Adult onset hunting

[DenverCountryBoy]

I came across this article and someone else who suffers from AOH, it really spoke to me.

Start Hunting at Any Age | Outdoor Life

Thank you rocksliders for being my teachers, I look forward to continuing my education.

Anyone else here have AOH?

 

[Bagel_7]

That was a very cool article, and the little videos made it better. I'm an adult onset hunter and I can attest to the same feelings he had. The group of friends I had that hunted peaked my interest but I could tell right away they were not the type of hunters I wanted to learn from and eventually reached out to others to show me the ropes.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I began at age 49 and after my first successful hunt with a rifle switched it up and got a bow. The gun was too easy and the kill anticlimactic for me. Today is my 58th birthday and bow hunting remains the greatest challenge I have undertaken and the most fulfilling! I've learned a lot but am still a rank amateur. I have hunted many states and added Canada last fall, chased hogs, bear, moose, elk, bison, deer and predators as well as the occasional waterfowl (I'm Luke Skybuster w/ a shotgun). If you're old enough you'll just accept that you're going to suffer some...a week or two in the backcountry living out of a backpack will test your mettle and reveal what you've got inside. You will experience the peak of highs and the deepest of lows...often in the same trip. You will bleed, cry in physical and emotional pain, question your resolve, curse your body and revel at Mother Nature's fury and beauty. After a number of years you will no longer enter the woods with a sense of foreboding, instead you will hike into the darkness with resolve and confidence, comfortable being alone and then, on that day you will realize you have crossed a threshold. You are now no longer a guy who hunts...you are a hunter. This is a big transition and when it happens you'll probably realize you are alone in a place you've never been, focused on killing a huge bull elk with a bugle that sounds like he's a chain smoker and all you are doing is pursuing that animal. The surroundings that were once daunting and ominous are now home. At least, that's how it was for me. Oh and I did get close to that elk herd before getting busted and watching em trot over the ridgeline. I swear that badass bull stopped at the top, looked back at me and stuck his tongue out. Rookie status confirmed.

If you're a hunting newbie, here's some advice:
Hire a guide at least once, the education is priceless.
Treat a good hunting buddy like he's gold because he is.
Push your limits but don't push your luck...know when to say "enough" and listen to what your body is screaming at you.
Trust your gut...if you get a strong feeling it's probably your instincts trying to prevent you from making a mistake.
Learn all you can the easy way, from those who learned the hard way. I suck at this and have the scars to prove it.
Be ethical, be safe, enjoy the moment and when in a new area, be sure to look behind you so you'll recognize the terrain coming back.
The things you'll regret the most are the things you didn't do but wanted to...not the things you did poorly.

 

[ezmorningrebel]

i married into hunting at the age of 27. i grew up fishing but my dad just wasn't into hunting and i was never exposed to it. the second year my wife and I were married she said she wanted deer meat having grown up eating it all the time. She got me to go hunting with her dad and I killed a deer on my second hunt with him. i was hooked. after two seasons of hunting only during the two weeks of general firearms I quickly realized I wanted to extend my time in the woods and bought a muzzleloader. couple years later bought a bow. now my wife can't keep my in the house from october to january but as long as the fridge gets packed she's happy.

 

[Loco4dux]

I've hunted my entire life and introduced/taught a few people how to hunt. Great article.

 

[40watt]

It's a steep learning curve. I started at 42. No mentors. No partners. Still looking forward to my first success.

 

[wesfromky]

It's a steep learning curve. I started at 42. No mentors. No partners. Still looking forward to my first success.

Pretty much me, but at 45. Lots of youtube, forums, and podcasts, along with a ton of mistakes and missed opportunities. But, still psyched to give it another go next fall.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I'm mid 30s and started 8-9yrs ago, with things really starting to solidly come together the last few years. I grew up fishing/camping and then was into climbing, etc. but didn't grow up with hunters (even though I had some interest) and took a while till I decided to make it priority to try it and now its my main obsession.

 

[BroodBuster]

I was 23 and on strike. I drew the midnight picket duty when four dudes with three dogs and hundred or so decoys rolled up. After the picket duty shift they were headed out on a duck hunt. Well with the rivers flooded I borrowed a roommates shotgun and with a hand sketched map a duck hunting I went. The following weekend my roommate and some friends came out and were stunned that I actually found their pot hole among the 100 other pot holes. All I really remember from that hunt was sitting in a blind on a bluebird day with no ducks flying when I had to ask dumbfounded, "You actually sit here all day while cock pheasants cackle all around you?"

Once the strike ended I bought a shotgun and a Brittany with the signing bonus. I've been an avid upland hunter ever since although I do enjoy an opening day duck hunt most years.

About a decade later they moved the duck opener to the same day as the gun deer opener so I followed my friends on my first deer hunt. Been hooked ever since!

p.s. If I had of taken that signing bonus and bought Microsoft stock instead of a shotgun I'd have about 10 million in the bank. If you want to get rich in this world save young and save often!!!

 

[V65Magna]

i married into hunting at the age of 27. i grew up fishing but my dad just wasn't into hunting and i was never exposed to it. the second year my wife and I were married she said she wanted deer meat having grown up eating it all the time. She got me to go hunting with her dad and I killed a deer on my second hunt with him. i was hooked. after two seasons of hunting only during the two weeks of general firearms I quickly realized I wanted to extend my time in the woods and bought a muzzleloader. couple years later bought a bow. now my wife can't keep my in the house from october to january but as long as the fridge gets packed she's happy.

This closely parallels my story. Met a great blonde in College in 1989 and she took me home to meet her family in the mountains of western/central PA that fall. Her dad is a great craftsman and hunter and he showed me his Remington 760 gamemaster in .30-06. I was intrigued and shortly after we were married a couple years later, bought a 700 BDL and a hunting license and he took me hunting. I shot my first spike buck that year and have been hooked ever since. In 1996, I bought a Darton Renegade and started bowhunting, then a .243 and started varmint hunting, etc., etc.

I now own my own hunting property. They say that as you mature as a hunter, your focus shifts from pursuing the trophies to seeking the gratification that comes from seeing newcomers succeed at this wonderful sport. I am in the midst of that transition and I'm really looking forward to being part of a new hunters unforgettable first hunt.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

I started hunting in high school, and at 30 now feel I am still behind the curve, even after doing it half of my life.

The biggest benefit to doing it as an adult is being able to afford quality equipment, optics, clothing, and access to certain areas. Unfortunately, having the means to start your hunting career with “bucket list” hunts is likely to slow your progress and learning.

Jumping around to elk hunt in CO, pronghorn in WY, mule deer in MT, without having developed basic skills, will keep you from really figuring things out.

I’ve learned this with fishing over the last year. Previously, I used to be surprised and thrilled if I managed to catch a fish on my fishing trips, as I was so terrible at it. I was constantly trying new areas with different baits and conditions, and never really learned anything.

This year I went to an area that I knew held fish and used a common/proven bait, over and over again. I finally started learning something and now expect to catch them every time I go out, to the point that when I don’t get a bite in over an hour I can understand what the problem is and modify my tactics.

Find an area that you know has deer, and hunt it as much as possible. You will learn how the weather, time of year, food sources, etc, affect their behavior and start really figuring things out. You might hunt 2-3 years with no success, but it will eventually start to click. Good luck!

 

[Smash]

Growing up I wasn’t drawn to hunting a ton. My friends all hunted and I would always sit and talk to them and would get excited when they were successful. While in high school and a couple years after I worked at a meat market that processed about 500 deer a year as well as got my hands on some sheep, ram, bear, red stag, and elk. It was a great learning experience for me be able to skin and process animals on a professional level.

When I finished college I moved from the city to northern Michigan. My wife wanted to hunt so Bought her a cross bow for Christmas. She never touched it. The next year I missed processing animals so I bout the cheapest ladder stand I could find, some cheap camo, and a Michigan whitetail Tag and hunted about 100 yards from my house. With no teachers or family that I hunted I did what I do with any other hobby or interest and turned to YouTube and the forums. I shortly ended up with a lone wolf stand and started to learn more about deer. That first season was last year at 27 and I saw one doe all season. I was fortunately able to put a bolt right behind its shoulder and I was hooked.

This year I switched to a compound and saw at least a couple dear every time I went out due to more effort in scouting but got skunked due to lack of confidence in shooting longer than 30 yards and learning when to draw.

I did have an awesome season and was able to get out and be more comfortable than ever going farther into the woods and was getting on some deer but just unable to close the deal.

Coming into this year I have high hopes for whitetail season as well as planning an archery elk hunt for September which is what brought me to the slide.

Catching the hunting bug has been one of the best things that has happened to me. Other than the whitetail it has led me to waterfowl, Turkey, small game, and upland hunting. Being in the great white north a little bit of ice fishing has happened as well.

For me moving to an area where my closest neighbor is a half mile away and having thousands of acres of public land with in walking distance of my house to play on has allowed me have a blast and live a much more stress free life.


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[Crusty]

Adult Onset Hunting - sounds like a disease. Well its definitely an addiction.
I started archery a while back because my eldest son(now 19) wanted to give it a go. I had no interest in hunting animals - or so I told myself.
Was happy to let arrows fly at the pictures on the target butts.
Then I arranged to meet a couple of fishing mates at a property 3 hours drive from my place where there was a trout stream, but they were there to bowhunt.
Anyway I got crook and missed the first couple of days but made the effort to get up there for the last day just to catch up with them mainly.
On last morning I went for a walk with my mate. He had his bow and I had a camera and we came across some goats. So we started a stalk.
What a totally involving and captivating experience. I didn't catch a trout that weekend but hunting hooked me.

I'm still as green as, have got a couple of rabbits with my bow. Have have stories of bad luck and changes of wind causing me to miss out.
Got my firearms license and acquired some rifles (not super easy in Australia) but I still haven't knocked over a bigger animal yet. Looking forward to putting some meat in my freezer, but still a lot to learn.

Crusty

 

[fngTony]

Married into it. I always felt there was something to do in the outdoors, just didn’t expect hunting. Went skiing once, hated it. I always liked camping and backpacking but it didn’t scratch the itch. I finally agreed to just tag along on two trips one fall. I started hunting myself the next year. As other hobbies died off hunting just became an obsession. I only hunt deer and elk in state but enjoy the year round planning, shooting, physical and mental prep.

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

I got into hunting after I blew out my back.

In the summer of 2016, I was digging fence posts holes around the garden when I ruptured the L5-S1 disc and herniated the L4-L5 disc. The pain was constant and unrelenting. I was prescribed 8 vicodin a day as well as a muscle relaxer and nerve strengthener. The least awful position was lying flat on the floor. Everything else was excruciating. So that is what I did for a month and a half. The worst part, even more than the pain, was feeling like a failure for not being able to help my wife with our two kids who were 1 and 3 years old.

I burned through the Netflix and Amazon play lists pretty quickly. Being stuck inside, I yearned for the outdoors and looked for those types of shows. That is how I found MeatEater and Fresh Tracks.

After a month and a half, it was time to start physical therapy. They told me most people take 6-9 months of rehab for that type of injury. My main goal was to improve enough so I could pick up my kids. I worked hard, did everything that was asked of me, and finished rehab in 6 weeks.

I kept watching those shows while icing my back post workouts. My wife suggested I should set a new goal and that if I liked those shows so much, I should give it a try. We agreed that if I was going to do it, I would do it right.

That got me headed down this path. 2017 was my first year elk hunting. I got a muzzleloader tag and a 2nd rifle tag, both antlerless. I had a shot blocked by a dead fall branch during ML season, clean miss, and shot an antlerless bull calf during rifle.

This year I hope to repeat getting into animals to prove it wasn't just dumb luck.

 

[Smash]

Had an another interesting adventure in adult onset hunting. Hunting in Michigan I have never taken hunter safety and have had not trouble getting a license. However for the Utah hunt I needed to have it to get a license.

So yesterday I did my hunter safety field day with a few students who were quite younger than me. It was great to see them all take an interest at a young age. Awkward for my walking around with a fake shot gun with young kids but had to get it done. Can’t say I can learned anything. But did come away with an appreciation for the state for offering a free course to get young people interested in the outdoors.


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[elkguide]

My AOH disease set in when I was 9 years old.

It's been a real challenge my entire life and I've finally come to accept that the only cure is another hunt!

 

[TacoHunter]

Is western AOH a thing? Moved out west a couple years ago and felt like I was relearning how to hunt cause the style is so drastically different.


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[Wild Bob]

I got into hunting after I blew out my back.

In the summer of 2016, I was digging fence posts holes around the garden when I ruptured the L5-S1 disc and herniated the L4-L5 disc. The pain was constant and unrelenting. I was prescribed 8 vicodin a day as well as a muscle relaxer and nerve strengthener. The least awful position was lying flat on the floor. Everything else was excruciating. So that is what I did for a month and a half. The worst part, even more than the pain, was feeling like a failure for not being able to help my wife with our two kids who were 1 and 3 years old.

I burned through the Netflix and Amazon play lists pretty quickly. Being stuck inside, I yearned for the outdoors and looked for those types of shows. That is how I found MeatEater and Fresh Tracks.

After a month and a half, it was time to start physical therapy. They told me most people take 6-9 months of rehab for that type of injury. My main goal was to improve enough so I could pick up my kids. I worked hard, did everything that was asked of me, and finished rehab in 6 weeks.

I kept watching those shows while icing my back post workouts. My wife suggested I should set a new goal and that if I liked those shows so much, I should give it a try. We agreed that if I was going to do it, I would do it right.

That got me headed down this path. 2017 was my first year elk hunting. I got a muzzleloader tag and a 2nd rifle tag, both antlerless. I had a shot blocked by a dead fall branch during ML season, clean miss, and shot an antlerless bull calf during rifle.

This year I hope to repeat getting into animals to prove it wasn't just dumb luck.

Glad to read that things are looking up for you physically, and really glad to read that you discovered hunting! It's never too late to take up an endeavor you are interested in and if we as hunters don't get more people interested...it will be bad down the road.

I'm one of the biggest recluses you'll ever meet and while I cherish and love those days in the field when I don't see another soul - we need to keep enough folks doing this or we'll all be spending our Saturday afternoons parked at the bar watching a ball game.

Good luck to you this season.

 

[Beendare]

I really got started hunting in my 20's...chasing hogs with dogs. Late 20's I did my first elk hunt....after that I think I only missed one fall elk season.

I had the benefit of bowhunting CO OTC ground back when we would only see a couple other hunters....and you could blow on a corrugated pipe and have bulls come charging in. I think the best part is we could cover 20 miles....and then do it again day after day......

......but then we didn't have the resources we have now. Heck, programs like that Chis Roe stuff cuts 10 years off of your learning curve hunting elk.

I will be happy to try and help out any new western bowhunters...... just shoot me a PM.