How to Become a Hunter
Becoming a hunter opens up new potential foodways, big adventures, and a bevy of applicable skillsets.
This resource-rich article supports our ‘How to Become a Hunter’ series on Westrn Radio, which you can get wherever you listen to podcasts. You can either listen to the episode, read this article, or check out both. We’ll drop part two soon, in which we dive deeper into the specific skills that support a hunter’s ability to be safe and successful.
I am currently in Year Ten of my hunting adventure, and an adventure it surely has been. I started out hunting in yoga pants from Target, Sorel boots that leaked, and a borrowed hunting jacket from my office — which at the time was MeatEater’s home base.
Back then, I traveled out into the hunting unknown in a little white Chrysler sedan, with my brand new .308 rifle, and a near-zero idea of what I was doing. I’d never owned a gun before, and hunting was as foreign to me as the far corners of the Earth.
Fast forward a decade, I’ve spent the better part of the past month chasing elk around hills with a bugle tube and a bow. I have successfully hunted in multiple states, filled tags for multiple species, packed out multiple big game animals solo, processed dozens of game animals for myself and others, and written hundreds of articles about my time outside. I own and trained my own Boykin Spaniel to hunt birds, and I’m training two wild donkeys to pack game. I’m perhaps maybe a bit of a deep diver into things that I enjoy, if you haven’t figured it out already.
So, if anyone is equipped to tell you how to get started as a hunter, I hate to take the cake, but the cake is mine. In the timeless words of Lil Jon, let’s go.
How to Become a Hunter
The Two Tracks to Becoming a Hunter: Legal vs. Personal
There are really two tracks that I think about when navigating the maze of becoming a hunter.
The first track is what I’d call the legal track. This covers the wide range of educational requirements and hunting regulations that you need to familiarize yourself with in order to legally hunt wild game.
The second track is that of the personal track. This consists of building your outdoor skillset, your emotional skillset, your hunting tool (rifle/bow/shotgun) skillset, and your hunting skillset.
Both tracks, to me, are equally important. I think the latter track doesn’t often get talked about in the way that I experienced it as a woman who came to hunting as an adult. But from personal experience, the legal track is the more confusing track to navigate at first, and it’s obviously highly important for any hunter to stay within the boundaries of the law.
Because of this, I’ll lead with the legal track first, and address the skills track in another episode and article.
In short: Hunting is a highly regulated activity and it not only differs from state to state but on a level of defined ecosystems within each state, often called units. Hunters are generally required to complete hunters education and often an additional bowhunters education if archery is on the table. They’ll also need to develop a deep understanding of hunting regulations, boundaries, tags and licenses, and other state requirements. If hunters plan on hunting out of their own state, they’re tasked with understanding multiple sets of regulations that may highly differ from what they’re used to.
Every state manages their own separate system for hunter education, tag and license allocation, wildlife and hunting regulations, and more. Your requirements and regulations for Maryland differ greatly from requirements and regulations within Wyoming.
Your first task is finding out what name your state management agency goes by.
Here in Montana, we have Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and we colloquially call it ‘FWP’. In Colorado, you’ll need to look up Colorado Parks & Wildlife. In South Carolina, it’s South Carolina Dept. of Natural Resources. The name varies greatly, but their responsibilities in managing fish, game, and recreation generally fall under that specific roof.
Each fish and game department will have resources for you to help get you started. But I’ll do my best to give you a broad generalization of the minutiae that you can expect in the navigational process.
Hunters Education: Time to Get Certified
The first step in becoming a hunter is signing up for your state’s hunter education program. Some states may not require completion, but if you plan on hunting beyond your state at any point, you’ll absolutely need certification. Plus, it’s an amazing resource to connect with local hunters and volunteer teachers that are invested in providing mentorship.
Most courses offer the ability to do most of the course online through and attend a single field day. More than 45 states utilize hunter-ed.com to administer the online portion.
You can find your state’s requirements by clicking on the link below.
The course tends to cover a variety of topics. Here’s what Montana covers, for example:
Four main rules of firearm safety
The P.R.O.V.E. Method for Firearm Handling
Key points about landowner relations and hunting ethics
Selecting a firearm/ammo
Safe firearm handling, including trail carries, obstacle crossings, loading/unloading firearms from vehicles, handing off firearms
Basic animal identification
Shoot/don’t shoot scenarios
Shooting positions
Hunter education mainly focuses on gun safety, learning when to shoot, and awareness around the basic ethical decisions you’ll make as a hunter. Animal identification is especially important in states that have a lot of variability across big game. Being able to distinguish a mule deer from a whitetail is paramount in most Western states, and in some areas, you’ll need to be able to identify a black bear from a grizzly.
Though some states may not require the in-person field day, I suggest attending one. I went with two girlfriends, and we had a blast shooting clays, practicing safe in-field scenarios, and learning from long-time hunters.
Bowhunter Education Adds a Deeper Layer
Even if bowhunting is not on your agenda, I suggest getting your bowhunter education completed. Basic Hunter Education is more general and safety-oriented, but Bowhunter Ed tends to build on the basics of a hunting skillset. You’ll learn things like shot placement on animals, how to blood trail if an animal is wounded, outdoor preparedness, and more.
I really enjoyed my in-field day for Bowhunter Education even more than my initial Hunter Ed requirement. I see it as a great addition to your overall education to becoming a hunter, and if you do decide to pick up a bow, you’ll have your certificate finished and ready to go. (Plus, if you’re in a state with elk opportunity, most archery seasons happen during the best time of year to hunt elk. I highly recommend bowhunting elk during the rut.)
You can find your state’s requirements for bowhunter education via the link above. And most states do offer the same combo of online/field opportunity to become a bowhunter.
Learning How to Shoot at a Local Rod & Gun Club
One of the biggest walls I needed to climb in order to become a competent hunter was my lack of familiarity with firearms. With no one in my family to teach me, I turned to friends and co-workers for help. Even then, I found it intimidating. And I’m well aware that not everyone has access to friends, family, or co-workers who are avid shooters.
If you’re in that boat, I have some suggestions. Local rod and gun clubs are one of the best spots to connect with educators and instructors that are in your area. These are typically private ranges that require membership or entrance fees to shoot. If an instructor isn’t available at that club, they’ll likely know someone who offers instruction.
Some ranges might focus on shooting for personal safety, and they might not be able to accommodate shotguns or rifles, but I suggest calling the range anyway and asking where a new shooter interested in hunting might find some help. People generally love helping a potential new hunter into the space. Gun shops, archery shops, and big box stores like Sportsman’s Warehouse also should be able to point you in the right direction.
Take a Hunting-Specific Shooting Course
There are tons of shooting courses out there in the world, but not all of them apply to hunters specifically. You might have to dig, but if you want to invest more deeply in your firearms training, I suggest attending a private course developed for hunters specifically -or- the tool you’re choosing to shoot with. For example, taking a precision scoped rifle course would certainly help someone interested in shooting big game in a state like Montana, or learning how to shoot skeet with a shotgun would give a hunter the basics of shooting upland birds or waterfowl.
Various courses and organizations exist that serve different groups. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of shooting with stranger, use my resources below to connect with a community who might better serve you.
Here are a few options you can check out, in addition to doing your own research.
There are many opportunities out there, at many different price points. Keep at it and you’ll find something that works for you.
Tags vs. Licenses vs. Permits
Across the United States, the terms ‘tags’ and ‘licenses’ can be both interchangeable and confusing. Here’s how I tend to think about it.
A tag most often refers to a single animal, while a license is typically something that you carry that allows you to hunt a certain animal or area for the duration of the season.
Currently, I carry a general tag for a single elk in Montana, and I have a license to hunt upland birds for the 2025 season. But I know in a state like Texas, you buy your deer license, which comes with a number of deer tags as part of the licensing process.
The third word you might hear used interchangeably is a ‘permit’. It’s up to you to determine what each state agency means when it uses the term tag, license, or permit.
If you need help understanding the lingo, I always recommend calling the agency and asking. They’re usually skilled at educating folks in how things work, especially if you’re new to hunting or coming in to hunt from a different state.
Resident vs Non-Resident Hunting
You’re likely a resident hunter in the state that you’ve lived in for the past six months or more, though this might not be true in your state. You’ll need to look up what your state requires from you in order to be a legal ‘resident hunter.’ Residents takes priority within every state, meaning your license and tag opportunities where you live are more numerous and more affordable.
Non-resident opportunities are as big as the United States itself. Want to hunt deer in Texas? That’s pretty simple, given that you have a connection to hunt in a state with mostly private opportunities. Want to hunt caribou in Alaska? That’s a big adventure, with a lot to consider. Interested in hunting moose in Montana? You might have to put in for twenty years or more as a non-resident in order to draw the tag in a lottery.
Your best bet for becoming a hunter is within the state you call home. Look up your own state agency’s hunting information to understand how costly it will be for you to get started hunting. Then, look up a state that has an opportunity you might be interested in one day, like hunting elk in Colorado or hunting turkeys in Florida. It’s a fun exercise in starting to understand how state management can differ greatly from one place to another.
Where Can You Hunt? Private Land, Public Land, and In-State Boundaries
Understanding hunting opportunity where you are is highly dependent on understanding where your opportunities to hunt actually exist. And lack of access is one of the biggest barriers facing modern hunters. If your family owns a 300-acre private farm in whitetail deer country in Ohio, you’re probably set for private access. However, if you live in a place like Wyoming, you have millions of acres of public land in addition to potential private land that you’re able to hunt.
Public land can be state land, national forest, wilderness, or land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Some states allow hunting in state parks, while others don’t. National parks are generally off-limits for hunters, unless you’re in Alaska.
Public opportunity exists in many states, but some more than others. Texas is known as a state with low public access, but it does hold about a million acres of public opportunity. And it also offers mentored hunts on private ranches for new hunters.
Regardless of private or public land, most states delineate regions, units, zones, or boundaries that have regulations specific to those areas. Here in Montana, we have regions and units. Other states might have numbered ‘areas’ or ‘zones’. Each unit has its own regulations of what can and cannot be hunted.
I highly recommend picking up a printed copy of the regulations for the animals you wish to hunt in your state. I keep a printed copy at home, in my truck, and I download a copy to my iPhone so I can always check regulations when I cross regional or unit boundaries while hunting. I might be able to hunt a bull elk in Unit 318, but I cannot hunt a bull elk if I cross over to the 380 boundary. It’s one of the most coveted permits in the state, and you can only hunt there if you draw a permit by lottery. I’d technically be poaching and responsible for a high fine even if I accidentally crossed a boundary and killed an animal that is off-limits in that unit.
My go-to tool for understanding where I am across public, private, and state-defined boundaries is OnX Hunt.
It’s an app that allows me to look up where I stand and delineates all of the boundaries for me. It links out to regulations if I’m in service, and I’m able to download maps for the many times that I’m out of service. I buy the Elite package, and it enables me to turn on OnX for any state that I’m traveling through. Beyond hunting, I use it for camping, travel, hiking, and recreation nationwide. It’s an invaluable tool for hunters, especially in states with a lot of public access.
Other great mapping tools include GOHUNT, Basemap, and Huntstand. Huntstand is a really great tool aimed more at private land hunters in the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeastern parts of the U.S.
General Units vs. Limited Draw
I brought this up, and now I must explain it. Across many states, there are hunting opportunities that are only accessed through a lottery drawing. This means that many hunters will apply year after year for a specific hunting tag or permit, and it may take a decade or more to ‘draw’ that particular tag.
This applies to special tags like mountain goat, bighorn sheep, or moose here in Montana. But it can also apply to limited opportunities within particular units for animals like mule deer, elk, or whitetails.
Essentially, you play the lottery for a specific hunt. And like most lotteries, you don’t win very often. But you can play the odds.
My favorite tool for better understanding draw opportunities is GOHUNT Insider.
I mentioned that it also has an excellent mapping tool for hunters. But, my favorite use for GOHUNT is its incredible Insider platform. Using GOHUNT’s filters, you can determine what hunts you might want to apply for, both in the short term and the long term. You can develop plans, build adventures, and keep working towards your aspirations, year after year.
I’ll mention that I’m not paid or affiliate-connected to any of these platforms. I just actually believe in what they do, because I’ve used them myself. I recommend them because they work, and if I can figure out how to use them, anyone can. Promise.
Nonprofit & Agency Mentorship
If this all feels really overwhelming, it should. It’s a lot to digest. It makes a lot more sense when you’re in motion rather than reading a list of convoluted terms and regulatory advice that lacks specificity because every state is different, and etcetera and etcetera and oh my lord, is it all too much?!
No! I promise you, there are resources that can help you navigate all of this! Here are a few resources that I freakin’ love for connecting folks to the hunting community.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA): You probably have a BHA chapter in your state, and BHA’s grassroots community is what it’s all about. BHA focuses on public land advocacy, but its community is really vital to connecting hunters to opportunities locally and beyond. Reach out to your local chapter and connect with a community-oriented group of hunters. This is how I connected with multiple hunting partners back in 2015 — my first year as a hunter.
BHA also has multiple university-based clubs! If you’re a college student, see if your school has a BHA Collegiate Club here.
Becoming an Outdoorswoman (BOW): Multiple state agencies use the BOW program to develop specific and safe outlets for women to learn how to hunt. Look up ‘Becoming an Outdoorswoman’ in your state to see if it offers a program. Check out what Montana offers through BOW here.
Queers & Camo: Co-founded by our own Kestrel Keller, Queers & Camo offers a unique opportunity for LGBTQIA+ hunters to find mentorship and community in both online presence and in-person events on the East Coast (for now). Connect with Q&C through their Instagram.
Kinfolk Hunting Collective: A New York-based hunting community open to all, but with a special emphasis on creating a welcoming atmosphere for anyone who feels outside of the mainstream hunting culture.
Hunters of Color (HOC): HOC offers a variety of opportunities for BIPOC folks, and its impact on mentoring, educating, and offering community for BIPOC individuals can’t be understated.
Boone & Crockett: B&C offers free or low-cost opportunities for women, youth, and college students to come to Montana and learn how to hunt sustainably. Check out their classes here.
Perhaps I’ll do a separate post that compiles a ton of these specific resources soon…TBD! Lmk if you’re interested in that in the comments below. Alternatively, if you know of a resource I haven’t included, please add it in a comment!
Educational Programs & Guided Hunts
You’d think I’d have exhausted all my resources by now, but I absolutely have not. Last but not least in the first part of my resource guide comes the best sort of hand-holding of all: In-field educational and guided opportunities.
If figuring out your own logistics isn’t your best skillset, the best place to get started as a hunter might be through a hunting professional that takes you into the field, on a high success sort of hunt, and then takes you through the process of what happens after an animal is tagged. This is the most expensive route, but it’s also the most in-depth.
My personal favorite course is From Field to Table, led by my friend Greg Ray and his team. I wrote a review of one of Ray’s Texas courses in my GearJunkie days, and I highly recommend reading it for a full understanding of these courses. A few courses are currently open, and hog hunting is a blast. Yes, I think you should go.
Another option is paying for a guided hunt. Outfitters often offer a varied list of opportunities, some being more accessible than others. Decide what you want to hunt, what level of adventure you’re in for, and you can research outfitters individually or be a genius and reach out to the state outfitter association for potential recommendations.
Hunt prices can range drastically, so don’t be discouraged if one outfit only offers $5000 deer hunts. Other outfits might offer entry-level hunts for whitetail does or cow elk at a much lower cost.
There are other opportunities that might exist in your area that seem too good to be true, but in the best sort of way. One such hunt is managed by the AMB West Hunting Program, an elk hunting opportunity near Livingston, Mont. that offers free guided hunts to the public on a lottery system. My friend Elise killed a beautiful bull elk on that hunt, and it was quite an experience.
Final Thought? Your First Hunt is The Hunt to Get Started
The nature of becoming a hunter starts with being curious about the process. And this is by no means an exhaustive list of how to get started. Don’t forget to listen to the accompanying podcast that supports this article wherever you get your pods, and keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter in the series.
In the second installation of our ‘How to Become a Hunter’ series, I’ll go more in-depth into building skillsets, choosing the right tools for the job, developing your outdoors skills, and more.
But for now, I hope this helps you — prospective new hunter — in the first step in donning camo and heading into the Great Wide Open where so many adventures and great meals await.
As ever, please comment and ask questions, add relevant info, or call me out on my BS. Lord knows I have plenty of it to go around.
Pieces like this would have been so helpful to me when I first started hunting 9 years ago - entirely adult-onset, self-taught, non-guided, public-land-only (so far) hunter over here ✋ Now, I'm trying to teach myself to elk hunt after moving to Wyoming 4 years back, and hoping my 3rd hunt season for them is the one that seals the deal. Thanks for putting out thoughtful and useful pieces, I will definitely share this with any other women, or anyone for that matter, who ask me about learning to hunt (not an uncommon occurrence)!
This will be my second season deer hunting, and hopefully, I will fill a tag this year. I went to a hunter safety field day event last year and it was a hilarious educational experience. Most of the room was filled with 9-12 year old boys. The instructors were all men my grandfather's age. The shoot/don't shoot situations had me in stitches, because the boys would singsong "don't shooooot" sadly in their small country voices.
The instructors would call on different members of the class to read aloud from the book. Some of the boys were struggling to read aloud, which is common for 5th graders. However, they did not struggle to shoot clays. It was an impressive display.