What started you hunting?

[grampy]

1 hour ago, moog5050 said:

 

was at bass pro yesterday and there was a P&Y brown bear mounted.  My wife looked at it and me and said "that's what you really want isn't it."   I responded with an unequivocal "Yep."  Lol

You gotta do it buddy! You are young enough and have your family's blessing. Go, before you get to be my age and only wish you could! Keep a journal for every detail from planning to kill. And share it with us! You have a hunters spirit. 

[grampy]

6 minutes ago, Dinsdale said:

Nice story....

This topic has come up a few times here over the years. You'd be surprised how many late/self starters are on here. (I came from a anti gun/non hunting family and started on my own in my mid 20's)

 

 

And one of the most experienced, down to earth and humble hunters I know. I was hoping to see you post here.

[Uncle Nicky]

I grew up hunting, my father was a huge small-game guy, there weren't many deer or turkeys back in the early 1970s where I grew up.

After trade school, I got away from it, other than the annual trek to the mountains for deer season. With a background in food service, and a lot of friends and acquaintances that hunted, I soon became the resident expert on cooking & processing game, and eventually started my own deer processing business. I didn't hunt much while I was running the business, guess I was just sick of looking at dead deer from September-January, didn't see the need to kill more when I had all I ever wanted to eat right there.

During this time, I got married and had kids, once the kids got old enough to shoot & hunt, they wanted me to teach them, so I did. They soon grew bored with it, but I realized how much I missed it. The whole game had changed by then, deer were everywhere, turkeys had expanded their range, and I was making enough dough to go on some serious hunting trips, in both the U.S. & Canada. I bought a camp in upstate NY that I will soon be selling after 15 years of good times & great memories, and I'm looking forward to moving to the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake, where I'll look for new places to chase deer, turkeys, squirrels, and geese. as well as fish (my other passion).

[Dinsdale]

6 minutes ago, grampy said:

And one of the most experienced, down to earth and humble hunters I know. I was hoping to see you post here.

LOL.....

On occasion I get lucky and stuff runs in front of my gun barrel.

Always looking to learn more about improving the hunting part.

[moog5050]

45 minutes ago, grampy said:

You gotta do it buddy! You are young enough and have your family's blessing. Go, before you get to be my age and only wish you could! Keep a journal for every detail from planning to kill. And share it with us! You have a hunters spirit. 

Hopefully Grampy but my wife isn't real excited about me hunting anything that can eat me.  I even explained to Ana that my life insurance is all paid up but she still didn't seem too excited about it. Lol.  who knows, time will tell.  She was all good with a trip for moose or elk though, my other two kick the bucket hunts. 

I need a partner in crime!  Who's in?

[moog5050]

Out of likes but likes!

[BizCT]

If they are mountain grizzlies, they will be much smaller than  coastal grizz/browns....500 pounds would be a good one...
Coastal black bears can easily reach that size, and coastal browns can be double that size or more..
 

Correct


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[airedale]

3 hours ago, Pygmy said:

I grew up with hunting...My parents were children of the Great Depression, and  just about everyone I knew hunted  and fished..

My Grandfather said he knew the The Great Depression  was coming to an end when he started seeing rabbits crossing the road while driving without a pack of dogs and a hunter bringing up the rear chasing it.

Al

[The_Field_Ager]

It was almost certainly Disney's Bambi movie. I remember, as a small boy, the scene where the evil hunter terrorizes the woods and kills Bambi's Mom. I knew then that I to wanted to Kill Bambi's Mom

[E J]

For me I guess it was my grandfather on my moms side that got me started, he was a pretty avid hunter until my grandma died. My dad was a pretty casual hunter, pretty much opening day and then maybe a Saturday later on. My dad went a little more when I was old enough to tag along. One time just the two of us went to a spot my grandfather had gotten us permission to hunt in Cohocton. As we were walking in we came upon a doe getting a drink from a stream. My dad shot her and I was hooked! When I was 17 I started hunting at my uncles place where they owned a bunch of land with a different group of people. Hunting turned into an every weekend thing plus scouting and food plots and everything else that goes along with it. I heard a lot of the phrase "do as I say and not as I do" for the next few years and learned how to "hang out with the guys". Since then I have bought and sold a couple of hunting camps, killed a lot of deer and turkeys. Now a days 20+ years later I do more working than hunting and hope to get my two boys interested while they get the opportunity to grow up on the 88 acres we live on.

[Nomad]

1 hour ago, moog5050 said:

Hopefully Grampy but my wife isn't real excited about me hunting anything that can eat me.  I even explained to Ana that my life insurance is all paid up but she still didn't seem too excited about it. Lol.  who knows, time will tell.  She was all good with a trip for moose or elk though, my other two kick the bucket hunts. 

I need a partner in crime!  Who's in?

This is my buddies bow killed Elk in Montana , he lives in Great Falls. I could arrange a bow hunt with him . He's a biology Prof. and I'm sure my attorney friend from Washington State would join us . Not sure of odds of out of state tags , but I got a deer/ elk combo pretty easy .

He killed this one 3 miles from  camp and took 3 trips to pack out the meat, one reason I have little interest in killing one ....

[Buckmaster7600]

There is a VHS tape somewhere at my moms house of my 2nd birthday party when dad walked out of the house with a red Ryder that he cut the stock off on and I proceeded to shoot the balloons of the mail box with.

I am blessed to have been raised by a father that was one of the greatest hunters to ever live. Between knowledge, skill and the best marksman I have ever met the old man was a deer killing machine.

I killed my first squirrels and wood chicks before I was in kindergarten. My first deer at an age younger then I will admit to on the Internet and my first legal deer at 8 in VT.

Around town my old man was know as "buckmaster" so I guess it just came natural to be a hunter.

My brother is 6 years older than me and never hunted until he was 25. He never had any interest in it at all growing up and now he's more into it than I am.

It's cool hearing how everyone else got started. Great thread moog.


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[sodfather]

I started at 13 I was shooting a Bear whitetail bow my dad bought from a garage sale. He hunted pheasants and deer. My brother hunted ducks and my neighbor was the bow hunter. I was drawn to hunting ducks with no decoys in a corn field behind 2 sticks and a piece of burlap with my brother. He laughs when he sees my decoy collection now. So it's always been in me but from the ages of 18-25 girls and parties were more important. Not anymore I'm more hooked than I've ever been..

[BizCT]

I started at 13 I was shooting a Bear whitetail bow my dad bought from a garage sale. He hunted pheasants and deer. My brother hunted ducks and my neighbor was the bow hunter. I was drawn to hunting ducks with no decoys in a corn field behind 2 sticks and a piece of burlap with my brother. He laughs when he sees my decoy collection now. So it's always been in me but from the ages of 18-25 girls and parties were more important. Not anymore I'm more hooked than I've ever been..

Same with me. 16-25 or so I barely hunted or fished.




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[doebuck1234]

I started as a kid.the whole family was into it.i remember at age 5 being in a goose blind in the middle of a corn field calling for the guys.ever sence then ive been hooked hunting and fishing.i remember loading up in the back of my grandfathers old chevy pickup with a wooden flat bed heading down the road to the corn field before sunrise.or while the guys were deer hunting id carry my .22 single shot along with them and id b rabbit hunting.pic is old Polaroid my grandmother took a few days before my 6th birthday

[stoneam2006]

I've been hunting from the time I could walk. Walking thru fields with dad shooting woodchuck first bb gun at 3 and real gun at 8. As soon as I took my course I was in the woods daily afterschool and durring the summer shooting all the rodents I could find. 13 I convinced my dad I wanted to bowhunt and we joined a 3d league with the guys he worked with. Took me 10 years to kill a deer with my bow as I get super jittery and know I try to peek always throwing my shots low. My first trip out with a gun for deer my dad was on a wood line probably 3 or 400 yards in front of me (prerifle) and we had the walkie ear buds in he warned me of a nice buck comming down headgerow toward me. When I turned around the buck was maybe 20 yards form me. Being young and inexperienced I let that old h&r single shot 12 gauge bark. And bark again 4 shots I got off before that deer was out of range. Then ad soon as it turned the corner.....bang dad's friend shot it and dropped in place no wounds from me. I was addicted spent every minute in the woods and still do to this day. Dad doesn't hunt as much mainly due to hating the cold and crossbow opening so late. But still get out a few time a year and am now dragging my boy and cousins around for the trips too. For me it's a lifestyle I hope I never have to give up and hope I never loose interest or the want to sit in the dark and listen to the woods wake up.....

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[wolc123]

My grandfather, on my mom's side, was really into hunting.  Unfortunately, he suffered a stroke and was bed-ridden before I was old enough for him to take me hunting.  He also loved fishing and was able to get me started on that.   I think I inherited my love for hunting and fishing from him.   He left me his modest collection of gun's and fishing equipment in his will.   He passed away the year before I got my first hunting license.  I killed a lot of deer with his old Ithaca 16 ga, including my largest antlered buck.  I  also killed my second largest antlered buck, about 5 years ago, with that gun.

My dad was never that into hunting, but took me out rabbit hunting a few times.  I don't remember getting any with him.  My first kills were squirrels, on my own, after school, in the woods across the street, with my .22.   My dad's side of the family always did an opening weekend deer hunting trip to Allegheny state park.   When I turned 16, I went with him for the first time.  I did not see any deer, but he said that a bear ran right between us (about 50 yards apart).  I did not see it either.  I don't think you were allowed to shoot them the first week in the park back then.  The following year on that trip, I killed my first deer (a button buck naturally), with gandad's 16 ga, while hunting with my dad's brother, who is also my God-father.   

[kpkot]

4 hours ago, dbHunterNY said:

 then went with my dad to shit with him while he hunted. 

I could have shot a doe once while I was taking a dump. I let her go, it just didn't  feel right.  You guys ever had any luck?

[The_Real_TCIII]

My dad and his cousins did a lot of hunting with beagles when I was a little kid. They wouldn't take me during season but there's time before the season in NJ when you can train your dogs and I tag along then. Then we moved away from NJ and that was that, my father gave it up. He was an avid fisherman so,that's what we did. Fast forward to us moving to Buffalo and at my first job I meet a great friend who hunted and got me into it. So I was 24 when I started hunting

[Pygmy]

11 minutes ago, kpkot said:

I could have shot a doe once while I was taking a dump. I let her go, it just didn't  feel right.  You guys ever had any luck?

 

54 minutes ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

 

Same with me. 16-25 or so I barely hunted or fished.

I was pretty interested in girls at that age also, but I can't remember why......

I never let it interfere with my hunting and fishing, though.


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[Pygmy]

16 minutes ago, kpkot said:

I could have shot a doe once while I was taking a dump. I let her go, it just didn't  feel right.  You guys ever had any luck?

I did shoot a doe one time while I was taking a leak...I leaned my gun against a tree and started to pee and a doe stood up out of her bed about 50 yards away...

I  picked up my gun and shot her while Big Bob was swinging in the breeze...She was staring at me with her head moving back and forth, kinda like she was mesmerized....

I finished my whizz, tucked the old warrior back in my Carharts, and went over to collect my deer..

[Adkhunter1590]

Been in the woods since I could walk. Tagged along with my dad and uncle and grandpa for many years. Started off with a BB gun around 4 years old and was quickly up to a .22 by 6. Shot about every squirrel and chipmunk on our 111 acre camp haha. I didn't get to go along on opening day week hunts until I was around 10, that time was reserved for the "guys" at camp. Once I was allowed to go all the time I never missed a trip to camp. I loved everything about hunting and fishing with my dad, uncle and grandpa. I'd listen to them tell stories while they drank their beers and whiskey and smoke big fat cigars that filled the camp with smoke that could be smelled a mile away. I learned so much from those 3 men in that 900sq ft cabin and 111 acres.

When I was 13, on a bitter cold morning around 430am at camp my old man surprised the heck out of me. We were getting ready to walk to our treestands for a morning hunt when he looked at me and said "do you think your ready?" I said ready for what? He says "to be a man". I said of course I am. He says well alright then, show me how it's done boy, while handing over his Browning 30-06. That was probably one of the best moments of my life. I was so excited, I think I floated that half mile to our stands. As luck would have it, I dropped a nice big spike horn that was on a dead run chasing 2 does about 2 hours after sun up. I thought my old man was going to break my bones he hugged me so hard and long after we walked up on my buck. From that day on, I carried the rifle and was shooting deer every year. Also got a bow and started bow hunting the next season as well. For years after that we raced motocross from January to mid October and then spent from then till the end of gun season chasing deer around our camp. After high school and a semester at college I ended up in guide school in Montana and went on to guide for a few years.

Now my goal is to continue the legacy with my two young boys. They love being outdoors with me and have loved the few times I've taken them turkey hunting. I'm impatiently waiting for them to get a little older so I can bring them along on deer hunts. And I sure can't wait to see them take their first deer, I know I'll be just as proud as my old man was.

[Tughill Tamer]

Grew up going afield with my dad as my son has done with me.

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[Doc]

I grew up a farm kid in hill and valley country at a time when everyone I knew hunted (Adults or kids), and I mean literally everyone. It was a whole different era. I built a fairly impressive trap-line with my grandfather and the outdoor life became what my life was all about. Hunting was just another phase of my life. A home-made hickory long-bow and some willow arrows began my first hunting ventures up in the hayloft of our barn as I started taking some pigeons with pretty regular success, for an occasional meal.....lol. Hunting was locked in then. That first hunting season when a high school buddy and I spent several days up on top of the hill in a homemade lean-to sealed the deal and even though my old bent-barreled 20 gauge missed a nice buck, that whole camping/hunting experience started something that would last a whole lifetime and take many different directions.

[BizCT]

 

It's tough to get up early when you are out till 4am partying every thurs fri and sat night


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