[raab]

Originally Posted by Chowdowncowtown

True enough, it would be a pretty big loss to spend a lot of time and effort creating an opportunity only to have it wrecked by a bad partner. Climbing is a little more forgiving in that sense, easy to see how people handle themselves in a lower-stakes scenario before doing anything committing.

Really for the first season or two what I want to focus on learning is the pre and post work, scouting, tracking, getting land access, camera placement, field dressing, butchering etc. Just going out and shooting an animal doesn't hold much appeal to me if I don't have the skills and knowledge to reproduce the result independently.

Depends on what kind of hunting you want to do. If it was me I'd volunteer to tag along on a hunt to help with the field dressing and getting the meat out. I'd be leaving my rifle at home and trying to learn as much as possible.

Butchering is a whole other level, and you're probably going to want to have a butcher lined up to take your deer to.

I'd call your local AFGA association and see if they have anyone who'd be interested in teaching a new hunter. Or there's the hunting partner thread on here.