're hunting on? Good luck. Something that gets in that book off public land is a very few and far between thing. It's just uncommon. And that's okay.

Conclusion:
This is an opportunity for some new roleplay, some fun roleplay, some out of the norm roleplay. Please be considerate of people who are actually trying to hunt even if you're not taking it seriously, which you should be. There's a ton of stuff I didn't cover and I'm sure I'll be adding more to it as I think of it, or it gets suggested. If you're looking for more information on hunting, or want another perspective, check out Steve Rinella on Youtube. He also has the series on Netflix called MeatEater. I highly suggest it.

Edited April 6, 2021 by SaintBatemanofWallStreet

[ThatMuricanGuy]

Absolutely impressive guide from someone who actually knows what they're talking about.

[SaintBatemanofWallStreet]

Oh. When the laws actually go into effect, I'll update it with a section on what it means to hunters.

[KV]

Amazing guide with a lot of relevant info for helping with accurate RP and portrayal, thank you! 

I've only been hunting once, last year during bow season, but a lot of what you said about "how do we hunt" was spot on with what I was taught, and what I experienced.  This should be a mandatory read for people who want to do hunting RP and don't know where to start! 

BTW I didn't get anything but I saw three deer!

[SaintBatemanofWallStreet]

9 minutes ago, KV said:

BTW I didn't get anything but I saw three deer!

Good on you for getting out there and getting into nature. There's nothing else like it.

And that's why they call it hunting, not killing 😄

I'm sure you'll get another chance and bring home a big one.

[shrike.]

Legitimately necessary and a great guide. 

 

Genuinely hoping the server pays attention to this instead of cruising on harsh terrains in sports cars with rifles and a BIGNESS hoodie on. 🙏

[Valkyria]

Aw, man. This, here. This is it.

[i dont wanna od in LA]

Really decent & detailed guide. Especially the part about Californian law. Good shit.

[Gryphboi]

Based as always.

[Mescalero]

Good guide, I'm just gonna drop these here.