What/who got you into hunting?

[devon deer]

Hi All,
As above, just wondered how it might differ from my home to yours.
When i was a kid I lived on the outskirts of a large city, but within 20 minutes walking i could be in the countryside.
My mother was a farmers daughter, but my father was an ex miner and foundary worker.
She was for hunting, he was against it.
Whilst my friends would head into the city, i would head out into the country.
So at the age of 10 i asked for an air rifle, no chance was the answer, so i made a bow out of a piece of hazel, fashioned some arrows out of wood dowelling, fixed feathers and out i went poaching on farmers fields!
It must have taken me about 12 months before i finally walked into my home, bow in one hand and rabbit held proudly in the other, this i thought would make him give in, no chance, so i carried on, and then made a catapult, using steel ball bearings and marbles i became quite efficient with it and shot a few rabbits and roosting pigeons.
So at 12 years of age my father gave in, i got my first air rifle, look out bunnies!, saved some money from selling the bunnies to a butcher and bought my first shotgun at 17, carried on until mid 20's, then married had kids and hunting went on the back burner until we moved into a small village when i was in my mid 30's, luckily my new neighbour had access to some hunting grounds (no public lands to shoot over in the UK and many anti hunters) and the rest as they say is history.
Cheers
Richard

 

[tarheel]

I grew up on a farm, and everyone kept beagles for rabbits, and/or bird dogs. Redbones and black & tans for racoon hunting. A few kept Walkers for fox or deer, but you had to travel to find deer. They're everywhere now though. I got my first BB gun at seven, and nothing was safe. Several cousins and I would wear out the fields and woods in search of a target. Slingshots (catapults) were in every boys inventory, and I started making bows from hickory when about eight. Arrows were made from reed cane and chicken feathers for fletching. We even tried fabricating metal arrowheads from thin sheet steel with chisel, hammer and file (mixed success). I got my first shotgun at eleven, an Iver Johnson Champion in .410 bore, then I got to hunt with the men. I had arrived!!! Got a sixteen bore when I turned fourteen, killed my first deer with it a few weeks later, and I was well on my way.

 

[Mikeflies]

I always loved the outdors & I had a BIL who saw this & took me hunting with him. I am so thankful he did this for me, as my Step Father was not much of an outdoorsman. Thanks Jesse, I will always be greatful.

 

[kansasdad]

Thanks Dad, and Bob

My father, a Wyoming farm/ranch kid took a job teaching vet medicine in Kenya. Hunting was still legal and so "on safari" we went. Fond memories of being awakened by him in the middle of the night to see the elephant just outside the tent working its way through the potato and carrot peelings of last night's stew. He got to the point that he had "proved up" or qualified to hunt Cape buffalo without professional hunter accompaniment. I got to watch some buffalo action, and a boatload of "plains game" activity. I took a number of francolin, guinea fowl, and a dik-dik. We left Kenya when I was 10 years old.

Back in the states, Boy Scouts provided lots of outdoorsy type activities. Lots of fishing in WY and KS as a teenager, but no hunting. Learned trap shooting from a K-State NCAA doubles champion, but confined the shotgun to breaking clay. It took a friend's invitation (thanks Bob) to go teal hunting to jump start hunting activity in my life. Now its turkey in the spring, waterfowl and some upland in the fall, along with whitetail faltering success.

My college aged son is a wonderful wing shot, and he is actively wanting to go hunting when he comes home. High school aged daughter has gone with me on occasion, shocking a lot of her high school friends by showing them the duck blind photo. The middle school daughter is looking forward to actually pulling the trigger this year on a turkey, instead of getting in more "aiming practice" on a full strut tom turkey.

 

[JohnCushman]

I dabbled in hunting as a child when I found an old recurve bow in my grandmother's utility room when I was about 12. I shot the hell out of it with some wal mart arrows and got pretty good with it. I was getting to the point where I could shoot rabbits and squirrels with it. Me dad didn't hunt and my mom was against having guns in the house, so I stuck with the bow in the little bit of woods behind grandmom's house. Teenage years came and football and girls and cars became more important than hunting. I went right in the military out of high school and didn't have a whole lot of times to hunt, but I would go with friends on a day or so hunt once in a while. Fast forward about 15 years and 2 marriages and a tour in Iraq. Coming home wounded and being single and having emotional issues, getting in the woods was a form of therapy for me. I bought my first rifle and shot a couple does and a muley buck and I was hooked big time. It took 4 years to be able to draw a bow again, but once I could it became my passion. I've chased antelope with some success, and deer with little success and elk with no success so far, but I'm learning as I go because I never had a hunting 'mentor' , so to speak. Being in the woods and fly fishing and hunting and any sort of outdoor sport is still theraputic and gets me away from people and society when I need it. It makes me more proud when I am successful because my sons enjoy the meat and I share it with my neighbor and a couple buddys. So, if I can't help move furniture and big things and play football in the back yard, I can still provide and give back to my family and friends in some fashion.

 

[kansasdad]

Now that most hunting activity has tapered off.....bump.....

 

[idnative1948]

Grew up tagging dad around when I was a child until he started taking brother and I with him when we needed to put a deer in the freezer. He was raised on a ranch growing up and his dad sent the boys out with a couple of horses for deer or antelope. Right after he got out of WWII he became a government trapper. So we just basically grew up learning from a master. Couple of his reminders was always mind your wind and keep an eye on your back trail. Volumes could be written........

 

[6speed]

I grew up in a tiny town in the middle of prime hunting country. I went with my dad and older brothers before I turned 12 and I did the 25/35 initiation the year I turned 12 and could carry my own tag. For reference the 25/35 initiation is as follows. My dad has an early 1900's model 94 rifle, not carbine, 26" octagon barrel, buckhorn sights, incredibly accurate, low recoil, no sling and weighs a ton. It was tradition that the first year out that gun was the best option. The 94 has a great stock length for a kid and I loved shooting it, still do. The initiation part came in the form of not having a sling. I will never forget starting out the first morning before sunrise, crisp air, gun proudly in hand, then gun rested against shoulder, then the other shoulder. By then end of the day I was packing the thing like a 4" handline both arms strait down gun horizontal to the ground rubbing holes in my pants pockets. I was hooked. That reminds me I need to get some loads worked up for that gun and get my nephew ready. None of my brothers hunt anymore but I'll make sure my kids and any of their kids who want to get 25/35 initiated.

 

[huntRme]

Grew up in a small town, but had the run of uncles/grandparents farm. Made my first kill with a home-made slingshot when I was six...a black capped chickadee...bad experience...I'd never do that again, but I knew I was born to hunt. Got a BB gun when I was eight, a pellet gun a few years after that. Nothing was safe by then. My mentor was my Uncle Tom who always came home with sea-run cutthroats, a chinook salmon or a blacktail buck. Started hunting blacktails when I was 13. Pheasants about the same time (there is no pheasant hunting anymore). When I got my driver's license I learned how to catch steelhead. The rest is a lot of history, dead animals and fish. Not done yet.

 

[2rocky]

It has always been something we do. Dad hunted so I grew up thinking it was what folks DO! Pellet gun for Christmas when I was maybe 7?

Still hunt together as often as we can.

My girls don't feel the drive I did as a youngster. If their mom hunted maybe that would be different. The oldest 2 have passed hunter safety. Middle girl does want to shoot a turkey but doesn't crave to start deer hunting. Oldest Killed a deer and pig, few pheasants but is not enthusiastic.

 

[drahthaar]

I guess it was my school. Growing up in Eureka MT, hunter's safety was a class you could take. My seventh grade made teacher was the instuctor. My dad didn't hunt, my mom never hunted, but watched her dad hunt and such, she was a farm girl.
I passed hunter's safety, my dad bought me a 30-30 model 94 winch. and my mom took me to the woods the first time. She dropped me off and waited in the car. I walked up the hill and shot a mulie doe!! Good Lord! I was hooked.
Then dad bought a Winchester M70 .270 with a scope! Then it was on. Its basically been trial and error ever since. Self-taught.

 

[----]

My dad and grandpas. I hunt way different than they did, but man did they hunt a lot, and kill a ton of crap too. I don't know how old I was the first time I rode along, but I wouldn't doubt it was my first year.

 

[noharleyyet]

Around the small town I grew up in and grad'd high school you could grab a shotgun, riflle, or fishin pole and go to just about any local landowner to fish or hunt. Then after graduating college my brother and I started deer hunting with some of our construction buds. I stopped after a couple years and mostly concentrated on work and other hobbies. When my son turned six I started halfheartedly deer hunting again...he absolutely loved everything about it and the more excited and proficient he became the more I enjoyed it....still do.

 

[trevore]

I was lucky; my grandfather, father and both uncles all hunted growing up. Always had pellet guns around when I was a pre-schooler. When I started to take an interest in it, I had 4 different men who were willing to help foster it. Once I got really gung-ho my dad made every effort possible to get me in the field. Extremely grateful for that.

 

[Dinkshooter]

There was this man in a van down at the town park. He stopped and said I looked lonely and that he was a professional photographer, I was young and impressionable ........................wait wrong story.

 

[Brandenbowhunter]

My father..the best hunter I have ever known...
Today is 14 years since cancer took him form us...I hunt to keep that connection...
I love to huntm, don't get me wrong, but the thoughts of him I have everytime I am in the field are awesome..more thoughts in one hunt than I can have in entire year...
Just this year, i realized I no longer remember his voice...his face and silly grin..still there thoguh...

 

[fishing4sanity]

I grew up between Adrian & Nyssa Oregon on a farm, my Dad and most everyone I knew hunted. I grew up hunting pheasants on the farm and ducks along the Owyhee, as well as fishing. I now farm in eastern Washington and unfortunately pretty much stopped hunting for quite awhile, now I'm trying to amend my evil ways and hunt more with my sons.

 

[Marshian]

Pellet guns in northern Michigan were the gateway drug, but when my dad took me duck hunting (my first experience with a firearm) and I got on one on the opener-that was straight crack cocaine to me. Although my Dad liked fishing better, he would get up at 4 am every weekend from when I was 12-15 to go out (plus the occasional "sick" days on a Friday which were always the best!). I think he was happier than me when I turned 16 and could drive so he could finally sleep in. Twenty years later, I moved to Montana so I could feed my addiction in a most gluttonous manner .

 

[devon deer]

I guess it was my school. Growing up in Eureka MT, hunter's safety was a class you could take. My seventh grade made teacher was the instuctor.

A school?
Wow, what an enlightened education system, if only that was taught over here, that is great.
We need that over here, i still see experienced hunters over here climbing over gates with loaded shotguns, last year a guy behind me had a loaded 12g, i unloaded and climbed over the barbed wire fence, he didn't, although he did open his gun, he slipped and gun snapped shut in my direction, i had some firm words with him, but he was more concerned with breaking his specs!
My retired gun shop owner has one leg, blew the other off climbing a gate, they both needed a school education on gun safety.

But in the main it looks like your father that got you into hunting, slightly different in my case, my mother raised my interest in hunting.
Cheers

Richard

 

[DaveHawk]

My Dad never did hunt. @ 9 years old my friends oldest brother who had 12 years on us would take us rabbit hunting along the RR tracks with 22's. My friend Phil and I have been best friends for 51 years and I still hunt with his older brother Norbie some during Bow Season.