So you'd like to go hunting? Be a hunter, maybe? You've never gone hunting but it looks like something you'd like to try?

Well, good. Hunting is a lifetime pursuit with many personal rewards, the least of which is shooting something.

As a hunter, you'll join an ancient ritual of the human race. And you'll belong to one of America's most distinguished wildlife conservation fraternities, with a record of wildlife achievements unmatched over the past century.

There's only one problem: Becoming a hunter these days is more difficult and demanding than at any time in America's history. For example, there are more hunting laws to know and fewer places to hunt.

But you can be a hunter — if you want. This is America.

First steps? Learn and practice firearm safety. Take the DNR's firearms safety training course.

Know the rules of hunting, the written laws and the unwritten ones. Being a hunter is more than simply buying a license and carrying a firearm. A hunter is also responsible for the birds or animals being hunted. If you kill a bird or animal, it is your responsibility to not waste its life. This means you must be willing to field dress your downed game.

Field dress is a nice word for gutting or butchering the carcass and caring for the meat until it reaches the table.

If you're not going to eat it, don't shoot it. That was one of my father's rules when I was a teenager wanting to be a hunter.

I am a hunter today because my father was. Hunting traditionally was passed on from generation to generation by parents or relatives or family friends.

If you have someone who will be your hunting mentor, it's the best path to becoming a hunter.

Don't know anybody?

OK, we'll take a different path. You'll begin as a squirrel hunter.

Minnesota has an abundance of public woodlands open to hunting and full of fox and gray squirrels.

You already know gun safety, you know when the squirrel season opens, you've found a state forest to hunt and you've read about skinning squirrels and caring for the meat (it tastes like chicken, really).

Shortly after sunrise, you will quietly enter the woods, walking a trail, perhaps. You are armed with a .22 rifle and you've practiced your marksmanship. Your goal is to hunt for squirrels with your eyes and ears and to stalk close enough (less than 30 yards or so) to take a shot. Your aim is at the squirrel's head or upper body. You owe it to yourself and the squirrel to get a quick, clean kill.

Sounds easy? Yes and no. Squirrels are great teachers. The greatest lessons you'll learn include both humility and jubilation. You'll also discover something else called anticipation. It happens when you enter the woods.

It happens again when you see or hear a squirrel and anticipate the stalk. And your heart will begin to stir like the hearts of hunters through the ages.

Squirrel hunting will lead you into a new world of nature. You'll hear sounds and see other critters you've never seen before. You'll hear squirrels chatter, and soon you'll want to imitate their sounds.

You'll see a squirrel hopping on the ground and you'll begin a stealthy stalk and you'll try to melt into the woods to be one with the woods and to play the role of predator not unlike the fox or owl.

So begin your nimrod days this fall with squirrels. In time, you will graduate to stalking deer, calling bull elk, tossing decoys for ducks and walking behind a good dog for pheasants.

You will realize the wildlife you hunt needs your dedication to its cause.

You will join conservation organizations, such as Pheasants Forever or Ducks Unlimited or the Minnesota Waterfowl Association or the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association.

You will understand that the future of wildlife depends on what we give, not what we take.

And you will call yourself a hunter. And be proud of it.

Ron Schara • ron@mnbound.com