gwrbassin

Ok I am new to the forum but my grandfather got me into hunting when I was 8 or 9 he would take me and my brothers out small game hunting. I had pretty much given up hunting when I moved out of state to nebraska. However 5 years ago my brother died in a boating accident and it brought me back home. I was looking for any way to feel closer to my brother and he was very big in deer hunting and fishing. I also loved to fish and was going out regularly. However my father was no longer going deer hunting since my brothers accident so I asked him if he would go with me. Well I never understood why anyone would sit in the cold and wait for one animal to come in front of them now i know. That year I killed my first deer a small 4 pointer and I have never had so much fun. That was 3 years ago and now I cant wait for season each year. My father no longer hunts with me do to health but my best friend and I hunt together. I only shotgun hunt for now becasue I am still practicing with my bow until I feel more comfortable I will not hunt with it. Sorry this is so long but this thread really got me thinking about it.

ilovehunting

Mike is his name. The man who got me into this addiction. I am a first generation hunter my dad deciding to go through hunters saftey with me. He(mike) first brought me out when I was 10 two years before I could legally hunt. But boy when those two years were up I jumped into it. The first 2 years were all trial and error without me bagging a thing. These last 3 years have produced 3 deer out of the last three seasons. I no longer hunt with Mike as I have moved on and prefer going into rifle country instead of staying here in shotgun territory. I learned alot from him and the rest has as I said before trial and error. Mostly error though. I now hunt with different people every year as where I gun hunt tends to change year to year. And now here I am more addicted than ever. Thanks Mike.

shed33

My father got me started, but I really had no chance to escape hunting. Everyone in my family, including my fathers side and mothers side hunted to put meat in the freezer annually. They used to throw the antlers away, sell them or give them away...how timeshave changed...I've been fortunate to hunt elk in the Idaho wilderness packing in 20+ miles as a kid..with Gramps and my dad and my uncles...it was spectacular..we killed some awesome bulls, for me I didnt know any different. it was our way of life..still is... Hunting is much more pressured here now a days but still good hunting..if you get off the beaten path...

Today I hunt, Elk, Whitetails, Bear, Turkeys for the most part..

I am a self taught whitetail/turkey hunter... Dad taught me how to hunt elk and mule deer. Whitetails are my passion..love em

I pretty much hunt alone since my brother lives 4 hours away. We used to hunt a ton together..Imiss that, hes my best friend...he still makes it up for 3 trips a year...whitetails and bear...Ialways try to spend a couple weeks or weekendsa year hunting with friends and since I have been a member of this site have hunted with over a 10 guys from here too! its been a treat making lifelong friendships..

Now that my two sons are 3 and 5 they will progressively join me more and more. Jess my oldest and I got our first animal together last Turkey season... It was awesome! My wife gets to join me a little bit, but she says she will hunt more once the boys are older. We areplanning our first Bear camp this spring..for the entire family. It should be fun.

ButchA

* Nobody really got me into hunting. I guess I've always had an interest, but just had nobody to show me how. My grandfather, father, uncles, numerous friends of theirs used to hunt way back in the 50's and early 60's. But see, I'm the baby of the family... When it was my time to "come of age" - they had all given it up. [&o]

* I learned from the hunter education course, remembering stories my dad would tell me, and I learned about hunting from magazine articles, TV shows, and of course -- all you guys!

* I mostly go bowhunting alone, as I don't really have any close friends/family/neighbors/etc... who hunt. But when firearms season comes in, I hunt with a great group of guys out in the mountains of Virginia in a deer hunting camp. It's the kind of place where (thinking back) my dad, uncles, etc.. would have been right at home.

* Besides deer, I hunt turkeys, small game (rabbits), and occasionally, waterfowl if I'm up to it.


Butch A.

TreeDreamer

Some people must be born with the hunting gene already in them. Whenever my family moved to the country I started taking walks in the woods, Now I cant stay out of them. Whenever I think back to those days, and look at myself now, I can almost recall every lesson learned through trial and error. My biggest heartbreak was when my bowhunting partner(Afriend from school) passed away in a car accident, I thought I was going to quit hunting but after a few years I learned to look at things a bit differently. Since then, I have made numerous hunting friends....... One thing I can honestly say is that some of the finest friendships I have ever had were a result from hunting.

brang05

My Dad started me hunting. That was really the only time he wanted anything to do with his kids, and hisidea of hunting was nothing like mine now. He and his friends had a hunting club, but they mostly drove around road hunting, running draws and drinking. They would shoot anything that moved. When I was about 14 I started bowhunting on my own-using an old recurve given to me by a family friend-on my Great Grandparents farm after school and on the weekends. That is how I developed the love of the game.
I got outof hunting for a few years due to work and financial problems. It was during this time that I was running a check in station in my county and really started missing the hunt. I got the fever and started hunting again. Dont know how I ever did without it.
I still hunt alone for the most part, but am lucky enough to have my kids to take with me once in a while. I dont take them nearly enough because I enjoy the alone time and they have things to do also, but I pray that I have instilled a love of the outdoors in them.

muckland

Forth orfith genaration huntinan trappin fools.. my great grandaddy started me on muskrats when i was 5. Ran coon hounds for years. we been eatin wild game since i was born. been killin deer for 30 years.could not imagin life with out being in the great out doors.

Chuck7

Kids at school got me into hunting back in the 60s. I taught myself exclusively. I had a real mean step dad and spent lots of hours hunting to just advoid the home life. I hated school and my mom subscribed me to Outdoor Life , Field and Stream and Sports Afield. I would read those mags.
C7

Hunterbrum

I have to give that credit to my brother. Noone in my family hunted when I was a kid. My brother started hunting with a friend in highschool. And soon after that he got me involved.

PA Hardwoods

I would have to attribute my love of hunting to my Grandfather Byron Keiter. Unfortunately I never got to hunting with him because he died of cancer before I was 12 (the legal age to hunt in PA) But I do remember the great stories he used to tell me and I think that is what got my hnting juices flowing. My father liked to hunt but not as much as my grandfather but deffinitly showed me the basics and taught me proper ethics. I can still remember that proud look on his face when I took my first deer. It was a 150 yd heart shot that dropped a big doe in her tracks. As far as archery is concerned I pretty much learned that on my own. My father is the one who intorduced it too me when I was probably about 10 when he gave me a 25lb fibergalss Ben Pearson super Jet recurve that was his when he was a kid. I would shoot that bow all day long. He then bought me my first compound at about 12. it was a Golden Eagle target bow that a co-worker of his who shot for Golden Eagle had that was brand new and sold to us for $100. I still have both of those bows. But I didn't start archery hunting until I went to college 11 years ago when I had some friends that convinced me to go.

I almost always hunt with my Buddy Jeff whom I work with. We've hunted together for about the past 7 years. I also make time to hunt during rifle season with my father and have recently gotten him into turkey hunting. I also Hunt during rifle season with my father-in-law at the camp I go to with him.

Well as for what I hunt, I hunt Whitetails, Turkeys, Bowfish for shark and stingray, coyote, and in the near future I hope to be able to hunt for Elk, Mule deer, Sika deer, and Bear. Most likely I am probably going to try hunting archery bear since PA now has a archery only bear season now.