New to hunting

If you make a search for former threads that deal with beginner rifles, calibers, makes, models...there are a whole bunch of them!!! They will cover every possible question you want to ask and usually give reasons for their recommendations. You will find them here in the hunting section as well as "The Hide" section. I will guarantee that it will give you a headache, but it is all great info. The people in this forum arenever at a loss for great info, when asked for or not. :)

Good luck in your new venture. I have been at it for about 58 odd years and it never gets old (oh God, did I really say that? *sigh*), but you never stop learning. Just be safe and stay healthy!

PS - If you want to find a deer crossing, just click on the web site in my signature area and have a good laugh!
 
You can use your .22 for plinking and practicing to sharpen your basic skills. I use a .22 rifle that feels very similar to my centerfire rifles to practice my shooting from different positions such as offhand, sitting, kneeling, using shooting sticks, etc. It’s a good economical way to refine your technique.

The .257 Roberts is a fine cartridge and will take care of nearly everything you want to hunt here.
An option to consider: If you learned to reload, the .257 Roberts would be no more expensive to shoot than any other round.
I got started when a friend offered to instruct me and allowed me to use his equipment. I only had to furnish my own dies and components. Reloading was the single most useful shooting skill I learned. Keep it in mind for later.

My personal favorite is the .223, especially in my bolt actions. It’s probably the most economical centerfire and accurate with low recoil. It may be a good choice for a starter centerfire and you can move up to the .257 when you need to.
The least expensive cartridges are generally the most common.

I would suggest you find friends and acquaintances who own rifles you may be interested in and ask if they will let you try theirs before you buy one.
 
You probably DON'T NEED a compass now.

You DO NEED to learn to use one NOW if you don't already have it mastered.

When you do need it, it's kinda late to learn it. Learning it will make all the rest of your navigating skills sharper.

If you've got it down pat already, don't worry about it.

If you aren't sure you know what you don't know, get out one of those maps you printed out. Sitting there at home look at those maps for something specific on there you want to see, a peak, a cliff, a possible spring or old building on public ground. A possible hot spot for game, and time you know where the water is, is a good spot to look for game.

Now pick where you are going to park and figure the best way to travel from vehicle to the stuff you want to see.

If there is no path how are you going to know the direction you are traveling? How far did you walk? Is this the ravine you want to walk up?

You may as well now get used to figuring out how to keep track of these things while you are in small, familiar areas.

The maps will have a scale = a mile is this long on the map but how long is it walking? A mile is little over 5000 feet, a step is probably a little less than three but call it three. 1666 steps is about a mile, 833 a half mile.

"How the heck do I get anything done and count all those steps?" Look at your watch when you start and see how long it takes to walk a 100 steps. Do that a few times and you will build the confidence to take a good guess how far you went in a set time. Clue, half as far walking off the path as walking down the road.

All this forces you to pay close attention to the surroundings you pass through. Pay close attention, you learn more and you get more out of every experience.

I've never been lost but I've sure walked the long way around to get home before.
 
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Pay attention to the mountain ranges and the sun. The mountains can help you with general direction and, in worse case, the sun can be used as a makeshift compass using a stick poked into the ground and a couple of pebbles to track its movement by using the shadow the stick casts.

National Forest maps are inexpensive and very helpful in not only determining your position but finding areas that might hold game.

I put a small bag together with compass, knife, fire starter, etc that I toss into my day pack.

One of my favorite movie lines is from The Mountain Men – “I’ve never been lost but I’ve been pretty darn confused for a day or two”.
 
The Hunter's "Eye" !!!

I will definitely look into some hunters ed courses.
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This is just another step, in your hunting learning curve. One thing that is hard for me to explain but consciously and subconsciously you will start to "think" like a hunter. You will start to notice and understand things that you didn't see before. I guess it's our primitive mind that starts working again. My wife can now spot deer movement better or sooner than I. Just walking a trail, she commented to me that Turkeys were using a particular tree off the trail, as a roost. As I said, it's hard to explain and it will happen. …. :)

By the way, when you get your Certificate, it will be honored is other sates where you might want to go hunting. Looks like Arizona's minimum age is much lower that ours and so be it. …. :)

Be Safe !!!
 
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Maybe a good Orienteering course might help; especially if you start to wander away from your comfort zone. That teaches more than just how to use a compass
 
I've started to put together a list of gear that I would need in the field. I honestly don't know exactly where I'm gonna be hunting yet. I'm just looking to get my license and finish this safety course for the time being. I really just want to get out there. I've always been a more hands on, learn on the job type person. Will just spending time out there and scouting alone help me learn or is there something I need to know that would better guide me?

Also, I'd like to take a brief pause from this hunting thread, because I have a few firearm questions. Question #1: I was shooting my air rifle (that has a metal barrel) in the rain. I got worried about rusting so I wiped it dry, put a couple drops of Hoppes #9 on the barrel and spread it out with an old rag, will that be enough to prevent rusting?

Question #2: How can you tell if a scope is still okay to use? The old .22 I acquired came with a 4x15 "Revelation" scope from the 80s I think. Can I still use this scope or should I just go to walmart and pick up a cheap rimfire scope like a Tasco 4x15? I'm not really looking to spend too much on a scope (Unless I should invest in a better optic?) Please let me know.

Question #3: I know this is somewhat controversial, and it may just be my immature or kid side because I'm 17, but I often take my .22 rifle out at my house just to work the bolt (no dry fire) and look down the sights. I always thought I could gain better familiarity with the rifle. Should I only do this at the range or is it okay to do it at home?
 
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1, yes that is fine
2, if you can hit what you want to shoot, EVERYTHING is ok
3, if I saw my son doing it around the house, I'd tell him to put that away.

If you saw your neighborhood friend doing that when you walked in his house, what would you tell him? Any thing?
 
Question #1: I was shooting my air rifle (that has a metal barrel) in the rain. I got worried about rusting so I wiped it dry, put a couple drops of Hoppes #9 on the barrel and spread it out with an old rag, will that be enough to prevent rusting?

Question #2: How can you tell if a scope is still okay to use? The old .22 I acquired came with a 4x15 "Revelation" scope from the 80s I think. Can I still use this scope or should I just go to walmart and pick up a cheap rimfire scope like a Tasco 4x15? I'm not really looking to spend too much on a scope (Unless I should invest in a better optic?) Please let me know.

Question #3: I know this is somewhat controversial, and it may just be my immature or kid side because I'm 17, but I often take my .22 rifle out at my house just to work the bolt (no dry fire) and look down the sights. I always thought I could gain better familiarity with the rifle. Should I only do this at the range or is it okay to do it at home?
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1. There are better options than Hoppes #9 (as a protectant). Breakfree CLP is about as good as anything on the market and it is pretty cheap. It does double duty as cleaner and lubricant.
2. You can spend LOTS of money on scopes. Good glass is important but you don't have to buy the absolute best. Don't be tempted to cheapen out and buy the lowest either. I refuse to own ANYTHING Tasco. You can do much better. Don't buy BSA, Barska, NCStar or even Simmons (Simmons can be "iffy"). You can get a perfectly good Bushnell rimfire scope for about $70 or a Nikon for about $100. As to magnification, nothing over 9X. You'll probably use 4x 99% of the time.
3. Learn the 4 rules of firearm handling. First rule is ALWAYS treat every firearm as if it were loaded. Second rule is never point the barrel at anything you don't intend to shoot. With those two rules firmly in mind, what you are describing is quite reasonable. Sit in your room and practice shouldering and aiming. However, remember the old adage - "Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect". Meaning, if you practice something using bad form over and over again all you'll accomplish is to reinforce bad form.
 
Hoppes 9 is not a rust preventative. It’s a powder solvent. Better to use something made to fight rust such as Breakfree CLP. A bottle of that will last a long time.

What kind of .22 rifle do you have?

I would take the rifle out and shoot some targets with it. Make sure the scope is properly zeroed and make sure it stays there. You may have to adjust the zero. I would zero for 50 yd to start. You can always change it later.
If the scope works well and you can see a good image through it, there’s no sense in replacing it simply because it’s older than you are. Sometimes older stuff is better quality than modern items.

Buying cheap optics or cheap firearms is false economy because you won’t be satisfied later and will feel the need to replace it so it will be money wasted. Better to do a bit of research on the items and put off buying until you can afford something you won’t be dissatisfied with later. You’ll be money ahead doing that.

Working a bolt is pretty simple exercise and doesn’t require a whole lot of practice. In my opinion, you would be better off taking it out in the desert or to the range for actual live fire practice. .22 ammo is cheap.
When you practice, you are conditioning your brain to recognize a specific sight picture that produces the desired result when you pull the trigger. In time, it will become an automatic reflex. Take your time and don’t try to rush. Speed will come automatically as your brain becomes conditioned.
Use a stable rest and a small bullseye. The smaller your target, the more precise your shooting will be. You can make your own targets with a felt pen.

Try different brands of ammo until you find which brand your rifle shoots best. Different brands will normally produce different results and different points of impact.
In my .22 rifles, I’ve found that CCI Blazer and CCI Standard Velocity is most consistent ammo. Blazer is less expensive so I would try it first.
 
Question #1: I was shooting my air rifle (that has a metal barrel) in the rain. I got worried about rusting so I wiped it dry, put a couple drops of Hoppes #9 on the barrel and spread it out with an old rag, will that be enough to prevent rusting?

Question #2: How can you tell if a scope is still okay to use? The old .22 I acquired came with a 4x15 "Revelation" scope from the 80s I think. Can I still use this scope or should I just go to walmart and pick up a cheap rimfire scope like a Tasco 4x15? I'm not really looking to spend too much on a scope (Unless I should invest in a better optic?) Please let me know.

Question #3: I know this is somewhat controversial, and it may just be my immature or kid side because I'm 17, but I often take my .22 rifle out at my house just to work the bolt (no dry fire) and look down the sights. I always thought I could gain better familiarity with the rifle. Should I only do this at the range or is it okay to do it at home?
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1. Hoppes is ok. CLP works. Oil is best. Light gun oil is easy to apply and remove when needed.

2. If you can see through the old scope and you can hit the target with decent groups, then there is no reason to replace it. If you can't see the target, or if groups are not good and you have determined it is not the rifle or the shooter, then a new scope is in order. As mentioned above, avoid the cheap ones. You may not find anything better than what you have at Walmart.

3. The vast majority of firearms incidents around here occur in the home. People become complacent and get loose on the firearm handling safety rules. If you practice anything at home, triple check for no ammunition in the gun. Then check again. Don't have ammunition in the same room when practicing, it stops inadvertently loading due to curiosity. And check it again for not being loaded any time you put it down and pick it up. Don't point it at walls that could have someone on the other side, or another house. And keep your booger hook off the bang switch.
 
Thank you all for your responses. I will look into some options for scopes (Probably just a Barska 4x32, I'll figure it out), and will debate with myself whether I can have my firearm out in my house safely.

Back to hunting!

I don't understand the point of camo if people just wear blazing orange anyways. I considered putting on an old ghillie suit I have but then my dad's buddy gave me an old camo jacket he had. Fits well! Good pockets for ammo, rangefinder/binocs, map and compass.
 
Don’t waste your money on Barska, BSA or the others that were mentioned. The suggestion of Bushnell or Nikon was good advice. Personally, I prefer Nikon.
I wouldn’t buy anything until I was certain the scope you have now is no good.

Nothing wrong with wearing camo here in AZ.
 
Jack Ryan has it right. You wear camo to keep the animals from seeing you. You wear blaze orange so that other hunters will see you. Normally, the two are not mutually exclusive as orange is generally only required (or commonly used) where it is needed and doesn't interfere with the hunt. Deer are pretty much color blind. As long as the orange you are wearing doesn't fluoresce in UV light, deer will see it as grey. Squirrel hunters will wear orange when hunting in a group because you aren't trying to hide from the squirrel in that case. When squirrel hunting alone, you are trying to sneak up on them so hunters will wear camo. Quail and pheasant hunters will wear orange frequently - you are wanting the birds to flush up in front of you so wearing orange doesn't hurt. Turkey and dove hunters never wear orange because both have very keen sight.
 
Oh okay. Yeah, I was watching some Turkey hunting videos last night. They wear a lot of camo. I looked into a bushnell banner 1.5-4x32 scope and I think I'll buy it soon (Bad reviews always freak me out but there were only a couple).
The hunter safety course touched on it a little bit but, on public/state land how do people avoid cross fire. If two hunters or recreational shooters didn't know the other person was there?
 
My thoughts:

I’ve found a 2-7 power scope to be much more versatile on a rimfire, particularly if you plan to do any precision shooting.

Check parallax. Parallax on rimfire scopes is generally set for 50 yd while big game scopes are normally set for 100 yd.

A scope with an adjustable objective will work for both.
 
There's a leupold 2-7 that does look very appealing, and I'm sure the it would be a very good investment. I'll consider it. This is just me, but with all the cheap 4x15's that I have, all I really want is a wider lense, and windage/elevation knobs that click into place and hold zero.
 
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