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Message
Newbie Hunting Questions
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:14 am
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:14 am
I will be public land hunting this year, and have taken a hunters safety course, as well as a free new deer hunter course put on by NC's Wildlife department. I picked up a 6.5 Creedmoor Ruger American Predator and a Leupold 3.5-10x scope, getting a good not great climbing tree stand (250-350 is budget), and have plenty of outdoors and climbing gear. Season starts where I'm at in November, but I plan on hiking out there late October and looking for things like White Oaks and other "signs". I had a couple of questions.
1. Should I pick up a sled?
2. Should I establish a relationship with a deer processor before I even go hunting, in-case I get lucky and actually shoot one?
3. What yardage is everyone zeroing to?
4. Anything else I should take into account?
I am assuming I probably won't kill anything this year, as I'm new and in all probability suck at this. I'm a decent shot and will use a good ammo to ethically put any deer down. I have some camo and orange, but given I'll be anywhere from 15-20 feet up, I'm not sure how much that matters.
1. Should I pick up a sled?
2. Should I establish a relationship with a deer processor before I even go hunting, in-case I get lucky and actually shoot one?
3. What yardage is everyone zeroing to?
4. Anything else I should take into account?
I am assuming I probably won't kill anything this year, as I'm new and in all probability suck at this. I'm a decent shot and will use a good ammo to ethically put any deer down. I have some camo and orange, but given I'll be anywhere from 15-20 feet up, I'm not sure how much that matters.
14
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:31 am to Jcorye1
quote:
1. Should I pick up a sled?
You could. Or if you could watch a few YT videos on how to field dress a deer and pack it out in a backpack. Much easier.
quote:
2. Should I establish a relationship with a deer processor before I even go hunting, in-case I get lucky and actually shoot one?
No need. They will take your meat and money with no relationship
quote:
3. What yardage is everyone zeroing to?
No help here. I don't gun hunt.
quote:
4. Anything else I should take into account?
Know what you are getting into with public land. Know that if you find a spot that looks awesome, someone else also knows about it. You will likely have other hunters around.
Download a mapping app (OnX, Huntstand, etc). It's a must for public land. Mark everything. Rubs, scrapes, trails, other stands, etc. You will notice patterns.
Find natural edges in the landscape. Creek bordering a thicket. Thicket bordering a pine stand, etc.
Also, please get a harness and be tethered 100% of the time you are climbing and sitting. Practice with your climber.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:32 am to Jcorye1
quote:
1. Should I pick up a sled?
A good game cart is worth its weight in gold when you have to use one
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:37 am to Jcorye1
1. Should I pick up a sled?
No. Unless you’re hunting in snow or dragging all down hill.
You can get a game cart on 2 wheels, but best way to pack out deer using non-ATV is to either debone or quarter in field and pack out on back; need to check NC regs to see if that’s allowed.
2. Should I establish a relationship with a deer processor before I even go hunting, in-case I get lucky and actually shoot one?
As a newbie, just do some Google searches near you for good reviews. Need to learn to process your own deer after learning to debone/field dress.
3. What yardage is everyone zeroing to?
For public woods hunting, 100 yards.
4. Anything else I should take into account?
Reach out to BHA, they’ll hook you up with seasoned public land hunters in NC to show you the ropes.
Learning how to process / field dess game BEFORE hunting as well as ensuring you SHOOT your rifle at multiple ranges to know where it impacts are way more important than the actual hunting part…that comes with experience.
North Carolina
No. Unless you’re hunting in snow or dragging all down hill.
You can get a game cart on 2 wheels, but best way to pack out deer using non-ATV is to either debone or quarter in field and pack out on back; need to check NC regs to see if that’s allowed.
2. Should I establish a relationship with a deer processor before I even go hunting, in-case I get lucky and actually shoot one?
As a newbie, just do some Google searches near you for good reviews. Need to learn to process your own deer after learning to debone/field dress.
3. What yardage is everyone zeroing to?
For public woods hunting, 100 yards.
4. Anything else I should take into account?
Reach out to BHA, they’ll hook you up with seasoned public land hunters in NC to show you the ropes.
Learning how to process / field dess game BEFORE hunting as well as ensuring you SHOOT your rifle at multiple ranges to know where it impacts are way more important than the actual hunting part…that comes with experience.
North Carolina
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:38 am to Salmon
quote:
Also, please get a harness and be tethered 100% of the time you are climbing and sitting. Practice with your climber.
Yep, plan on it. I used to climb in Colorado and have a good bit of training, zero plans to do anything stupid, and have a nice tree to practice on in my backyard.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:40 am to Jcorye1
quote:
I used to climb in Colorado and have a good bit of training, zero plans to do anything stupid, and have a nice tree to practice on in my backyard.
Well if you have climbing ropes and a rappel device, invest in sticks and a lock-on/saddle in the future.
Much lighter than a climber.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:42 am to HillbillyTiger
quote:
Learning how to process / field dess game BEFORE hunting as well as ensuring you SHOOT your rifle at multiple ranges to know where it impacts are way more important than the actual hunting part…that comes with experience.
Yep, luckily the class I took went over some of that, and I have a mentor/mentee hunt in early December where they will also have us process/field dress so I can get even more experience, but I'll be watching plenty of videos on it as well.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:42 am to Salmon
quote:
please get a harness and be tethered 100% of the time you are climbing and sitting. Practice with your climber
This. Practice with your climber until it's routine. Make sure you can unpack/pack it up in the dark. Hell, take it with you when you scout and practice. Have a couple headlamps in your bag. Be attached to your tether when you leave the ground. I also recommend some stabilizer straps from Thirdhand Archery that make it impossible for the bottom of the stand to fall down the tree when climbing but also when at hunting height, they cinch down to make the stand immovable. I typically don't like heights but feel 100% safe when I'm in my climber with the stabilizer straps and tethered in to my harness.
Also, if you are hunting by yourself, always tell someone the general vicinity where you will be or share a pin if you have cell service.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 10:49 am to Jcorye1
quote:
I picked up a 6.5 Creedmoor
Make sure when you pack your climber it sits low enough on your back not to get caught up in your manbun
And be sure to wear your hunters pink
Joking Baw. Good luck
This post was edited on 10/15/25 at 10:50 am
Posted on 10/15/25 at 11:05 am to Jcorye1
quote:
getting a good not great climbing tree stand (250-350 is budget
You could get a Summit Viper or Openshot for that, just make sure it's the aluminum one. I hunted with those two for 15 years before I switched to saddle hunting.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 11:11 am to Jcorye1
Rule #1: You'll always be a newbie. You can hunt for 40+ years and still be surprised by these critters or learn something new. I've hunted long enough to know I don't know enough.
A couple things I do know:
Get a Thermacell. Best piece of hunting equipment save your rifle/bow.
Deer are less expensive than women.
A couple things I do know:
Get a Thermacell. Best piece of hunting equipment save your rifle/bow.
Deer are less expensive than women.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 11:45 am to Jcorye1
quote:The proper answer for 95% of hunters is to zero your rifle at its maximum point blank range (MPBR) for the intended target (in your case, a whitetail's vitals with a 6.5 CM).
What yardage is everyone zeroing to?
It will vary slightly depending on the load, but a good rule of thumb for the tolerance limit of a whitetail's vitals is +/- 4" above/below trajectory. If you were shooting groundhogs, the allowable +/- would obviously be much smaller. Squirrels would be even smaller. If the mpbr chart says, say, 300 yards for your gun/load, then keep in mind that is an extreme limit. You can always dial it back to, say, 200 yards, but with experience and familiarity with field conditions, I personally have no desire or need to. I want maximum, maximum point blank range.
The premise is that you zero your rifle to the longest distance to where it won't rise or fall (+/-) within 4" of the bullet's trajectory. What this does in real world situations is it allows you to take guess work out of the trajectory all the way from point blank range, to maximum range. In the real world, and even more especially with a beginning hunter (on public land no less), when an 8 point is cruising through an oak flat out through the woods, you don't have all the time in the world to think about holdover and trajectory charts. You barely have time to think about much at all other than if you're going to die from cardiac arrest. You need to be focused on one thing: verifying your target and sending an ethical shot cleanly and safely downrange.
Let's say your maximum range for your caliber and load is from 0 to 280 yards, then you have taken all of the guesswork out of it. You simply point and shoot, because most of the time, especially on public, that's all you have time for. Ideally this MPBR would be verified on bags out to 280, but at least make sure you're close to what trajectory charts show to the longest shot available at your range.
For example: I almost exclusively shoot a 308 Win. out of Ruger American 95% of my hunts with the same loads. I don't like to change it up once I find an effective, accurate, precise and deadly setup. I have many other rifles I've semi-retired that I used exclusively too, and will this one at some point, maybe. My MPBR is set to 285 yards and that is verified before every season on bags at the bench. I have opportunities for much longer shots (and oftentimes take them but they're in open food plot scenarios where I have time to dope the scope), but what that does is give me the ability to point and shoot from, at the very least, 0 to 275 yards and only focus on the shot. I do not miss deer very often from 275 yards or less unless my equipment is faulty or I'm in an unfamiliar/ uncomfortable position.
That is how 9/10 hunting rifles are supposed to be setup. If you go zeroing your scope for arbitrary 50/75/100/175 yard zeroes, then you throw your ballistic chart into all sorts of upheaval and have to start guessing. That's fine for seasoned shooters with heavy experience with a round/gun, shooting technique, or specific applications, but for the average Joe hunting the southern deer woods (again, 95% of us), there's zero need for all of that. Zero for the MPBR and then worry about doping once you're out past that large chunk of yardage that accounts for 95% of southern deer woods shots. One thing I've learned over the years is the profound amount of your average whitetail hunters who have absolutely dismal riflemanship, and even worse working knowledge of it when paring it with practical use in the field.
Here's a short, concise article on ChuckHawks.com about it. There are several articles on chuckhawks.com on MPBR (and much, much more, for that matter) chuckhawks.com
quote:
4. Anything else I should take into account?
quote:
I will be public land hunting this year
This post was edited on 10/15/25 at 11:47 am
Posted on 10/15/25 at 11:57 am to Jcorye1
Site your rifle in zero or 1" high at 100 yds. With the rifle you are using you will be good to go from 50-200 yds with no adjustment.
Like others said. Pack the deer out and process yourself. More rewarding and you know the animal was handled with the respect it deserves. Not mixed with other deer or allowed to get too warm.
That being said get a decent skinning knife and I carry a folding saw from home depot that takes sawzall blades for cutting throgh bones. I have a saw made for hunting but I found the teeth were too large and it was a pain vs. a metal blade.
Hunt the wind and buy good boots and socks.
Like others said. Pack the deer out and process yourself. More rewarding and you know the animal was handled with the respect it deserves. Not mixed with other deer or allowed to get too warm.
That being said get a decent skinning knife and I carry a folding saw from home depot that takes sawzall blades for cutting throgh bones. I have a saw made for hunting but I found the teeth were too large and it was a pain vs. a metal blade.
Hunt the wind and buy good boots and socks.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 12:33 pm to Sparty3131
quote:
Hunt the wind
"This looks like a great spot"..... depending on which way the wind is blowing.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 12:38 pm to Sparty3131
Recommend getting a durable pack as well.
OB recommended the eberlestock X2 and I got one.
Best decision i have ever made
OB recommended the eberlestock X2 and I got one.
Best decision i have ever made
Posted on 10/15/25 at 12:40 pm to Jcorye1
My advice would be to be comfortable being kinda lost, the more you venture, the better the sign you will find. I am not familiar with your woods, but I have always zeroed in by being about 1/2 high at 100 or so. I just dont shoot much further than that.
And as far as care of meat after, be able to field dress a deer, even if you do it wrong, it will get done. I have been having my teens field dress, and while painful to watch, it gets things done.
And as far as care of meat after, be able to field dress a deer, even if you do it wrong, it will get done. I have been having my teens field dress, and while painful to watch, it gets things done.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 1:09 pm to Sparty3131
quote:Yeah, so after punching in some charts and little power googling, no. Deciding on what you're going to zero your rifle at is the most important decision you can make at this point in your hunting career, OPer, not skinning knives and deer stands. It's that big of a deal. Choosing poorly nullifies any of the other decisions - absolutely new and inexperienced fellow rifle hunter.
Site your rifle in zero or 1" high at 100 yds. With the rifle you are using you will be good to go from 50-200 yds with no adjustment.
Here's a good little article on a real world application of what you will face in the field, and why MPBR zeroing is so deadly effective both literally, and psychologically. gunsmithing journal
TLDR, scroll to the bold part: a 275-300 yard zero is your starting point when looking at your on the ground applications and comparing to ballistics charts. One inch high at 100 yards, and you've very effectively cut your effective range by a 3rd without any logical reason to do so. Using a standard 143 grain load, you've already handicapped yourself even more than is needed for a new rifle hunter by using a *checks notes* roughly 158 yard zero. What if that buck trailing a doe at daylight was 248 yards instead of 200? If so, you're going to need luck, a laser range finder, and plenty of time on your side to dope the shot, especially as beginning new hunter, because using the good ol' "1 inch high at 100 yards" trope for a standard 143 grain 6.5 CM means you're already out of the allowable error of the deer's kill zone at 240 yards.
Any error, and I do mean any, and you've got a missed buck, or even worse, a gutshot wounded buck of a lifetime because you handicapped yourself.
Trying to shoot one at 275 yards with that zero? If you aim at his vitals you won't even sniff the hair on his belly because you're already nearing an 8" drop while falling to pieces with the adrenaline and wondering if you're aiming high enough. The odds are not on your side, both inherently and also because of self-inflicted poor decisions from bad advice. 275 yard shots are not some unicorn scenario in a lifetime of hunting whitetail in the south. I take those shots and more every year, and they die when I do because I'm focused on the intangibles like breathing and trigger discipline - not trying to hold an ear tip's worth over his back. You really want to take that added risk of error when you didn't have to? I don't.
Looking at the data, and some expertly written articles, here's your zero, but again, good riflemanship is good conservation and you owe your quarry that responsibility, so verify on the range and dial in your rifle and round for real, but with a hunting round that your rifle can group well, a zero of 275 - 300 yards is standard, logical, and ethical.
You might wind up being at 280, but that's better than being incapable of taking a shot at 280, because if you zero for 150-160 yards with that rifle you're doing just that, and making your life much harder than it needed to be when the inevitable rushed, botched scenario arises. There's no logic in it. Again, real world applications: thinking about making a great shot instead of hoping to God that you're holding over a trophy enough because he's at 260 yards broadside instead of 200 is much more preferable for most people.
Posted on 10/15/25 at 1:49 pm to mudshuvl05
You’re making this way harder than it has to be for some fella hunting PUBLIC LAND in the woods of North Carolina.
Sight in 1” high at 100 yards or just even dead on at 36 yards and he’ll be good out to 250, which at this point in the hunting journey is probably 150 yards TOO FAR for him to attempt at this stage.
Sight in 1” high at 100 yards or just even dead on at 36 yards and he’ll be good out to 250, which at this point in the hunting journey is probably 150 yards TOO FAR for him to attempt at this stage.
This post was edited on 10/15/25 at 3:34 pm
Posted on 10/15/25 at 2:35 pm to Ron Cheramie
quote:
A good game cart is worth its weight in gold
for a 100lbs in gold cost, i'd figure out how to use a red ryder wagon or some crap
Posted on 10/15/25 at 2:45 pm to Jcorye1
quote:
2. Should I establish a relationship with a deer processor before I even go hunting, in-case I get lucky and actually shoot one?
It wouldn't hurt to call one to make sure they are open and their hours of operation.
Was a big surprise two seasons ago when I pulled up, with my fully skinned and gutted deer in the back of my truck, at my long time processor to find out they had closed down between seasons. Luckily I had a friend with a hanging freezer to hold the deer until the next day.
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