How long have you been "hunting"?

[Amos Keeto]

At age 2, I can remember my dad and grampa coming from their "lease" with two deer.
I didn't comprehend everything, but I remember it being interesting.
The next fall, at age three, dad took me with him. When it came time to hunt, dad piggybacked me up into the tree stand, wrapped me in a blanket and tied me to the tree so I wouldn't go to sleep and fall out of the tree! LOL!
I turned 75 today. Oct 27th!
Okee-dokee! I didn't really "hunt" for several years.
At age 6, pop handed me a double barrel .410 and I was allowed to shoot a dove off a power line.
That was my first "taste" of blood!
I don't recall my first squirrel or duck or any other game until my first deer in 1967!
Point being, I have been hunting, or in the woods "with" someone hunting (dad or grandad) since I was 3 years old. I missed killing game for some of those years when my kids were young, but I found a place or some time to hunt during those years.

I've been hunting now for 72 years!

 

[Hnthrdr]

Happy Birthday! Fun fact one of our greatest presidents shares Oct 27th as his birthday Teddy Roosevelt!

 

[Amos Keeto]

Happy Birthday! Fun fact one of our greatest presidents shares Oct 27th as his birthday Teddy Roosevelt!

Along with Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower's daughter, Julie.
My mistake. Julie's birthday is 7-5.
.....but John Cleese, Ruby Dee and me can celebrate together!

 

[Hnthrdr]

I’ll celebrate with you too!

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Awesome story!
28 years.
Didn’t start until I was 21.A guy at work took me,killed a doe and buck the same day and was hooked sense.
Never had a chance before that.

 

[Couester]

I’ve only been hunting for 54 years! Still a newbie! I learn something new on every hunting trip! I’ve been blessed to hunt in many states including Alaska 10 times. Hopefully, I’ve got a couple more decades of tromping through the woods left in me.

 

[Will_m]

At age 2, I can remember my dad and grampa coming from their "lease" with two deer.
I didn't comprehend everything, but I remember it being interesting.
The next fall, at age three, dad took me with him. When it came time to hunt, dad piggybacked me up into the tree stand, wrapped me in a blanket and tied me to the tree so I wouldn't go to sleep and fall out of the tree! LOL!
I turned 75 today. Oct 27th!
Okee-dokee! I didn't really "hunt" for several years.
At age 6, pop handed me a double barrel .410 and I was allowed to shoot a dove off a power line.
That was my first "taste" of blood!
I don't recall my first squirrel or duck or any other game until my first deer in 1967!
Point being, I have been hunting, or in the woods "with" someone hunting (dad or grandad) since I was 3 years old. I missed killing game for some of those years when my kids were young, but I found a place or some time to hunt during those years.

I've been hunting now for 72 years!

Sounds very similar to my own upbringing. Good living.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Awesome story!
28 years.
Didn’t start until I was 21.A guy at work took me,killed a doe and buck the same day and was hooked sense.
Never had a chance before that.

Spent many long, cold, boring hours on a deer stand before connecting with a whitetail at age 17!
Let me urge you to maintain a journal of your outdoor activities!
I was 55 before it clicked with me to "write it down"!
Many, many years of events and memories, lost to my dwindling brain!
Make no mistake! I still remember alot, but I can sit down now and read what I wrote since 2005 and realize just what details have slipped into oblivion.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I started duck hunting with my Dad when I was 7. I had a pair of knee high rubber boots and Dad carried my on his back through the water to the blind. I shot a single barrel 20 ga. I shot my first deer when I was 12.

I have hunted for 77 years and I'll be 84 on Wednesday, October 29.

 

[Robobiss]

This is a super cool thread.

My first real hunting memory was chasing rabbits and squirrels around with my dad and an old single shot .410 (that I wish he didn’t give to my older brother). When I was in the first grade.

Started deer hunting at 10 as that was the law in my state. Didn’t shoot a deer until I was 15, it was with one of my dad’s hand-me-down bows. It was 70 pounds and the draw length was too long but it didn’t hold me back any.

I’ve been hunting for 25 years. I’m 31

 

[thinhorn_AK]

since ~ 1992/3. Took a break from ~2011-2015 to do work stuff.

 

[butcherboy]

5 years old tagging along behind my dad and two older brothers. 48 now and taking my kids. Still tagging along behind one older brother and my dad tags along behind us now.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I’ve been hunting for 42 years. I missed my first squirrel at age 4 (my older brother was helping me). I killed my first squirrel at 7. First deer at nine. First buck at 11. I missed a season or two due to deployments, but otherwise I have killed a deer every season since I was 14.

 

[rac5115]

Earliest I can remember was my uncle and grandpa using me as a dog to rabbit hunt, I was so proud when I kicked one out for him. Even remember them telling me to look away when they finished it off haha. Been at it around 27 years.

 

[Amos Keeto]

I started duck hunting with my Dad when I was 7. I had a pair of knee high rubber boots and Dad carried my on his back through the water to the blind. I shot a single barrel 20 ga. I shot my first deer when I was 12.

I have hunted for 77 years and I'll be 84 on Wednesday, October 29. View attachment 957066

I've had both hips replaced, one shoulder replaced and one ankle has pins plus three heart stints! I can still walk, I'm just not as agile or stable as I once was.
Thankfully, I have friends who are willing to help me get out and around.

This was my first turkey since 2018 due to surgeries and recovery's.

Hopefully, Cowboy, I'll still be poking around a few more years! LOL!

 

[Wheels]

48 years. Couldn’t get a hunters ed card until age 12 at the time. My dad didn’t hunt so my brother and I taught ourselves. Remember walking 2 miles in chest waders to get to our duck hunting spot carrying decoys and a shotgun. Would shoot our bows all summer in the back yard and run trap lines on our bikes.

 

[Smokinyotes]

Started trapping and shooting when I was 8. Shot my first beaver in April of 1977 when I was 12. Had my first big game license when I was 14. I remember going hunting with an older relative. He shot a mule buck. After we were done gutting it he got a fire going and put the heart on a stick and said we have to eat it. I still remember it being charred on the outside and cold in the middle. Gagged quite a few times choking it down. Shot my first whitetail (doe) the following year and my first bull moose at 17. The good old days when you didn’t need a draw for moose. So I guess in reality I’ve been hunting big game for 46 years.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I've had both hips replaced, one shoulder replaced and one ankle has pins plus three heart stints! I can still walk, I'm just not as agile or stable as I once was.
Thankfully, I have friends who are willing to help me get out and around.
View attachment 957102
This was my first turkey since 2018 due to surgeries and recovery's.

Hopefully, Cowboy, I'll still be poking around a few more years! LOL!

I have 2 replacement knees, 2 replacement shoulders and a replacement ankle and am a cancer survivor. I will be hunting elk in 4th season here in Colorado. I played college and pro football so I beat myself up pretty good. I took my Dad on his last hunting trip in 2012 and he got his elk , he was 90!

 

[diamond10x]

All my life I guess I could say.

Killed my first deer at 4 and a number of rabbits before that. I was born in October and mom and dad just put me in the blind with them in the car seat starting that season. Brother was raised the same way. Have never missed a hunting season yet and don't plan on it.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Have never missed a hunting season yet and don't plan on it.

I pray that you don't! Sometimes life has "other plans"!
Ask me!

Second thought! Don't ask!

My dad talked mom into going hunting with him out in Fredericksburg, TX.
She almost froze. She refused to EVER go hunting again! LOL!
In 1950, a lap was considered a "car seat" and most cars didn't even have seat belts!