How we were introduced to hunting.

I was thinking about my start in the outdoors, and i got to wondering how everyone else got their start. This oughtta be fun.

I was introduced to hunting by dad. he is addicted just like all of us. i went on a hunt when he kidded his number one buck at the time with a bow. it ended up being a spot and stalk bow hunt. i was only 2, and he had me crawing in the hay to keep up with him. i really had no choice to be around it because hunting is his world, just like it is mine. i started small game hunting and trapping with him when i was about 9 and killed my first buck at 12. i wanted to be just like daddy when i started, and ive loved hunting ever since. heres some pictures from my start.

Nice! Great read. Mines easy. No one in my family hunts. I like the outdoors and so I got abow and started shooting and this year I’m giving it the old try.

My earliest memories are of getting a BB Gun and shooting cans and bottles across the road, by the swamp. Dad would take me, my brother Doug and our younger brother Wayne would tag along. I can remember honing my fine skills… nothing like hearing that steel shot, clang off them cans Basically, we kept graduating to bigger guns, pellets were next, the squirrels were not safe anymore. I remember gun safety training (I thought I was so far ahead of the other kids, I was plinking for years already ) I remember when Dad handed me down his Remington Lever action 22, brother Doug got a new semi-auto. Then he handed down his 4.10 to Doug and I got a Brand New One From there, of course, he bought us 12 Gauges. I can remember walking through the woods, with Dad and Doug and we would shoot anything that flew, ran or treed. Our dad didn’t “Hunt” hunt, I suspect he gave that up when he & Mom had 5 more mouths to feed He worked alot of saturdays, just about everyone, but he always made sure, he would have uncles or friends, take us hunting. We would go, Duck, Pheasant & then finally deer. I got my first bow, I want to say I was 15 or 16. I had no clue what I was doing, but they bought me it anyways… I can remember practicing and I had no sights I would look down the arrow…. I would get so excited, when I could hit a paper plate at 20 yards The deer were definitely safe with me sitting in a tree… Good memories, thanks for putting up this post

My father and mother are both avid outdoors people. There was never a question what we were doing every weekend. In the summer we would load up the boat and bows and go camping and shoot 3D tourneys. My mom and dad both shot for bow companies so we shot indoor also in the winter. My father was in the Air Force so we moved around a lot. I remember the loooong drives to hunt in North Dakota. Driving deer to my parents in the river bottoms of Nebraska. And shed hunting in Wyoming. Once he retired, we moved back to Wisconsin where I started hunting and shooting with my grandfather; he was a gun nut and couldn’t get enough of showing people how to shoot. He taught hunters safety for 27 years and ran the local shooting range also. I cherish every part of my childhood and hope I can raise my kids the same way.

My Dad was the one who got me into the outdoors. It really started with fishing, but once I was old enough to hunt I was out there. When I was little, I always got so excited for the Sunday after deer hunting weekend. That meant my Dad would be home with a deer or hopefully more from the group. I would poke them, take pictures, and go to the processor with him. I remember on road trips, my brother and I didn’t watch DVDs or play video games, we counted deer, turnkeys, and pheasants. I got a BB gun and started shooting cans which eventually turned into squirrels as my Dad was having problems with them getting into his boat and truck. I love that “thwack” when I hit them. From there I went deer hunting a few times and went on some grouse and pheasant trips with may Dad. When I was 16, I started working at a gun range and became a very good shot. When I was 18, I started working with a dog trainer. And when I turned 20, I got my own dog. Since then my dog has only gotten better, but my shooting has dropped down to average at best. We’ve been out every weekend of the pheasant season so far, and I hope to keep it going.

What a great post and pictures Stickerpoint!

My father introduced me to hunting at a very early age. I used to tag along with him squirrel hunting and grouse hunting. At age 5, he bought me a Red Rider BB gun for a birthday present. Every day after school I would shoot it until dark or until I ran out of BBs. I actually kept a hunting journal of the birds that I shot. In it, I would write what type of bird it was, where I shot it on the farm, the date, the time and I would tape a feather off bird in it too.

We lived on a farm and during the MN firearm season, I begged my older sisters to take me with them into town when they would have to work at the local cafe on HWY 10 in Royalton. Why? So I could watch all the deer go by that were tied on the vehicles from all the deer hunters that were coming home from up north.

At age 10, my parents got divorced and I was forbidden to see my dad. It was really hard on me because I loved to hunt with him and that was no longer possible. I was the only boy in the family and I had 5 sisters. However, some of my older sisters started dating and I would tag along with their boyfriends and eventually a couple of them turned out to be my brother-in-laws.

When I became an adult, I reunited with my father and he asked me if I wanted to go deer hunting. I was 18 and I was so excited that I didn’t sleep one minute the night before. The next day, on my very first time deer hunting and the very first deer that I ever saw, I ended up shooting an 11 point buck (1st picture below) that grossed 155. Needless to say, I was hooked forever! That was over 25 years ago and today we still hunt together for the MN firearm season.

cool stories guys. Initially my dad got the interest going, but I could never go on the long trips for Antelope, Muleys and Elk in Montana, because i was too young. After the parents got divorced, I would fish with friends, and we did a lot of gopher & jack rabbit hunting. Once the oldest of my friends got a driver license and a car, we would hunt the Highwood Mountains in MT. first deer i ever shot was an 8 pointer with a 30-30 using iron sights at 200 yards. A co-worker of my mom’s took me on that hunt, he taught me alot about hunting, and life over 2 years. Over the years I hunted with friends for pheasants, deer, elk. We were not always successful, but we always had a good time and opportunity. One year my friend Charlie (deceased now)had a toyota tercel, we went deer hunting, and we both shot does…what to do with 2 deer and a toyota? somehow they both fit in the trunk of that thing! good times. Anyway moved to MN when i was a junior in HS. I have a handful of uncles that live in filmore county. started hunting with them. They party hunt which was a new hunting method I’d never heard of or tried. Did that for a few years, we had some careless shooters in the bunch. After having slugs rip through corn 1 row away on a drive while i was posted; I started sitting all day and not doing the drives. I got tired of the “brown it’s down” mentality. Anyway last couple of years as my kids get older, I like hunting closer to home, I like the quiet time, I like seeing animals. I pass a lot of deer every year, it’s not about the meat in the freezer, it’s something else that would take to long to explain…but I won’t shoot a doe until late season, i will pass 6 pointers all day long. I like up close hunting, like spot and stalk, being eye level with the game, having them close. I am used to walking long distances, but somedays I like to just sit. I now try and take the boys with me when I can, sometimes it’s hard, but I know that they will hunt and fish more than I ever got to when i was their age.