How many of you grew up in a shooting/hunting family?

Father was an FFL. He was a pacific theatre ww2 vet and had no desire hunt. said he seen enough killing.

He was an avid trap shooter so I pretty much spent my childhood on the trap field and at gun clubs.

I did not. My dad had a 20 gauge H&R and a ruger single six growing up. He never shot shot either. But he recognized my enthusiasm with my BB guns and bought me a 12 Gauge Wingmaster when I was 16. He then joined the local Isaac Walton League and took me trap shooting on sundays. I miss him.

My Dad hunted rabbits during the Depression with a borrowed .22 from one of their neighbors. He dreamed of getting a nice Remington or Winchester .22 target rifle but that's all it was, a dream. Money was too tight in those days and there just wasn't enough to go around for him to get a rifle. He did shoot expert in Basic training in the Army and fought in Europe where he was wounded and a POW til the town in Germany where he was at was liberated by French troops in 1945. After he got back Dad no longer had any interest in guns and Mom, who's only exposure to them was shooting a 1911 while she was in the Coast Guard, was pretty well set against us having any guns in the house, probably for our own safety! I learned about guns on my own, sneaking gun magazines into my school books and folders so it looked like I was studying but I was really reading "Guns and Ammo" magazine!

For BB guns we went to the kid's version of the Black Market; in other words we traded with our friends who had air rifles and pistols they didn't want for toys that we had. Then we smuggled them into the house and used them down in the basement or out in the garage when our parents were gone. I also had an older brother who was also into guns and when we were older he would let me use his handguns when we went to the range. Later on I would go hunting and shooting with friends of mine from work. The parents of one of my buddies owned some property out in the country and we would go out there on the weekend and do a lot of paper target shooting and shot at cans and plastic bottles. If we wanted to show-off we would try to hit Necco wafers and quarters at a fair distance! No matter the weather or if we were hunting or just plinking away, these were some of the best times I ever had with guns!

My Dad's sales brochures from when he was a young man:

I grew up in a no guns, no hunting, somewhat liberal household.

Then I grew up, moved west to the middle of nowhere, and learned to think for myself.

I grew up FARMING AND RANCHING! That is the same thing as 'shooting/hunting', right??????

Not necessarily. My Father in law had his father in law's M1903A3 service rifle, never hunted or shot it. He had a .410 Mossberg bolt for a vermin gun, only shot that to scare fox and coyotes away from the sheep or chickens. He did finally trade the .410 bolt for a Springfield 67 12 ga. to hunt turkey; he got sick of picking them out of his haybine. He never did shoot one. I know of at least one farmer, an armored one, on this forum that does a lot of shooting and hunting while farming, however.

Hi...
My grandfather on my father's side was s hunter as were all of my father's brothers.
My grandfather on my mother's side was murdered by an neighbor while my mother was still a child so I have no knowledge of his thoughts or use if firearms.
My father taught my older brother and I to shoot and hunt. He died when I was 14 and my mother gave away all his firearms except two shotguns. He never had a chance to teach my younger brother about hunting and shooting.
My older brother mostly lost interest due to declining health and limited financial means.
Even at 65 and some health issues, my interest remains strong. I have bought two revolvers so far this year and plan to purchase more.
I have taught my son to shoot and hunt. He is 26 now and has been shooting since about 8 and hunting since he was 12.
He owns a large number of guns himself and in the last couple of years I have taught him to reload.
He now reloads most of our semi auto pistol and 357Mag handgun ammuntion on my LNL progressive presses. He also does most of our rifle cartridge reloading on his RockChucker Supreme.
He is constantly doing ladder tests of various rifle calibers and documenting his test results using a chronograph and computer.

I think he is hooked for life.

My first gun memory was my older brother building towers with blocks and knocking then over with his Daisy red rider.
My grandpa had a ffl and sold high end shotguns and elephant rifles in northern Illinois. I remember seeing rows of beautiful guns in the entry from the garage.
Every Sunday after Church, we would eat dinner and either shoot rifles or clay pigeons with a hand thrower. As my brothers moved out, the clays became less frequent.
Now I shoot by myself for the most part. My wife likes to shoot, but only uses her deer rifle and CCW.

My Dad was a gun addict. My older brother and I inherited the disease early on.

entropy said:

Not necessarily. My Father in law had his father in law's M1903A3 service rifle, never hunted or shot it. He had a .410 Mossberg bolt for a vermin gun, only shot that to scare fox and coyotes away from the sheep or chickens. He did finally trade the .410 bolt for a Springfield 67 12 ga. to hunt turkey; he got sick of picking them out of his haybine. He never did shoot one. I know of at least one farmer, an armored one, on this forum that does a lot of shooting and hunting while farming, however.

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There are exceptions to every rule, but they are exceptions. Take it from me, ALL the people I grew up with were shooters. At the very least they had to keep skunks, roons, and yotes in check. Not to mention all the stray dogs people (city slickers) would drop off in the 'country'.

I am fortunate to have grown up with both sides of my family being into firearms and hunting.
My father grew up poor, and the only gun in the house was an old single shot 16-gauge, which now resides in my gun cabinet. There were a lot of times in the 50s and 60s that they didn't eat meat unless one of the boys killed something with it.
My mother's side of the family also hunted. My mother's father was an avid deer hunter and loved to hunt with hounds.

There were guns in my house as early as I can remember. They weren't in a safe either back in the 80s, they were just leaned in various corners around the house.
When I was 13-14 my father let me put a gun rack on my bedroom wall. Some of my friends couldn't believe they would walk in my room and there was a 20-gauge pump, a .30-30 and a .22 rifle hanging on my wall. Of course I'd been taught right and there was no way anyone was handling them without his okay.

Dad is in his 70s now and in poor health. His hunting days are over I'm afraid, but we still take him to deer camp a couple weekends a year so he can sit around the fire and enjoy being out there. He still loves that part.

My daughter is one of those girls that likes it when she likes it. I'll wake her up in the mornings to go and sometimes she'll get up, but most of the time she declines.
She's killed one deer.
Hopefully, she'll go with me some next year.
She's almost 17 now, and as you would expect from a public school education in today's times, her opinions lean left on some issues. But she's got a firm 2A mindset still, because she was brought up with common sense.

Dad was a hunter as well as all of his brothers and brother in laws. They would head up to NH to hunt every year and would usually bring back a number of deer. Now that he's passed I received his old Savage 99 in 300 Savage hunting rifle. I now hunt with it. Can't go wrong with what works.

Rockrivr1 said:

Dad was a hunter as well as all of his brothers and brother in laws. They would head up to NH to hunt every year and would usually bring back a number of deer. Now that he's passed I received his old Savage 99 in 300 Savage hunting rifle. I now hunt with it. Can't go wrong with what works.
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I shot my first deer with a borrowed 99 just like that one MANY years ago!!!

Shooting yes, hunting not so much. Both my Grandfathers were local LEO in the town they lived. Maternal Grandpa had numerous guns in the house, my cousins and I we were taught never to touch them... unless we were asked to go shoot with Grandpa. We always respected that. Paternal Grandpa would let me hold his guns S&W .357 and a .44 Mag (unloaded) as I watched any of the Dirty Harry movies at his house.

My mother told me on numerous occasions my Grandpa would shoot rats as they poked their heads up through the floorboards of the house as they were building it. Usually either with a .22 or .32 handgun.

My Maternal Grandpa used to tell me stories about my Great Grandpa shooting pigeons off the eave of their barn for dinner. Parallel to the eave, the shot would enter the first bird low in the belly and the last one it would exit out the neck. Then he'd run out with a bucket and pick them up to clean them.

He also told me one day out playing in the yard, their dog bit him on the leg drawing blood. Great Grandpa walked over and grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck, pulled his .32 revolver out of his pocket and dispatched the dog. In the early 1920s I'm sure that was no big deal. Today, probably not so much...


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Side story: Although pop was not an active hunter or gunner, my only fear of the state wardens in my area was that if they caught me doing something stupid, I wouldn't get written up or go to the pokey -- it was that they'd say something to dad. There were 3 or 4 in the area over the years, and every one of 'em knew my pop, who was a popular school teacher. So I had my licenses in order and behaved. Probably would have anyway, but that was sort of life in a small town with a traditional dad.
Scared of John Law? Nah, the real hurt would have been after John Law let you go home!
To our credit (or to pop's) I don't think he ever heard a word about us from those wardens other than "Nice boys."

NapalmMan67 said:

He also told me one day out playing in the yard, their dog bit him on the leg drawing blood. Great Grandpa walked over and grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck, pulled his .32 revolver out of his pocket and dispatched the dog. In the early 1920s I'm sure that was no big deal. Today, probably not so much...

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Not too many years ago, maybe 10, I lived next door to my parents. It was out in the sticks with no neighbors terribly close and we used to shoot often.
My daughter was 5 or 6 and wanted to go play outside. I looked out and my father was piddling around in the yard. I told my daughter to go on and when her grandpa went in, for her to come back inside.

She's out there playing for few minutes and I hear a shot, and then a dog yelping.

A dog had come up in the yard and my daughter, being a kid who loves dogs, wanted to pet it. It growled and bared its teeth and that was all it took. Boom.
My dad wasn't a dog hater, but he had no intent of letting it bite his granddaughter.
The dog ran off, but we never saw it again.

Dad was the only shooter in the family. Problem was, he couldn't legally own a gun.
He hunted (illegally) when things got too tight - as they often did.
He didn't like for me to have guns, as I wasn't supposed to have anything that he couldn't have.
He refused to teach me to shoot.
I learned in spite of him.

I was basically raised by my grandparents. Grandfather was a Vietnam Vet, chief of the local police department, and still had a working farm up until I was a teenager. I was too young to actually remember when I got my first BB gun but my fifth birthday present was a H&R 20 gauge and Christmas that year was a Marlin Model 60. Started hunting with him the following deer season and killed my first deer that winter, I was 6. Easter egg hunts after that became by grandmother hiding eggs in the yard then him and I taking turns shooting them off the porch with 22's to see who could get more of them and most family gatherings included at least a little bit of range time with various firearms. By the time I had graduated high school I had about a dozen different guns, mostly bought by him with money that I had earned working in a neighbors chicken houses, and had killed around 30 deer between hunting and deprivation permits. So I guess you could say that I grew up in a hunting/shooting family.

I did, but my old man was very much what we would call a Fudd. He never saw the point in owning any gun that wasn't meant for hunting.

There were no guns in my family growing up. My mother was vehemently against them. I did not shoot an actual firearm until I was 18 and the collection started shortly that.

To quote “A Knights Tale” ... yes, but also a large resounding no.

Growing up, as far as I could tell, my extended family was anti gun, with two, maybe 3 uncles being nuetral. My dad never came across as pro gun, but he did have an answer for almost all of the gun related questions I had as a small child.

turns out the big metal box in the closet, did not actually have spaghetti-Os in it

I later found out that my great aunt and my nana had their own 22s, and frequently shot ground hogs at the local cemetery. I’m by far the biggest gun nut in the family, but and I doubt everyone else combines has put as many rounds down range as I have, but based on what I was told growing up, it’s a little surprising I’m not the only one who has pulled a trigger

Very much a shooting and hunting childhood here growing up, dad had me in sub jr classes at matches at a very early age.

Dad was a hunter and fisherman. I got a 22 on my 5th birthday, got it taken away the same year for shooting holes in the barn roof. Got my first deer with my 25-20 at 12 years.

Nothing extreme in our family. Both our parents instilled absolute respect for firearms. They grew up during The Great Depression and went through WWII (my father was in one of the first Army Air groups sent to North Africa and later into Italy). They knew the value of firearms for food and defense and ensured we understood where they stood as well.

Beyond BB guns, we were introduced through Dad's. 22RF rifle, my brother & I additionally participated in an NRA program that was specifically focused on youth where and when we were involved. I also obtained my Texas Hunter Safety Certificate through this same organization even though it wasn't specifically required then, and I'm still exempt from this being required on the basis of my birthday.

I was the only one who honestly enjoyed going deer hunting, so I was the only one besides our father who got a hunting rifle. I got a milsurp 6.5X52mm Carcano carbine to hunt alongside Dad with his milsurp .303 SMLE.