Who taught you to hunt?

[corkin it]

My dad was the first person to introduce me to hunting. Had some great times with him. Still makes it out for a duck hunt every year. I can remember what an incredible shot he was. Dropping dove like nobodies business.

 

I had a family friend when I was 14 introduce me to bowhunting. Its one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I still hunt with a recurve. That first hunt was for javelina. We walked up from the base of redington pass . The sky was overcast and the streams were actually running. The smells and the freedom of being out with the chance at slinging an arrow was incredible. To this day javelina are my favorite animal to bowhunt....even over elk. Its those early experiences that keep me there.

 

Really great memories and I cant thank them enough for giving me those opportunities. I hope my son will feel the same way one day.

[bgshooter]

I'm the first in my family to even think about hunting and eating meat that's not beef, chicken, pork or fish.

 

I learned how to hunt by reading on the internet. I'm still learning. I've only hunted dove and squirrel. I'm trying to involve my kids as much as possible. I've still got a lot to learn and I appreciate everyone on this site for their knowledge and willing to share with people like me.

 

For 2015, I plan on having 3 camping trips with my family...a rabbit camp in March, a fishing camp in May and a squirrel camp in October. I hope to do this every year and have my kids grow up loving to hunt (they already love to camp). My wife will just be there for moral support . Of course, I'll be out dove hunting in Sept and Nov/Dec.

 

I hope to add big game hunting as the years go by and I gain more gear and knowledge.

 

Thanks again to everyone here!!! Merry Christmas to you all. God Bless...

[Tres]

My dad, my cousin, books and experience taught me how to hunt.

[POB]

My dad and Jack O'Conner (by way of Out Door Life magazine). My Dad loved to hunt birds, mostly dove because he could sit in a folding chair and drink beer and send us kids out to retrieve his kills. He was a pretty good shoot with that old model 12 win. 20 ga. He liked to get up high and glass for deer way back in the 60's. I thought it was because he was rather heavy, I believed in the "bust 'em and blast 'em" method. After I finished high school I went in the navy for 4 years, when I got back the state had switched to the current permit draw system, before that you bought a tag and went hunting. I killed a small mulie in 27 that first year back but then kids and the economy caused me to miss more hunts than I went on. After Reagan, things picked up for me and I was able to start hunting on a more steady basis and learned what my dad knew so many years ago about sitting and glassing. He's been gone for many years now and I'm trying to teach my grandsons what little I've learned. Hopefully they will love it as much as I have.

[Hoss50]

I will expound on my original post.

 

My grandmother became a single mom after running from an abusive relationship. She left Iowa and moved to AZ when my dad was about 5 years old. He never had a father figure really and didn't get taught much about outdoors early in life. He did finally get to try dove hunting with a neighbor sometime when he was probably a teenager. He enjoyed it and him and some local neighborhood kids started dove hunting and then deer hunting later on. I remember from a very young age going out to deer camp with my dad and his buddies and there families. I stayed in camp with the ladies and kids until I was old enough to hunt. His friends, him included were not skilled hunters but mostly when's hunting to go camping and drinking. They hunted but none of them are what I would consider dedicated hunters so I really didn't learn much hunting from them.

 

By the time I was old enough to hunt my dad had stopped hunting with that group of guys and it was just him and me, and sometimes some of my friends that he would let me bring out. I don't consider my father a good hunter, but I do credit him for getting me started, and really getting my best buddy who is still my #1 hunting buddy started. My dad has never had many successful hunts, and neither have I, but I am learning and still enjoy it. I have never killed a large game animal on my own yet but hope to change that soon. My dad and I did tag team a cow elk as our only elk we have ever put down. I learned a lot from that hunt.

 

Our biggest consistent hunting trips were dove. I learned to hunt dove starting around the age of 10 with an old full choke 16 gauge single shot shotgun. The first time out the only shells we could find were high base heavy game loads. My first trip out I got the crap kicked out of me but I loved it. I got pretty good and patient learning with a single shot shotgun. I eventually was allowed to move to Mossberg pump with a modified choke and life was grand. We had many good hunting trips for dove. I still hunt the same water holes we hunted 15+ years ago and even though other spots might be better, those water holes are what I know and remember from him.

 

My dad was a big time gun enthusiast and I am as well. We never had a lot of money growing up but we saved out nickels and dimes (literally) to get the cash saved for that next gun item. We went shooting as much as we could afford and loved doing it. He taught me the fundamentals of shooting and marksmanship the best he knew how. I am still refining my novice skills trying to get better but he was the base of my knowledge on all things outdoors.

 

My dad is still alive but he has severe back issues and can't hunt and probably could shoot more than a 22lr without hurting himself. I wish he was still able to go afield with me but he cannot. Now my best buddy and I are going out as much as we can get drawn for and get time off work. My first son is almost 3 and he has already been on 2 javelina scouting trips with me and has loved it. I have another son due in March and I plan to do the same with him.

 

Being outdoors and learning to shoot are now frowned upon more than ever before, but that just makes me want to make sure I pass on as much as I can to my sons and anyone else who will go. I took a coworker out last year on his first deer hunt and he enjoyed it enough to put in on all my tags since, and make several gun investments since. He has also started putting in for turkey with his roommate which I chose not to hunt this year, but might start next year.

 

Learn everything you can from anyone willing to teach you, and learn more on your own and refine the knowledge someone was kind enough to pass on.

 

Harley

[jp0212]

Man, super surprised to see so many people that had to go out and learn it on their own. I started getting really interested in my teens. Finally, one year I went out and picked up a bow and got started. Haven't looked back since. I'm addicted. Still have a lot to learn but its coming along.

[Havasuhunter]

Me

[azruger]

My GRANDFATHER(BUDDY CULPEPPER) and uncle(DANNY CULPEPPER). Taught me everything about fishing and hunting. Grandpa taught me fishing and small game uncle taught me the ins and out of big game and glassing. Grandpa is gone now but his spirit of the outdoors lives on through me.

[Shannondale33]

My father

[naturebob]

My Dad. I had 4 sisters ,no Bro. and He took Me when ever we could go. In the summer we would hunt groundhogs as we were in Pennsylvania. Moved out here when I was 21 in 1977 ,and thats the only thing I missed was hunting with Dad. He will be 96 years old Sept. 19th. I have a plane ticket to go back. He is in good shape. Hope He can keep going.Bless this Great man............BOB!

[JakeUSMC]

My dad and grandfather gave me a good baseline and I took it from there. Grandfather taught me to shoot and the values of harvesting game. Pops taught me how to prepare, stay warm, field dress, track, and take care of the meat and fur. Everything else I learned through mistakes and being out in the wilderness. I taught myself how to Bowhunt......still have much to learn.

[metau]

A good friend of mine taught (used very loosely) how to hunt big game after I got out of the service and moved to Gunnison. He convinced me that I should elk hunt, and on the third day of my first hunt, he had to leave camp and head back to work for a few days. I asked what exactly I was supposed to do once I shot an elk. He asked in reply if I had ever cleaned a fish before. I nodded in affirmation, to which he said "gutting an elk is just like gutting a fish, only bigger." I am sure he was laughing the whole way back to town.

[portas.d.ace]

my dad got me into it though he was a sucky hunted. i loved the out doors and nature. i got better after many years of training and learning,

[Jcubed]

Honestly JLG. He taught me more about hunting than my dad ever did. Thanks John

[Delw]

My Father did, right after he hooked me on fishing. some time in early 1963 chichi jima japan

 

found this while cleaning files out of a old pc.