How long have you been "hunting"?

[ianpadron]

Boy I sure am jealous of you fellas that started so young.

I took hunters' safety in college, at age 20 after reading Aldo Leopold's Sand County Almanac. I had grown up fishing, but my Dad didn't hunt so was never introduced. My first kill was a beautiful drake mallard on the Wisconsin River near Steven's Point. I would take the bus home to Marshfield from UW-Madison almost every weekend, and use my Dad's truck and God father's trapping skiff to hunt ducks.

I went on my first big game hunt in 2015 at age 22, and have been absolutely addicted every day since.

I've lived out West my entire adult life, and am still bummed I didn't get to experience fall in the Wisconsin woods chasing deer and birds growing up.

Going to make sure my kids have the opportunity early to be hooked!

 

[WoodlandCritter]

I've always been a gun nut and always loved the outdoors. Dad was always taking my sister and I on walks in the local Metroparks or when we'd travel more often than not it was to camp at a State Park or stay in cabin near one of the Great Lakes. But he (or anyone else in my family/social social circle) didn't do a lick of hunting or fishing. My family didn't have anything against hunting, but nonetheless I wasn't even allowed to point any of my nerf/BB/airsoft guns at animals as a kid.

At 18, I decided I wanted to try hunting largely because it was big part of the gun world I didn't have any experience with. Squirrels seemed easy and small so I figured I'd start with that. Boy, never in my life did I think it could be so hard to find a squirrel in the woods. I spent 4 full days afield before I finally bagged one after waiting for 4 hours on my knees next to a tree with a nest. Squirrel finally crawled out right at last light. The adrenaline dump was unreal and I remember trying to steady my breathing as I walked up on it, not knowing what to do with this animal I just killed. I didn't want to pick it up, but I knew I had to take responsibility for my actions so after several minutes of standing staring, I finally grabbed it and took it back to the car. Took me over an hour to get it cleaned, I did an awful job and it tasted horrible. I didn't think I would ever hunt again. But it was fun and I had this nagging itch that I could do better. By the time next year rolled around, I was ready to try again.

Eventually my best friend started squirrel hunting with me and we had a blast. Learned a lot together. We also unsuccessfully coyote and deer hunted a bit. My first year turkey hunting I used my voice to call in a bearded hen which was my first not-small-game animal. Incredible experience.

7 years later, I'm still hunting. Moved to Montana last year for better access to public land (grew up in Ohio which is one of the highest % private land states). My long time girlfriend came with me and has been hunting with me, albeit unsuccessfully so far and I'm really looking forward to feeding my family backstrap from my first ever deer when they visit for Christmas. Looking to the future, when I have kids I can't wait to get them out in the woods for simple walks like my dad took me on that I loved, as well as for the early hunting experiences I didn't get to have.