How did you take up hunting?

[glass eye]

Completely self taught. I began at age 12 hunting ducks. Read lots of waterfowling books.
Nobody in my family hunted but I had access to guns because my 5 older brothers were into shooting but didn't hunt.
Also began Taxidermy at age 12 from a book.

 

[one ate E grain]

I spent a fair amount of time with folks who hunted for maybe half their protein. Muntjac and Pig, but also anything that walked, flew, crawled or slithered. Of course they had pigs, cows, and chickens but they tried to eat wild meat if possible, save the domestic. It was 15 miles to the road but sometimes they'd drive a pig in to sell for cash money.


Their black powder rifles were kind of underpowered but they used dogs to chase down wounded animals and they'd usually get them somehow. The govt supplied one SKS to the headman but ammo cost around a buck a round so they didn't use it if they didn't have to. They'd shoot the bears, they'd also get torn up. Some kind of black bear with a white spot on it's chest, a lot more aggressive than our black bears, maybe because they live in a bad neighborhood.


I'm not sure of their ingredients for powder. Lead came from town. Percussion was via a flint and pan.

As a kid I spent a lot of time in the woods unsupervised. No TV. So I knew about tracks and how to get around. I thought the hunting was pretty cool, plus the way they cut it up for eating. They'd pull the feathers off or the quills while they were walking along and stop just long enough to roast something over a fire. Ate grubs, fish, insects, lizards, anything. They were very comfortable in the forest, and good hunters. Now I send them photos of elk and they like the size of our critters. They have a similar animal called a sambar but they're rare and only half as big. We are lucky to live where we do and have plentiful large mammals.

 

[mdcrossbow]

My best friend oldest brother started taking me and Phil out with 22's Squirrel hunting when we were 9 , 60 years later.
Phill stopped hunting for many years and I got him back out for a Spring turkey up a few years ago and he's back. Only 1 of my 3 boys picked up the hunt and the good park , he's the son who works with me.
Phil took his 1st bird

 

[Westxhunter]

Me and the old man used to hunt dove religiously when fishing season was over and it got cold. Fast forward 20 years. My mother in law remarries and just so happens my new father in law owns a ranch. I got to take my dad on his first white tail hunt and the hunting bug bit me again. I forgot how much I loved just being out with my dad and hunting. He can't walk very far anymore (two new knees) and I'm taking him on a hog hunt in a couple weeks. We've got another hunt for Barbary sheep coming up, but that might be too tough. Just in time to go fishing again, but i'm planning more hunts this year and putting in for whatever tags I can get for me and my dad. I hope to get him up to Alaska at some point before he can't do it anymore. He used to take me birding all the time. When I asked for a BB gun, I got a .410. I have the bug again, and I'm glad I can afford to take my old man out for some fun now that I can repay him for all he ever did for me. Hunting is more about the animals, it's about spending time in the outdoors with those you love.

 

[BullonIce]

Never knew anything but hunting and outdoors. I grew up chasing all sorts of critters of the woods of Georgia, now it has progressed to chasing critters where ever I am lucky enough to draw a tag!

 

[beginnerhunter]

I was on Instagram and saw a picture of some guys with flat brims holding a giant buck in the mountains and thought "SHEEEESH, that looks f***in sick!!". So me and the boys started an Instagram page and YouTube channel and applying for every tag in every state until we get enough followers to just buy kicka** landowner tags and guided hunts. We usually just donate the meat tho since we don't care for taste of wild game. Need more sponsors so we can take this full time and beat out the locals to the prime hunting areas around Bozeman.

In all seriousness, when I was a kid my Dad and older brother went squirrel hunting and I wanted to go bad. Then started hunting deer in Junior high and high school. Didn't have much success through college and grad school. Then got much more into it after meeting my wife and her family that hunted. Now I hunt more than almost everyone I know personally. Still feel like a beginner much of the time. I hope I can pass this along to my kids so they have the same love and appreciation for the natural world.

 

[FranklinME]

My family all hunted. Dad gave me a recurve at about 7 or 8 and told me I was in charge of varmint control around the farm. Shot so many groundhogs I was walking miles to find any to hunt. Learned how to catch them by hand and let them go so I had something to do.

 

[belshawelk]

My dad said, you wanna eat, go hunt something to eat.

 

[Zak]

Nobody in my family hunted or owned guns, never even hiked outside. But I did read a lot of books. I remember reading a biography of Teddy Roosevelt in my 20's and I was thinking "this guy shoots something on almost every page" and it led me to research hunting and the outdoors.

 

[coker737]

Dad introduced me and my twin to hunting

 

[Raghorn5]

My Dad and Grandpa used my brother and I as retrievers for dove every September. Dad had a lot of patience teaching us to shoot and hunt small game. Grandpa got us hunting javelina followed by deer and elk.

 

[Kelly14]

Moved out to Arizona a few years ago and started hiking a lot and exploring the backcountry. Obsessed with being outdoors, I felt like hunting was the next step.

 

[Anschutz]

My dad started taking me along when I was 5 or 6. Got my first deer rifle at 9 and shot my first deer at 12. I've been chasing all manner of game ever since.

 

[rke]

High School football buddy got me into chasing quail when I was 18, and I've never looked back.

 

[Buckbrush]

I didn't grow up hunting. My dad was from Germany I don't think he ever fired a gun in his life until he had to enlist in the military for citizen ship. Anyway that was before I came along. After my parents got a divorce I remember all the boys would be gone at elementary school during the deer hunt and I wanted to be able to go so bad. Nobody hunted around me. When we would go to Idaho for family reunions and stuff my grandmothers brothers would let us shoot starling's and Jackrabbits. I had a love for hunting magazines especially Patrick f McManus in the back of outdoor life. When I got my first car at sixteen is when killed my 1st deer with a bow. My mom was very active in the outdoors hiking and camping.
I think she took us to every national park in Utah before I was 12 and quite a few in the other western state's including some in Virginia. So I wasn't completely unaccustomed to the woods.

 

[devon deer]

My mum got me into it, she married a townie, she was a farmers daughter, my dad wouldn't let me have an air rifle, so I went out, cut down some hazel, made a bow, made my own arrows and off I went....some weeks later I shot my first rabbit with it, closely followed by another with my home made catapult, my dad caved, I got an air rifle, never looked back, sold the rabbits to a butcher, used the money to fund a shotgun, then years later a rifle.

I wouldn't have a clue how many deer of shot over the years, must be 2000+
Thanks mum!

Cheers

Richard

 

[Akcabin]

There are either too many hunters and not enough places to hunt or not enough game and too many shots fired.

Yah know I read this a lot. Can you still get out ? That's a win. You have yours, there are others who would love the chance to enjoy all the great things that I have enjoyed. On our great public lands. Do you maybe have to work a bit harder than you believe you should have to to be able to successfully harvested game. It ain't easy.
And then there is the part about getting out. And being able to harvest some meat for your family is a priority. But still considered just icing on a cake that already tastes great. You had the opportunity to go get out. From there it's up to you.
Hey just my opinion n meant to be constructive

 

[Akcabin]

Shoot ! I don't think anyone could have stopped me. It's just something I always wanted. Growing up I would pick crawlers n sell returnable bottles to fund my adventures. Mom n dad couldn't. And it felt kinda good to be able to have a bowl full of bluegill filets in a bowl of salted water waiting for mom when she got home from work n had to feed 7 kids. She didn't like the squirrels. For mom , out of sight n no neighbors squealing on me for screwing up. You know you were in for trouble when someone would stop you n asked who your parents were. May not be today but it's coming. That was enough to keep me straight. And I didn't want to hurt mom's feelings.
Deer season in wi is a ritual. Dad would take a well deserved nap while I keep an eye out.
. Arriving in AK as a young man. Got hired on to hang out in the bush n fight forest fires. Actually paid to get flown around the state, go hang in the woods fighting fires. When they would lay down enough to get a break sit around a campfire n go crash under a spruce tree. Loved it.
We have access to kazillions of square miles of public lands out the back door. We homeschooled our kids so being able to harvest n process n cook our dinner was just part of the coriculum. And now doing it all over again with our grandson.
I went out in 30 below weather n staked 20 acres of land, while you still could, and built a log cabin so I could spend more time out, and share it with my family. And we will be able provide opportunities to our kids n grandchildren n more forever. To go enjoy all ak has to offer. And do it in a respectful way that can say thank you, back to the public lands that have provided for me. To continue to build on the dreams of a 5 year old looking at pictures of outdoors magazines.
And I will continue to do all I can to protect our public lands and all that it has to offer our future. And show them them all I know about how to continue n protect our fish n game while enjoying the bounty. Shoot you might even get the opportunity to harvest some of the best protiens in the world for your family.
Being in the outdoors is just what I enjoyed most and I was gut hooked. And had by a Gotcha. An ancient hunting tool. And when I hit Alaska. I was all in man

 

[Firehead117]

4 yrs old went with my dad to recover a whitetail he shot at dusk the day before. He had me butchering, carrying rifles for him, and casting 45 bullets for reloading soon after. Didn’t miss a opener with him after that. Shot my first whitetail (8pt) fully solo at 9. And just lit a fire in me and stuck as my hobby of choice. Wish I got to do it with him more.

 

[338BearHunter]

My dad hunted pheasant when I was young. He gave up before I was old enough to partake, but I did join him on a few hunts.

I didn't take up hunting myself until I reached the ripe old age of 47. Bought some wooded acreage strictly as an investment. I thought "This makes it easier to give hunting a try". The wife was encouraging, but she steered me in the direction of bear. "I don't like venison, so why don't you try bear hunting?"

One unsuccessful season and I was hooked. Since I was completely self-taught, I talked her into letting me go to a bear camp the next year. Been going every year since, so now I get two chances for a bear every fall. Also do turkey and deer, but those are mainly afterthoughts.

My daughter, now 17, got into bear hunting in 2019. Took her first bear in 2020 on my land. Now she goes to camp with me every year.

One of life's bigger regrets for me is not taking up hunting sooner. Better late than never, I suppose. Still (hopefully) have a few decades left.