Who first introduced you to the joys of hunting?

[The_Dude]

My Dad. Thanks Dad! Now I'm totally hooked on getting out early in the morning for anything in season pretty much. On the night berfore opening day of Turkey or Deer season I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve.(Barely sleep a wink.) Drives my wife nuts. Unfortunatley my Dad is kinda banged up and we have not hunted in a while together. Those were the best times.

 

[Scarlet1]

Dang right....

It drives me nuts when my hubby does that, too...but I love him anyway...LOL

 

[TehK1w1]

Like most of you here, my father introduced me to hunting, with the help of a very good friend of our family, the father of my best friend. I never met my paternal grandfather, who taught my father, as he died when my father was 18. However, he was a good hunter and an excellent shot who passed his skills and his rifle down to my father. My brother and I both got our first deer on that rifle, a J.C. Higgins Model 50, and it will get many more. As an interesting aside, my maternal great-grandfather was an accomplished safari hunter, but after his death his wife (my mother's mother's mother) who had alzheimers, gave away his entire collection of guns and africans trophies. All we have of it now is an old photo of him in the trophy room, and a 95% Remington Model 11 that he gave to my maternal grandfather as a present one year. It sat untouched in his attic until he remembered it about a year ago and gave it to my mother. He told us the only time he ever took it out of the box was during the '68 race riots (he lives just outside DC).

 

[kjohn]

My Dad. He liked to hunt Prairie Chicken and Ruffed Grouse here in SE Saskatchewan. When I was a kid, there were lots of little country roads with bush along the sides, as well as nice open grain fields. I was basically the "dog", and would run and retrieve any downed birds. Dad passed away 44 years ago, but I still hunt the same areas, and still think about him when I hunt. I have his old Tobin double 12 ga.. I can still see him getting out of the car, putting a couple of Imperial Special Long Range shells in the chambers, closing the Tobin, and walking around a little bush to pepper a partridge or a chicken. I can still hear the silence in the car when he would spot something.
Thanks Dad!!

 

[moooose102]

for me, it was my dad. he introduced all of us to it, took us until we were old enough to go out on our own, and let us choose where and when we were going to hunt, or even if we wanted to. my older brother went for two years, and quit. in the past 40 years, i think he has hunted maybe 4 or 5 times. i can not imagine how bad of an experience it must have been for him. my dad and him always fought like cougars and wolfs. just nasty to the bone. and hunting was no different. plus the fact that he is horribly alergic to poison oak, and sumac. and both years, he used one of each to wipe with, and he ended up with a rash where a man (or woman) does not want a rash! when i turned 18, i went hunting with my buddies. my younger bro went with dad until dad quit hunting. that was nice, at least my dad had company, but younger bro was dads favorite anyway. i know there were years my dad would just as soon stayed home, and went just not to dissapoint little bro.

 

[ripcurlksm]

no one, I am still waiting. I grew up in NJ and live in S. Cal and would love to go bird or deer hunting.

 

[Inspector3711]

Dad... He was a Hunter Safety Instructor for Oregon state. He tought me well in that regard. While I hunted birds and small animals well before he took charge, the real hunting (deer and elk) followed hunters safety training.

He would take me to the Blue Mountains with grandpa, uncle Bob and a few family friends. My first elk hunt was miserable though. He had furnished me with Wolverine work boots (no insulation) and it hit -20ºF on that trip. I was quite convinced that I would lose my toes after a week of it.

On occasion I hunted deer on my own after that in the coastal range in western Oregon. To this day I've never had a clean shot at a deer or an elk in season. Of course I haven't hunted since 1982. I may go next year.

 

[t165]

Me, I introduced myself to hunting/trapping...I knocked birds out of trees and off telephone lines with rocks before I had a BB gun. I used to trap cats with food and a cardboard box propped open by a stick with a line tied to it. The feral cats would rob our trash pile and I patterned them. Sounds silly but I would lie in wait for hours. I grew up in the country...(1) TV and two channels...computers and game consoles were unheard of. No other boys my age for miles. A common mouse trap baited with bread will catch small birds. I had way too much time on my hands as a young lad! After I got my first .22 rimfire I became PETA's worst nightmare.

 

[JackOfAllTradesMasterAtNone]

Oh wow... It was dad!

Dad introduced me to the outdoors. Camping hunting and fishing. Mostly salt water fishing. I'll call that hunting... The process is the same. Analyze the environment, prepare for the species, put yourself in position, let God provide opportunity, develop skill in setting the hook, (making the shot), recovering the reward, caring for the environment, appreciating the bounty. As I got older I got the hunting on land bug. A fair amount of solo trips and over the years I've happened into three hunt partners (other than my two boys), that really stand head and shoulders above any others. Each of them has passed on their love for the outdoors to their youngn's.

Other than when I was there for both of my boys first Deer harvests, one of the times that stands out is when I was there for one of my nephew's 'first buck' when his dad couldn't make it. I'd like to think I taught him a few things that day. He was true to his aim and got a dandy Mule Deer. I haven't been hunting with him since then since we hunt different areas now, but he has taken other bucks. Every time, I like to feel I had just a little part of those hunts. I'm very proud to have had that original time with him.

-Steve

 

[jgibbs]

I've always liked shooting at boy scout camp and at grandpa's property. The great outdoors have always felt like home to me.

But one day two years ago I said to myself, what else can I do with guns that is fun... Unfortunately for me, I'm still trying to gather hunting partners. I do have a few guys who are willing to go hunting with me if I twist their arm and at least one friend who is willing to shoot any animal that is legal. I enjoy any chance I get to go hunting.

 

[Funderb]

On second thought...

THE SQUIRRELS.....

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Ted Trueblood,field & stream.1969. Many pleasant reading hours,and [I think] good moral lessions.

 

[rugerman]

My dad and I wish he was still around to hunt with. He used to walk me to death quail hunting when I was a kid but when I got out of college I returned the favor, we were hunting & fishing buddies til the day he died. Wish we could do it again, just one more time.

 

[Michael & Tanner]

I can't tell you all how much I enjoyed reading this thread.

Funny, too. I expected that most people had their dads take 'em out. Mine died when I was really young, mom never remarried, and I grew up in a non-hunting household in the city.

I was an anti-hunter for many years, although I fished, and I'll never get those years back that I missed, while I was bitching about things I knew nothing about.

My grandfather was an active trapper and woodsman in northern Michigan. My best memories were with him, although I regret not having many many more with that man. He was too old to continue hunting by the time I was old enough.

I turkey hunted once in my 30's, and now, in my 40's, consider myself a new hunter. I certainly don't feel I have the skills to teach others to hunt, but I do take them out to watch game, pick mushrooms, and teach them to fly fish. I try to teach at least one new person a year, and I try to get out as much as I can.

15 months ago, I brought home my first bird dog, a Vizsla named Tanner, and we started training for upland birds. We had pheasant for Thanksgiving. Awesome.

I live in Washington now, and have changed my life a LOT. The only people I really associate with are outdoorsmen. My spare time is spent hiking, fishing, or reading forums. This one, the Kifaru forum, Backcountry Hunter, and the Washington Fly Fishing boards get much of my time.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your stories.

Michael

 

[lgbloader]

Dad, Uncle Joe, Uncle Louie, Uncle Bill, Uncle Ernie, Grandpa Joe, Grandpa Alexander, Uncle Presse, Uncle Max, many cousins, etc. so on and so forth. My family hunts.

LGB

 

[61chalk]

My dad, started me out shooting a BB gun....I was so young I had to shoot it off my shoulder like a bazooka, then go find my sister to cock it for me, it was one of those daisy lever action....

 

[308win]

Dad and Grandpa. They started me on squirrel & rabbit with a single shot Stevens .22 that I got for my 6th Christmas. A couple years later my Uncle lent me a single shot 12ga and when I was 11 or maybe 10 Dad bought me a new Sportsman 58 20ga that I still have. I also have Grandpa's single shot .22 and Dad's Auto5. Grandpa's .22 shows a lot use; he used it for everything from coon hunting to slaughtering beef and hogs on the farm. He didn't hunt any kind of birds but was death on squirrel and rabbit with that .22.

 

[SomeDude]

My Grandpa. He bought me a BB gun when I was five. Drove my mom crazy. When I was six he took me squirrel hunting and I can still picture shooting it and seeing the BB hit it. My grandpa finished it off with a .410 and we ate it that night.
We walked probably thousands of miles together through the Loess Hills of western Iowa hunting pheasants. A lot of times I'd have two birds and I would pass on a rooster because I knew if we limited out that we'd have to stop hunting.
He wasn't one of those "fancy hunters" that came in from Omaha on the weekends wearing the Filson Tin Cloth bibs, fine leather shooting gloves and the Citori. He was a humble working guy that wore beat up Carhartts and hunted with a shotgun that he bought the year my mom was born. A good guy, probably the best.

 

[gallo]

From my grandpa and great uncle, two old timers that knew everything. May the latter rest in peace.

From them I learned hunting, trapping coyotes, farming, cattle ranch administration, branding, marking, castrating calves, horse ridding, and bunch of other skills.

 

[mitcz17]

My twin brother got me into deer hunting. When I was a kid my dad thought us how to shoot a gun (.22lr). He stopped hunting before my brother and I were old enough to go but often told stories of hunting with his best friend. A few years ago, my brother decided he was going to start hunting. I went with him as an extra hand, spotter, and to take pictures. The excitement of his hunts, made me want to hunt and I wanted to be able to share tales of 'buckzilla' when we are older.
My grandpa and father see the excited and the joys my brother and I had the last couple of years, now they both what to go hunting with us to share the experience (and to pack out there animals).
Now every other though in my head has something to do with hunting.

 

[CoRoMo]

Daddy.

 

[Mainer2009]

My dad, when I was a really little kid. He'd let me tag along with him, also let me come along when he did a lot of trapping years ago, fond memories. I don't do any trapping (would like to try, someday) but I going hunting as much as I can now, he &I also do quite a bit of fly fishing together. I've got him to thank. He also gave me my first gun...a 410 shotgun, then a few years later a 44 mag ruger carbine. The first deer I shot...was a hunt he set up for me, I was able to take a 180LB 8 point buck that year...man was I happy!