Young Writers Society

So obviously I know the basics and I'm doing my own research online -- but as someone who's never gone hunting, I'd like to ask y'all:

What is hunting like? What do you notice/think about most when hunting?

What kind of animals do you, personally, hunt, and how do you hunt them? What weapons do you use? What traps? What techniques?

What mistakes do writers make about hunting?

@AkeliaTaske @FalconryGal9086

Hello! This is Akelia, and here are some answers for you.

I have been a large game hunter for about two and half years now, and I personally hunt deer.


What is hunting like? : Well, it's boring. Very very boring. It is not for the weak of mind, or for the weak of body either. What people usually think of when they go hunting is instantly seeing a deer, a huge buck, and shooting it right on target. Sadly, this is nearly never the case. From the time I get in the stand (tree stand, some people will hunt in little camouflaged tents called ground blinds or just hunt against a tree) to the time I leave the stand is 5:30 am. to 11:00 am. This is in the winter months from December to middle of February, so the dawn time is much later. This is also the time before the rut, (mating season).


It takes a lot to go hunting. If you get cold easily, like me, you want to bring enough layers so you will not be shifting around at all or shivering. Any movement, even from a high place, such as a quick turn of the head or a shuffle of the foot can spook a deer or game from a far way off and boom, there goes your hunting day. You have to be very patient, have little to no movement, and know where to set up. Typical places would be near a river, along a deer trail where you see droppings, and in a field with food sources.



What do you notice/think about when your hunting? : Noise. Noise is a very big thing that you notice when you're out there in very early morning, alone. You can hear a bird call from a long ways away, or a gunshot from several miles. You also notice the slightest movements. I cannot tell you how many times I heard a lot of rustling and I shifted to get a better look, my heart pounding, and was let down by seeing it was just a couple of squirrels. More often than not you will see birds and squirrels. I typically think about my stories when I go hunting, it helps pass the time. I like to pretend to be one of my characters going out on a hunt for food. Trust me, it helps in the cold stand.


What kind of animals do you, personally, hunt, and how do you hunt them? What weapons do you use? What traps? What techniques? : I personally hunt large game, deer, and my favorite way to hunt by far is from a tree stand. I prefer doing it from a tree because you have a more general view of the area and the deer can't see you instantly. However, it is a pain to get up there, set up and set down the stand, and lift things up and down. I don't use traps. I use a 308 riffle for my weapon. For techniques, I recommend SITTING STILL. BE QUIET. They are the most simplistic rules to hunting, but the hardest rules to learn and follow. I'm still learning, especially when I'm cold.


What mistakes do writers make about hunting? : Writers tend to write quick, easy hunt scenes. A hunter will be sitting somewhere in the middle of an area, usually not wearing a lot of clothing or at the worst possible times of day (such as the middle of the day and afternoon) and will see a huge 12 point buck in the first 10-20 minutes and will get them on the first shot with a bow. With a bow, the deer or game has to get within about 5 yards of the hunter to get an accurate shot. You have to lift the bow without the deer seeing, pull it back, hold the draw-weight until the deer is looking away, and then shoot. It is extremely hard to accomplish and not many hunters can do it in their first couple of seasons. Sometimes never. That's what I notice, first time trophies and underprepared hunters.


Thanks for asking these questions!

-Akelia

@AkeliaTaske Thank you so much! That's super helpful!

Like I said, I've never been hunting before so it means a lot to hear this from someone with experience. And this will help with a lot of facets of my writing, so I'm super excited!

To add to my questions, the scene I'm writing at the moment is this:

A girl and her brother, both teenagers, are on their first hunt alone. They're trying to bag one big game item -- either elk or a bear. The small valley they hunt in is almost untouched by human life, nestled between hills with caves leading down into the earth. The girl has hunted bears with her father for ten years, but this is her first hunt without him there.

Currently, they're pretty far in the Arctic Circle, and it's early/mid autumn, so the world is mostly in twilight with a couple hours of true nightfall. It's less cold in the valley than it is on the open tundra, because the river comes from a natural hot spring and supports life around it year-round. (It's still pretty cold, though.)

Her weapon of choice is a crossbow, probably with about 200-250 lbs draw weight, and she reloads it rather slowly, so she realistically only has one shot at hitting her target. She and her brother hunt from a small wooden platform, built about 20 feet up in a tree, next to a small river in the valley. Her brother has a magical talent to sense life, so the girl is counting on bagging their prey in two or three days, tops.

Does this sound realistic enough?

An experienced hunter would probably cry 'fake' at parts of it, I know, but I'm hoping that it'll be readable even for people who are familiar with hunting.

Okay, so a lot of the details are going good. Here is a link to a large lengthy description about Crossbow bolts. http://www.bestcrossbowsource.com/cross ... ows-guide/ I recommend you check this out, it will be very valuable. A crossbow does not have draw weight, (draw weight is how much weight you must put behind the string of an arrow to pull it back to full draw) a crossbow will have different size bolts (arrows) that can affect the cranking capability of an older crossbow. Again, check the link.

If you're talking complete reality there will be no magic involved, but what's fun without magic am I right? Don't worry so much about that, I recommend with the artic circle and the hot spring that you do some geographical research of that area and try to find an actual hot spring that you can base your story/scene off of. @ChieRynn has done this with some of her western stories, and it has helped her a lot.

Clothing-wise for that area I recommend trying to pick out what specific area they're from and where they are hunting, and then upon that decide how many layers they are going to need, because if they are hunting in northern Greenland, they are not going to need as many layers as they would if they were hunting near the north pole. Also, a smart hunter will never wear all his layers as he is going to and from the hunting area because he/she will get very hot under their thick clothes and will sweat, and when they sit down and get comfy that sweat will get cold. The colder the area the faster they will get colder.

Here you go!

This is probably waaaay late, but I wanted to add some things to what Akelia said.

Up until about five years ago, I hunted regularly ranging from small game (mainly squirrels) to large game (primarily deer). Unlike Akelia, I rarely hunted by standing, which is where you pick a spot and wait for the game to come. Instead, I would walk around the area and encounter game that way.

The strategy you use depends a lot on the local geography. I grew up hunting in the mountains, so there were lots of gullies and ravines which limited where large game could run away to. Deer in particular will tend to move away from any oncoming human they hear or smell walking around, and if you know the lay of the land well, you can basically drive the deer to a ravine where you'll have a clear line of sight for a clean shot.

For the most part, though, it's rare to see the deer you're driving until you're close enough to line up for the shot. Especially in densely-wooded areas, you keep track of where your game is heading by sound and, if you have a keen nose and the wind is on your side, smell.

The main downside of that strategy is that it takes a lot of energy since you're doing a lot of walking, usually over some pretty rough terrain. However, because you're constantly moving, you're not dressed anywhere near as heavily as someone dressed for standing since that much exercise generates a lot of heat, and also because you need to be able to maneuver to keep up with the game you're trailing. I remember a few hunts where I was walking around with my jacket unzipped and the side vents on my pants wide open in sub-zero temperatures, and I was still overheating between all the walking, lugging around my rifle and equipment, and dragging the buck I'd downed back to camp.

Sweat is the enemy when hunting in colder climates, and I was so cold for hours afterwards.

Something else to note about bow hunting: whatever you hit will not immediately go down. A fatal bow wound, even a so-called "perfect" shot, often leaves the animal alive for quite some time after, and the animal will typically make it a pretty far distance before finally keeling over, which necessitates tracking skills. It's also not uncommon for the animal to not be dead when you do track it down, so finishing it off is something to be ready for. I've heard of some hunts from my bow-hunting friends that lasted several days just due to the tracking, and quite a few of those hunts ended with them never finding their kill. It's one of the reasons I've always preferred rifle hunting to bow hunting: it's a cleaner kill and far less suffering for the animal.