A comprehensive small-game hunting guide , perfect for hunters ranging from first-time novices to seasoned experts, with photography by renowned outdoor photographer John Hafner Steven Rinella was raised in a hunting family and has been pursuing wild game his entire life. In this first-ever complete guide to hunting—from hunting wild game to butchering and cooking it—the host of the popular hunting show MeatEater shares his own expertise with us, and imparts strategies and tactics from many of the most experienced hunters in the United States as well.   This invaluable book includes • recommendations on what equipment you will need—and what you can do without—from footwear to cutlery to camping gear to weapons • basic and advanced hunting strategies for all North American small game, including drive techniques, solo and group hunting, ambush hunting, the use of hunting dogs, and techniques for decoying and calling • how to find hunting locations, on both public and private land; how to locate areas that other hunters aren’t using; and how to make competition work in your favor • detailed sections on furred small game, upland birds, and waterfowl, covering the biology and best hunting methods for a total of thirty small game species  • comprehensive information about hunting wild turkeys in both the spring and fall seasons • how to master the arts of wingshooting and rifle marksmanship, and detailed information about shot placement, ammunition selection, and field maintenance of firearms and archery equipment • instructions on how to field dress and butcher your own small game animals for a variety of preparations • techniques and recipes for both indoor and outdoor wild game cooking In addition to being an expert chef known for working with wild game,  Steven Rinella  is an outdoorsman, writer, and television and podcast personality with an exceptional ability to communicate the hunting lifestyle to a wide variety of audiences. The host of the television show and podcast  MeatEater,  he is also the author of two volumes of  The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game;   Meat Eater: Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter ;  American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon;  and  The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine . His writing has appeared in many publications, including  Outside, Field & Stream, The New Yorker, Glamour, The New York Times, Men’s Journal, Salon, O: The Oprah Magazine, Bowhunter,  and the anthologies  Best American Travel Writing  and  Best Food Writing. Chapter 1 Gear To kick off the gear section, I’ll refer to one of my own passages from Volume 1 of The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: “Gear is like booze. Once you get older, you realize that quality should be regarded more highly than quantity.” That basic sentiment holds true for the small game hunter—­save your money and focus on getting yourself into a kit of quality gear rather than cutting corners by buying a bunch of subpar junk that brings you lots of frustration and not much game meat. But I’m happy to say that the hunter can equip himself or herself for a generalist approach to small game for a lot less money than it takes to get rigged up for a generalist approach to big game. The firearms, ammunition, and archery gear for small game are generally cheaper than those intended for big game, and the demands on clothing, backpacks, and cutlery are less severe. The walks tend to be shorter, the animals are smaller, and prime locations are usually a little bit closer to home. In certain families, equipping a new small game hunter doesn’t cost a dime. When I was a kid, I hunted small game successfully for years without ever touching a new piece of gear. I wore hand-­me-­down clothes and shot hand-­me-­down guns. I longed for a brand-­spickety-­new left-­handed semi-­auto .22, yet I had to settle for an old right-­handed bolt-­action rifle that my dad had purchased from a nearby summer camp when they discontinued their marksmanship program. At the time, I was embarrassed about that rifle. But now that I’m approaching middle age, with young kids of my own, those days of making do have become a matter of personal pride to me. That old right-­handed .22, a Remington Model 581, remains one of my most treasured firearms. As it turns out, it’s a real tack driver. I intend for it to serve as my son’s first squirrel rifle. In other words, don’t let cost get in the way of your desire to hunt small game. Resident small game licenses are dirt cheap, you usually don’t need any special tags (with the notable exception of turkey), and you can get a box of fifty .22 rounds for about five bucks. If you learn to be a deadeye with your .22, that equals ten daily bag limits of squirrels in my home state of Michigan. Or, to put it another way, ten family-­sized preparations of hasenpfeffer, a sublime and vinegary dish intended for hares that works great with fox squirrels