Before fully integrating yourself into this lifestyle, you must determine how your piece will fit in the greater sportsman puzzle. Figuring this out is what will determine what you need and what kind of barriers you have to overcome. Obviously your first decision is how far into the sporting world you are going to go. Are you simply interested in becoming a roadside angler making a special dinner of fish every couple of month? Will you become a fully integrated generalist trapping, hunting, and angling filling the freezer with enough meat to eat wild every meal and wearing fully sustainable fur? Likely, most of you will fall somewhere in between.
Becoming an angler opens up an entire universe to you. Fishing is more than just casting a line and drowning a worm while waiting to see your bobber move. If that's as far as you wish to take it, however, that's fine too. Depending on where you live, or how far you wish to travel, you may have the option of fishing the ocean. Will you decide to use live bait, like eels, shiners, and worms, or instead decide to use lures? Many tasty fish in fresh water are easier to catch on a fly rod. If your state allows it, you may actually be able to go after some more exotic prey like turtles and frogs. As a full generalist, you may decide to attempt bow-fishing as well. If you live near the coast, you might try going for lobster, crab, shellfish, or sea cucumbers.
If you decide to try hunting, be prepared to be overwhelmed, but keep in mind that all of the work you put into it will be worth it in the end. Deciding which prey you are after will determine what you have to get to start with. If you are looking to try a lot of different type of hunting, I would recommend starting out with a 12g shotgun just because of it's versatility. You have your typical big game hunting like moose, elk, deer, bear, and wild turkey (yes, most states list this as big game) and you have small game. Small game can be further broken up by regular small game (rabbits, hares, squirrels), furbearer (beaver, muskrat, coyote), upland game (quail, pheasant, grouse), waterfowl (ducks and geese), and other migratory birds (woodcock, snipe, rail). You can use a 12g shotgun to harvest most of these animals, just be smart about the shot you are using.
Once you've had a taste of hunting, you might decide to start specializing your style. If you spend a lot of time hunting squirrels and rabbits, you might want to invest in a combination gun. If you like to spot and stock big game over great distances, you might decide to buy a rifle. Some game in some states can be taken with handguns and/or revolvers. If you like the idea of having to get really close to your prey you might try a compound bow. If you really like challenge and tradition, you might go the route of a recurve or longbow. If you think you're dizzy now, wait until you have to sift through the hunting regulations!
Then we come to the most complex area of the outdoor sporting lifestyle: trapping. The state you trap in and the prey you are targeting will determine the types of traps you will be using. In a state like Massachusetts, you are strictly limited to cage traps with a couple of special exceptions. In states like New Hampshire and Rhode Island, you have the options of using many styles of traps, but you are strictly limited as to how you can use them. Other states you have a fair amount of freedom to choose the types and sets you can make.
The more complicated part comes next, as you must use all of your knowledge of wood and water lore, traps, baits, and biology to get an animal who might have hundreds of yards or more home-range, to step on 3 square inches. I will tell you from personal experience, it's even more difficult to keep yourself from checking your traps every hour. If you do that, however, you are likely to scare off any animals that might have desired to come to your sets. Once you've caught your first animal, and processed it, you'll be hooked. It's a ton of work, but it's also extremely fulfilling.
Now that you've contemplated these decisions, you'll be ready to take the next step. You may decide that you only want to try fishing right now, but that doesn't mean you've closed the door on trapping forever. However, before you actually take to the field, forest, or stream, you're going to need to think ahead about some things. Those things, however, are a topic for another, upcoming, article. For now, take the time to decide what things you are interested in doing right now.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. "The Tough Choices" has been sponsored by the Hartnett Family.
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