How Long Have You Been Hunting ...

[Ninering62]

Seems like 10 is a magic age for a lot of us I'm 77 got a JC Higgins from Sears for Christmas when I was 10. Still have it in the safe times and people have changed. I understand now what the good old days means and miss them

Yessir & well said.

 

[Ninering62]

First attempts at hunting at 7 and 9 years old with dad. I was so noisy we were never going to find deer. My guess is the old man was cool with that.

First real hunting, at around 21. I spent a Summer shooting rabbits. Roasted rabbit was much better than anything else.

Tried hunting with my brother a few times in my mid 20's. Never got squat.

10 years ago I decided to get serious. Got my first muzzle loader rifle (I have had BP colt style revolvers since my teens. Dad wouldn't let me shoot his .50 as he was sure it would be too much gun for me.) and started to learn them from this site. That Fall I got a deer. Since then I have gotten 5 of them.

Thanks for sharing your story with us. I grew up " country " all the men hunted & most fished as well, but rarely a female. Its nice to hear & read stories like yours. I started hunting at 8yrs old with a .410 Savage single shot. I had to learn how to hit squirrels, rabbits, doves, pigeons, quail, groundhogs all with that gun for almost 5 yrs when I got handed down a beat up old Rem .22 bolt action & a 12ga pump. I love to this day, rabbit hunting & wing shooting. I have a Pedersoli BP 12ga SxS, but I'm having built a .410 BP shotgun barrel to go on a sporter style sidelock stock as my designated Turkey gun. I live about dead center of Osceola turkey zone. Love me some turkey hunting too. I killed my first Osceola turkey with my TC Seneca with a custon twist .40 barrel on it a cpl yrs ago. It was really cool takin a big turkey at around 100yds with the muzzleloader & peep sights.

 

[gunpa]

Born and raised in northwestern Montana. My Dad worked to support a big family but my Grandpa being a hunter and trapper swooped in and took me with him. It was a great way to grow up! Started at age 5. That's been 64 years ago.

 

[Ninering62]

Born and raised in northwestern Montana. My Dad worked to support a big family but my Grandpa being a hunter and trapper swooped in and took me with him. It was a great way to grow up! Started at age 5. That's been 64 years ago.

NIce, my grandpa as well made me the hunter & shooter I am today, not my father.

 

[Josephg]

I hunted from an early age about 1965. Took my first deer when I was 14. Still have the rifle. Hunted and fished every year until about 1982. My work took me on the road at that point and hunting regulations were changing so much I just couldn't hunt any longer. I did go on an elk hunt on the Manastash about 1996. I mostly went for the horse back riding and camping, Bills cooking and Crown Royal. I'm just an old target shooter now and no longer have any desire to hunt game.

 

[Ninering62]

I hunted from an early age about 1965. Took my first deer when I was 14. Still have the rifle. Hunted and fished every year until about 1982. My work took me on the road at that point and hunting regulations were changing so much I just couldn't hunt any longer. I did go on an elk hunt on the Manastash about 1996. I mostly went for the horse back riding and camping, Bills cooking and Crown Royal. I'm just an old target shooter now and no longer have any desire to hunt game.

Nuthin wrong with any of that.

 

[Slinginslugs]

Been hunting since I can remember. Got pics somewhere sitting on a dog box in the back of a old pickup with a red ryder and a couple of bullfrogs. I was 5. Moved on to squirrels and the coons my grandfather treed until I killed my first buck and a hog when I was 12....TC white mountain carbine .50, man that thing was unstoppable to me when I was a teenager. Stuck a buncha maxi balls in deer with it until I got a TC hawken .50 when I was 19. Shot deer and hogs with it for about 5 years and then started leaning on them unmentionables more. I have moved back in the right direction as of late. I have made a promise to myself to go recurve bow and sidelock this year 🐿

 

[TarponStalker]

I remember my first “deer hunt “ tagging along behind my dad in the Ocala National Forest in Florida. This must’ve been about 1968. I was 8 yrs old. I’m afraid I scared away more deer than I should have. When he told me I had to be quiet I thought whispering was ok. I’ll never forget the look on the faces of three does that trotted up near us when I said” you see em daddy?” Hunt over but the hunt fire was lit.
I killed my first deer at 14. At 62 I still love it but I do a lot more watching than shooting.

 

[Snydly]

Dad started me and my 4 brothers hunting when we turned 6. The rule was, if you did something unsafe you lost your hunting and shooting privileges for one year to the date. One of my older brothers found out that dad meant what he said. One year with no shooting or handling loaded guns(kept on teaching him about safety).. The rest of us took heed!! Started with a Stevens Crackshot .22 which I still own after all these years. We started with cottontails and jackrabbits. moved up to antelope and then to deer and elk. Can't remember ever tasting beef till I was in my teens.

 

[Ninering62]

Dad started me and my 4 brothers hunting when we turned 6. The rule was, if you did something unsafe you lost your hunting and shooting privileges for one year to the date. One of my older brothers found out that dad meant what he said. One year with no shooting or handling loaded guns(kept on teaching him about safety).. The rest of us took heed!! Started with a Stevens Crackshot .22 which I still own after all these years. We started with cottontails and jackrabbits. moved up to antelope and then to deer and elk. Can't remember ever tasting beef till I was in my teens.

The gun safety was drilled into us as well. I got a whole year of just shooting the Savage .410 single shot with gun safety & learning to make the one shot count & not rely on a second shot before I got to actually go hunting with my grandpa at 8yrs old. We all grew up in homes with many guns around, so gun safety started when walking & talking started. Never any worries of anyone doing anything careless or stupid with any gun

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

When I was a lad of 11, we lived on a US Navy base in the Philippines. Somehow my friend and I got hold of one of those BB pistols that looks like a 1911 .45. Dad found out, and "introduced" me to the Marine GySgt on base. The Gunny taught me about firearm safety, and before we moved back to CONUS, had me qualified on every firing weapon in the arsenal! And yes, firing a .50 cal M2 was fun.
When we moved to DC, I found that the Marine HQ in town had a firing range in the basement - used it every Saturday for many long months. Then Dad introduced me to a History Professor at U Maryland, who got me into shooting the Springfield at NSSA meets all around the area.
Been in love with ML shooting ever since. I was 15 at the time, 76 now, so a bunch of years for sure.

 

[nhmoose]

Killed my first squirrel at 10 years old, so 60 years and a few months.

 

[LME]

I feel for ya bud. I to have broken my pelvis, pubic bone, hip & sacrum as well as breakin my back in 4 places on top of two deteriorating discs. Between a near fatal fall in 03 & a near fatal motorcycle crash in 04, im busted up literally from head to toe & full of plates, pins, screws & severe nerve damage. So life in pain & limiting abilities are just the way it is. On a lighter note, I know rain or cold is on the way long before any dang weatherman does. At almost 60 now, I still hunt, & use a self climber stand, my days of hunting alone are nearly over due to my health. I’m grateful I can still shoot & hunt at all

Wow! I thought I was in bad shape? I have heard that if you open your eyes you will see someone that is worse off than you. I see that saying carries a lot of truth. I wish you fellows the best!

 

[Ninering62]

Wow! I thought I was in bad shape? I have heard that if you open your eyes you will see someone that is worse off than you. I see that saying carries a lot of truth. I wish you fellows the best!

Thank ya kindly. I only listed less than half of my injuries there too. Theres much more. Its sure given me a whole new perspective on life as I know it, thats for dang sure. Well wishes to you also.

 

[3 trees]

My dad was raised poor. He never had a gun till he was an adult. They had a shotgun, 22 and a 3030 growing up and they where family guns. In t
1972 he bought me H@R Huntsman…a pound of powder and a bullet mold!! I shoot it everyday and killed deer with it! It’s been all down here since! 65 and still blowing smoke! From the Mrs of WV

 

[Ninering62]

My dad was raised poor. He never had a gun till he was an adult. They had a shotgun, 22 and a 3030 growing up and they where family guns. In t
1972 he bought me H@R Huntsman…a pound of powder and a bullet mold!! I shoot it everyday and killed deer with it! It’s been all down here since! 65 and still blowing smoke! From the Mrs of WV

Thats awesome. All my kin are from western Md. WVa. & Pa. in that corner.

 

[oldwood]

Hunting 69 years. 75 years old , and started with squirrels

 

[Reds]

First squirrel at 6 with my Dad and a Stevens 22/410. I am turning 60 and he is 89 this year and I still thank him for starting me in the outdoors. Started my Son at 6 as well and he is now starting his Son. As for Muzzleloading started in 1980 and still going at it, just was drawn for Cow Elk this year in Colorado and will be using my TC White Mountain Carbine!!!

 

[tradoerr]

Started hunting when I was 10yrs old (small game), big game when I was 14yrs old, so 46 yrs now.

 

[bushytail]

I started at 12 years old. I turn 60 this month.