Where did it start for you?

[magshooter1]

Started squirrel and quail hunting at 6 or 7. No gun to start with. Dad wanted to make sure I could handle all the walking I guess. Started deer hunting at 11. Schools around here would give you "deer day" if all your teachers signed off on it. Back then it was bucks only. Got my first deer at 16. A 7 point that woke me up, lol. Been hooked solid ever since. Hunted at the local camp with my uncle and my dad at our family farm. Uncle went to nursing home 6-7 years back and dad passed in 2019 right before deer season. I still enjoy it but, not as much. Daughter used to hunt with me lot when she was younger. SIL doesn't hunt so now I'm waiting on some grands to go with me.

 

[MNGrouser]

I know I got to go along on some South Dakota Pheasant hunts & home-state Wisconsin grouse hunts when I was quite young. The first vivid memory of a singular hunting experience was sitting on the base of a ladder stand between my dad's feet. We had at least a dozen does and fawns milling around (inside 40 yards) and I was whispering to my dad that there was a deer. LOL! He had to kick me to keep me quiet. When the trusty 30-06 roared, I almost fell out of the stand. Dad was just waiting for the rutting buck to follow behind. I hope, and expect, I'll never forget that afternoon in the woods with my dad.

 

[Smallie]

My Dad potty trained me walking pheasants fields by cutting leg holes and a spot for my head in the game pouch of his vest. Shot my first Bobwhite quail off a sendero in Texas at age 5. Was a menace on squirrels and chipmunks with a BB gun. Shot my first hogs, javelinas and first buck by age 9. Used to lay on the ground with coloring books or take a nap and told my Dad to wake me up if something shows up before I was able to shoot for myself. I wish he was physically fit enough for me to return the favor from all of those years and wish I could get him out West with me just once

 

[Marmots]

No one in my family hunts so I didn't get started until a friend took me squirrel hunting as a teen. I was in a cervical collar because I had gone through a windshield a few weeks before. It is really hard to squirrel hunt without being able to look up or move your neck.

I found a squirrel cutting nuts up in some dense early season leaves. The only way I could line up a shot was to lie on my back and slowly slither underneath it. I popped it in the head with a 22, and it fell out of the tree and landed on my face. That felt kinda ceremonial. Been hooked ever since, bear is my favorite now.

 

[Doc Holliday]

My first experience with hunting was in 1982 at 4 yrs old, being my Dad's bird dog on dove shoots. Did not get into big-game (deer) hunting until a few years later, using buckshot or slugs in my Harrington & Richardson single-shot 20 gauge.

 

[Zdub02]

My dad started taking me out when I was very young. He'd make me a ground blind under a tree stand and have me tie the pull rope to my belt loop. I'd nap or play until he saw a deer come in. He'd tug on the rope so I'd wake up and get to watch the critters. That progressed into small game hunting followed by bigger game.

 

[mi650]

I have a pic somewhere of me with a deer my grandfather killed when I was 3. Started hunting deer when I was 14, lasted a couple years. Then thru a series of events, moves, the Army... I didn't hunt again until I was 24. I killed my 1st deer the year, small 7 point, I got married, 1992, I was 26. My wife had him mounted as a Christmas gift, the fastest mount I've had done. Killed him on 11/22, picked him on Christmas Eve.

 

[weekender7]

I cried and begged at age 5-6 to tag along dove hunting and was finally allowed at age 7 to shoot a squirrel with a 16ga double barrel Fox Sterlingworth. I was runit. I am 67 now, lived it, breathed it and still can't get enough of the outdoors. I have been fortunate to have too many memories to count. They just keep piling up.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Did not get into big-game (deer) hunting until a few years later, using buckshot or slugs in my Harrington & Richardson single-shot 20 gauge.

That was my first new gun, and shotgun I ever got in 1981 for Christmas. I still have that shotgun.


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[Kilboars]

I had no interest in hunting till my fishing buddy told me about bow hunting and showed me his compound bow. Bought a Mathew’s M6 the next week and never really fished much again. I was about 45

First kill. Florida boar hog.

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[Ungainly]

I cried and begged at age 5-6 to tag along dove hunting and was finally allowed at age 7 to shoot a squirrel with a 16ga double barrel Fox Sterlingworth. I was runit. I am 67 now, lived it, breathed it and still can't get enough of the outdoors. I have been fortunate to have too many memories to count. They just keep piling up.

I started out with a Remington 11 20ga and my dad had the Fox Sterlingworth 12ga when we rarely went out duck hunting. I inherited it not long ago and got some low pressure rounds to continue to enjoy it. Elegant gun.

 

[grfox92]

My obsession with Hunting has been going on as long as I can remember. As long as I was old enough to understand I've been obsessed. Probably age 4 or 5.

I wore out old Primos, Knight and Hale, Realtree, Dan Fitzgerald and other VHS tapes.

I killed my first deer when I was 12 with a slug gun. I'm 36 and have killed +/- 50 whitetails with the bow. Killed my first animal, an antelope, with a rifle last year and am confident I'll kill a an elk this weekend.

Then fingers crossed for my first Muley buck after that.


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[grfox92]

I started out with a Remington 11 20ga and my dad had the Fox Sterlingworth 12ga when we rarely went out duck hunting. I inherited it not long ago and got some low pressure rounds to continue to enjoy it. Elegant gun.

I have a model 11 in 16ga. It's had a long life of abuse and I've personally put hundreds of rounds of low brass through it.

It's broken in enough it's never jambed on me. I'd love to find a stock for it and restore it. It's in rough shape cosmetically.

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[Ungainly]

Yeah, the stock on my 11 has some nasty gouges. Same experience with mine on reliability. The extractor just plain works.

 

[Toofarsouth]

I was way too busy fishing to worry about hunting. Then in 2015 I randomly bought a Beretta O/U 20 gauge and starred shooting skeet that spring. Fall rolled around and I drove from SW Florida to the Upper Peninsula and chased grouse for 10 days. No dog or a clue what was I doing…flushed around 8 birds and the only one I killed was with the truck driving back to camp one day, but I fell in love.

A few years later had a buddy offer to take me deer hunting, I was skeptical but decided to go. We woke up way too early for my taste, set up on a spot and watched the woods come alive that morning. I had no idea that squirrels could make so much noise. I didn’t see a single deer that season, but I fell in Love.

2019 a buddy in NC showed me his compound bow and taught me the very basics of shooting it. I bought my first bow shortly after and greatly extended my hunting season. I took it up to MI that year and had multiple bucks that didn’t meet the antler point restrictions within my 20 yard range. All of those small deer showed up at spots I chose and while I didn’t get to harvest a deer, I fell in love.

2020 I take a job in Montana and have to go through a whole year with no big game tags, but I chased a ton of grouse. Then 2021 as a Montana resident I find myself in possession of my first elk tag. My cousin and a buddy both drew non-res tags and we spend 5 days 5 miles from the trailhead and we found elk. We never got within bow range but I think it goes without saying, I fell in love.

I’m about 7 years into this thing now and haven’t harvested anything larger than a pheasant but it’s the only thing I take time off for anymore. Don’t get me wrong I still fish 150+ days a year but I haven’t spent a week chasing tarpon since I moved to Montana…that time off is too valuable come fall.

 

[Nykki]

My dad was a hunter so I grew up hunting with him. Shot my first deer when I was twelve. Moved to Alaska when I was 14 and have hunted moose ever since. Dad passed away twenty years ago but I still go out every season, I'm 66 now and it's a bit harder field dressing one but I still have a few more years in me.

 

[Rich M]

Like many on here, it started as a little one, before memory. Just always hunted with dad, still do. We were big into upland birds and went deer hunting but the deer numbers were low.

My earliest memories involve walking in the snow with my mom's 20 ga sxs at maybe 4 or 5o years old, kicking brush piles for rabbits and such. First deer hunt was at age of 8 - slung 5 arrows at a forky and it would just dodge the arrows and looking with confusion at this little kid slinging arrows at it. Took 12 yrs to get a deer with a bow, 7 for first with a rifle, 9 or 10 for first buck.

These days we still hunt deer some but focus more on ducks - the old man loves to hunt ducks so that's what we do.

 

[Yoder]

I really don't know exactly when it started. It's always been a part of my life. Ever since I can remember. My dad, uncles and grandfather used to butcher deer so we always had people coming over to get them processed. My Grandfather had a hunting camp and I would go every year. My Grandmother was the camp cook and I would wait with her for everyone to come back after hunting all day. I couldn't wait to see what everyone got and to hear all the stories. You have to be 12 yrs old in PA to hunt. The year of my 12th birthday my dad was in a car accident and couldn't go hunting. My uncle and one of my dad's friends took me out rifle hunting that year. I'll never forget. My dad's friend just walked a huge circle trying to push some deer to us. He met up with me and a few minutes later we heard some deer coming. Ten does came walking single file up the hill about 50 yards in front of us. I shot the lead doe, he shot one and my uncle up the hill shot a third. It made for a long day of dragging but it was pretty awesome. I couldn't wait to tell my dad I got one. I was bummed out he couldn't be there but his back was pretty messed up.

It's different when you are young. I remember being excited about killing my first deer but it did bother me a little. I wondered if it had suffered. I thought about if it had a fawn that would miss her in some way. Even though I had seen about 100 dead deer it was different taking a life. I sure didn't take it lightly. Hunting has always been there. Now when the season changes from summer to fall and the air gets cold, and you can smell fall in the air it causes a stir in my soul. I don't know how else to describe it. It's like a craving to be outside in the woods. It's something I will always do.

 

[bozeman]

5 years old, .410 single shot. On a stand for deer running dogs...

 

[kwackkillncrew]

dad took me out duck hunting when i was 5. I was gunless the first year so i could just observe and learn. The following fall he took me out with a single shot new england pardner 20 gauge and had me shoot a clay out of a tree. Missed it and when i broke the gun open to eject the shell it hit me in the forehead and put the gun down and didnt want to shoot any more. A few minutes of dad pushing me to shoot again, i threw in another shell broke the clay and i have been hunting ever since.