There have been volumes written about each.
Deer hunting brings in more money spent than all of the college sporting events, put together.
We are blessed with technology now like youtube that can be a resource for about anything. The best way to get a good start though is to have a mentor. An experienced hunter can really make the difference in being sucessful, or if doing it the old fashioned way, learning from your mistakes like I did.
Getting somebody to take you to their honey hole is really difficult, unless your really close buddy's
Looking at a track in the dirt, with your own eyes, and an experienced eye telling you what the track is and what its doing, is hands down better than looking at a picture or a video. Hell, I look at the drawings they put on the internet, and they don't look like anything that I see.
First thing that I advise is to study animal anatomy. A hunters first priority is to make sure they can make a clean kill without undue suffering by the animal.
The heart/lung area of a deer is right behind and slightly behind the front legs, about mid way up. Its a 9" kill zone. Put the proper bullet in that zone, and it will fall within 50 yds or less.
Death comes from blood loss to the brain, or spinal injury, which brings up the next area that some hunters use. Its the neck or upper shoulder shot. The kill zone is about 3" in that shot. If its good they drop in their tracks.
Hunters need to know how to blood trail, as well as know what to do if a bad shot occurs. How the animal reacts when shot, gives a good idea where the bullet hit.
For whatever reason, gut shot deer head for lower ground looking for water. Marginal shots in the lungs will typically make a deer go uphill. Why they do this, I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that helping friends track their wounded deer, this situation almost always happens.
EXCEPT if you hunt where I do, and there is nothing between me and the North Pole but a barbed wife fence. Flat as a board. Then the blood trailing comes into play. Dark red blood, is an artery, and the deer isn't far off, or orange frothy blood points to a lung shot. The deer isn't far off either. I've spent up to 10 hours looking for wounded deer. I've lost one.
Pigs are a special challenge, as with any hunting pressure at all, they are pretty much nocturnal. More to come on that.
Varmints like coyotes and bobcats, are are really fun, and present challenges of their own. More to come on that as well. Its late, and I have to get up early. Post up any more questions, and I'll try to answer them, or give you a link to some place that can.
