I started out with BB guns also, then graduated to .22s when I was a kid. My first real hunt was at 12, age of legal hunting in PA.
I hunted with a 16 ga with slugs, still have the ammo. Never got to shoot it. All the deer we saw were out of range for me.
I remember Dad, with his model 70, and Mom, with her 30-30 Marlin, both taking deer off the front porch of our house.
We hunted for meat, never saw an antler set hanging around for as long as I can remember.
We raised Pheasants for the State Game Commission and had about 500 chicks every spring. Dad had a Weimaraner that lived to hunt pheasants.
We didn't get to shoot at them very often though either because the dog got to where he could catch them in the air when they launched. He got lots of practice because we usually got our limit by barely leaving the yard.
Turkey hunting, I lived for. I didn't use a blind or camo. I would catch them coming down out of the roost in the morning and when they hit the ground, I would leave them have it. I would just find some natural cover and wait them out.
Wild turkey was my favorite dish of all.