I do have one friend not to far from me and we talk a lot . He is the person that showed me a few place close to me to hunt and showed me th scdnr website and map info online when I got started. He even let me hunt is private land anytime I wanted. Until he no longer owned the land. he has helped me in the ways he knew how. We have already spoken about doing some scouting together that way he can show me some things as well. He's a great guy. I met him on another hunting forum on facebook . He helped me get started when I first got into hunting. we have since became very good friends. The only problem is he gets so pumped up about hunting that when we go out together he goes one way and I go another. I just cant seem to get him just go with me and help me hunt a few times.
Thats not a mentor, thats a hunting partner. You need someone willing to start from first principles with you. Or, you need to swallow your pride and tell that fella you're just going to mirror him for a season, and promise to never hold him back in any way.
If you intend to hunt long term, I can tell you that taking one season to not "hunt" but to learn, in great detail, about all the aspects of hunting, you'll be better off for it.
Lot's of people say that the best way to learn to do a thing is to do it. I agree, but that doesn't really work for dynamic activities. There's a million variables that will impact your success. You've got to get some fundamentals down.
You don't need to climb up in a tree and hunt and not see deer to know that you will hunt and not see deer. The only way I'd be in a tree my first year or two hunting, is to be in a tree with a real killer, watching their every move. Following someone else who doesn't know how to get deer in front of them, and what to do with them once they're there, is just as silly as sitting in a tree by yourself not seeing deer.
I'm not trying to sound negative or suck the fun out of it. I'm trying to do the opposite. Hunting is portrayed as a results oriented hobby. Don't let people or industry fool you. Most of the enjoyment of hunting, like any dynamic activity, is all of the little different aspects. Killing is just one of them. Taking the time to enjoy learning to read maps, identify hunter pressure and hunter habits and access, find places to find deer sign, finding deer sign, finding deer in the flesh, picking up the details that would lead to you having a deer in weapon range without knowing you're there, all these things are the "roses you should be stopping to smell."
Nothing will turn a hunter away faster, is buying 2000.00 worth of gear, walking out to public land, climbing a tree, and staring at their phone for a season because no deer walk by.
I was fortunate that a complete stranger took me under his wing, and showed me how to hunt. I learned all aspects at a young age, with minimal focus on the end of a hunt. The act of shooting a deer generally lasts a few seconds, to maybe a minute or two. It is a tiny part of a big ole puzzle.
Don't get in a tree.
Go find deer!