How long have you been a hunter?

[Caveman]

54 minutes ago, crappyice said:

Me too Caveman…..but I need to add 15 more years to your total. My college roommate took me along with his grandfather and father for opening weekend of deer season when I was 21. I was woefully unprepared and froze my ass off on Russell Brook state lands up By Roscoe as it dumped a heavy wet snow on us - and yet I loved it even though no one saw a deer.

I had an uncle that hunted but never took me. Guess it was deep in my blood as once my buddy took me for that first hunt, I haven’t missed a season and added to his experience by getting a bird dog then getting us both into bow hunting.


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That one part is actually a hell of a coincidence.  I had two uncles who hunted but never took me.   

I struck out on my own for squirrel season 2010.  Didn't see a thing at first, but my first morning in the woods I met a guy about my age in the parking lot.  We got to chatting, hunted together the rest of the day, exchanged info, and he became one of my best friends.  I have hunted every deer season since with him and a few other strays we picked up over the years.    

[phantom]

First deer hunt was 1984  Before that i was hunting small game a few years before that .

[Hock3y24]

Dad hunted all while i grew up, I never had an interest although i never recall him asking me too. at about 18 I went and bought a shotgun and it was like a light switch flipped. Shot my first deer out of his stand with his shotgun since i didn't have time to sight mine in, he had double pneumonia and their was a ton of snow. Still came up and showed me how to gut it. This was Nov 2007. 

[Pygmy]

Unless I have missed somebody, Doc has the most years experience hunting, and I  am second..

That makes Doc  " HOFIC"   or Head Old Fart In Charge"......

It makes me  " VHOFICOV"   or  Vice Head Old  Fart In Charge Of Vice "......

[Gobbler Chaser]

Me and a good friend who I still hunt with today used to hunt the woods around golf courses and schools out on Suffolk County where we lived back in the early 70s. Mostly squirrel and an occasion pheasant. Then we moved up to waterfowl along the south shore of LI marshlands..the squirrels and pheasant were much better eating, lol

[airedale]

As an old Indian once said "many many moons"

[Nytracker]

20 hours ago, Caveman said:

Oh, man you guys are old. I've been in it 11 years. I didn't start until I was 20 but I haven't missed a season since.

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Damn whipersnappers....

Edited September 22, 2021 by Nytracker

[Water Rat]

This year makes it 46.....started the year I graduated high school.

[Lomax]

40 years for me this year.  

[Poppy]

Had my NYS Hunting license since February of 1961 and my first deer license in in 1963.  Started tagging along behind mine Dad at age 5.  I still remember the first time I shot his 20 gauge shotgun.  So for me it is 59 years of licensed hunting.

[fasteddie]

My father in law got me started in 1965 . We hunted together for 3 years and he quit . I hunted alone for a few years and stopped . Mt SIL bought property in Geneseo and asked me if I wanted to hunt with her . Then my son in law started gun hunting with me and we hunted together until he quit , I hunted alone for several years and then two of my sons stared deer hunting with me . So 56 years with 2 years off for me .

[cas]

Shot my first woodchuck (with my mom of all people) when I was 9 or 10.

First year deer hunting was at 16.  So that's 42-43 years of hunting?

Odd how youth and perception of time works. How the time between 9 and 16 still seems so much longer than between 16 now.

 

[vmals]

New to the forum. Started hunting waterfowl in 2015 and deer in 2018 in my late 20s. No hunters in the family so got into it on my own and Im hooked for life. 

[luberhill]

48 yrs

[OldBrian]

48 years ago I took my hunter ed safety course and became a legal hunter.

Never missed a opening day of firearm big game season in all those years. 

I am a average hunter with average success.

Still learning to become a above average hunter.

[moog5050]

Season 10 for me.  Just a youngster.  

[suburbanfarmer]

2 decades or 20th season for me in 2021

[airedale]

1 hour ago, OldBrian said:

I am a average hunter with average success.

Still learning to become a above average hunter.

Hey OldBrian I consider myself a "Jack Of most Hunting and a master of none" I have found the outdoor sports is a never ending education journey and trying have tried to experience it all, I love learning new things which seems to be never ending.

One of my favorite old timer sayings, 

"The older I get the more I know how little I knew when I knew it all."

Al

[airedale]

1 hour ago, OldBrian said:

I am a average hunter with average success.

Still learning to become a above average hunter.

Hey OldBrian I consider myself a "Jack Of most Hunting and a master of none" I have found the outdoor sports is a never ending education journey and trying have tried to experience it all, I love learning new things which seems to be never ending.

One of my favorite old timer sayings, 

"The older I get the more I know how little I knew when I knew it all."

Al

[SportsmanNH]

Got my Vermont hunting license when I was 10 . There was no youth license then  . Tagged along with my dad and grandfather when I was 6 . I hunted on my own when I got my license . I still remember the look on my dads and his 4 hunting buddies face standing outside the truck getting ready to enter the woods when everyone was deciding which direction each hunter was taking. Before anyone said a word I came right out and said I'm going across the logging road up over that hill and am going to hunt my way to the brook. That brook was 1/2 a mile away. My dads buddies looked at me and then turned to my dad who was also staring at me . He said , " Well Ok then , Im going to head down the old trail and work my way to the other side of the swamp "  And that was that . That was 55 years ago , Opening Day of Vermont deer season

[cdbing]

I started late, so around 28 yrs, me thinks.

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[Trial153]

Got my first deer license in sept of 1990, at 14 years old. Killed my first buck/deer Saturday afternoon Oct 21 1990. Thanks to my mother who drove me to our county house for the weekend so I could bowhunt. She was and is the best. In fact she would take me every weekend in season after that till graduated high school and once I started college I was on my own. Skipped a week of classes in my sophomore year of college and drove out to Montana to bowhunt elk. I was so far in over my head when I killed the dumbest scrub horn in the state, looking back on it was funny but I managed to get done. Since then I been lucky enough to have bow hunted deer in about a dozen or more states, one provenience and have bow hunted other game from Alaska through Canada to Mexico. Who would have thought a kid from Queens that would buy Bowhunter magazine at newspaper stand and read it cover to cover about bow hunting far off places and critters would end up living the dreams he had. I am ever grateful for the love and kindness that others have showed me in my life.

[WWJD_Hunter]

I was introduced to deer and turkey hunting about 21 years ago by good friend. 

[UpStateRedNeck]

29 years, been after turkey since age 12.  Killed a suitcase doe at age 16, brought it into the farmhouse, dumped it on my grandmother Ms table.  She was pissed, but butchered it while I was playing driver with my dad's crew.

[******pike]

1974