Who got you started hunting?

I know this has probably been on here,but who got you into hunting? My grandfather and uncle got me into hunting. I started whenn i was 9 or 10 and have never looked back! I am luckey enough to still get to hunt with them today on a lease we have been on for many years. My uncle and granddad are 2 of my best friends and they will never know how greatful i am for them introducing me to this sport. So once again who got you into it? Have a good one guys/gals and go rangers!

my whole family i started hunting with my grandpa and dad when i was in diapers they would take me and stick me in there hunting suits when in the blind

My grandfather got me started at the age of 6 with a 30-30, my father was a truck driver so he was never around for hunting season but he sure did like to brag when we brought home some venison. My grandfather's boss had several leases, usually one for the workers and then a seperate one for the him and his family and the older workers. I wasnt allowed to harvest a buck until i was about 13, but i guess beggers cant be chosers, and that buck was taken after my grandfather's brother missed him. The time I did i remember my grandfather saying get ready, shoulder that rifle, take your time and squeeze the trigger. I was always allowed to hunt with my grandfather and when he got up in age I drove him to the leases. I remember the last time I drove him to the lease we arrived and his boss asked me "u got a shotgun?" i responded with a "yesir", he said take Sam(my grandfather) up to the water tank and limit out..The day was long as i had to cover what he was missing and try and cover my area. within an hour I had about 10 dove and my gfather still sittin on 0. I look up and dove lands 20 yds out on a mesquite, I tell em about it and he tells me to pull the trigger because he cant see it. So i say "shoulder your shotgun" and then point his shotgun in the doves direction and tell em "squeeze the trigger"..bang, dove drops and i go into rattlesnake country to retireve it..I knew the times I had with my grandfather would not last forever and I enjoyed every second of it. We lost my grandfather in May and miss him everyday. I know it will be a sad day when gun season opens and im not able to look down from the jeep at him.

my first father in law, and I killed a nice buck the first time I ever shot a rifle in my life. He was good to me. Obviously when I divorced his daughter things weren't ever the same again. God bless him though. Loves me some good hunting buddies.

Dad

Outdoor life magazines the first year of junior high school.

Non hunting family

High school buddies, my father never took me hunting, took me fishing and camping a lot but never on a hunting trip.

My Father

Dad and grandfathers.

ive tried a hundred times to get my dad to go hunting with me. he just doesnt want to go. my boys love to go with me.

My grandfather, and dad at the age of 6 shot my first buck with child 223.

My mom and dad divorsed when I was 5. My dad hunted, but was not around much. My mom baught me my first fishing gear and tought me how to fish. When I wanted to go hunting she bought me my first BB Gun. A Crossman 760 in which I was not allowed to shoot until I was able to take it completely apart and put back together. Along with the rules of safe gun handling. Once I was able to do that she took me shooting and then hunting with it. I lost her 2 years ago in Oct. And miss her greatly. She is my hero.

My dad. I have had the opportunity to take quite a few of my sons friends hunting for the first time. Their famalies just dont hunt. They have all seemed to enjoy it. Some are hooked but at least the others now have an idea of what it is all about. Take someone hunting that has never been if you get the chance.

i grew up near Galveston bay and fished my whole life, but when i was younger i had this thing about guns and wanting to hunt. no one else in my family hunted. my dad worked long hours all week trying to just keep bills paid and hunting was never a priority. then my 2nd oldest sister married someone that hunted. he would take me to the gun range, i guess i was about 12 then, and let me shoot his deer rifles. finally at 18 we got on a S.TX lease with his friends. been hunting ever since. I did finally convince my dad to go on a hunting trip one time with us, about 15yrs ago. we were in the Del Rio area and i had a bunch of deer at the feeder. i just handed him my rifle and said shoot which ever one you want. he did and he's been hunting with us ever since. about 6 yrs ago i got my "jock" younger brother to try hunting as well. needless to say, he is now hooked and really only wants venison or fish in his freezer. i feel really blessed to spend the time outdoors with my family now. i am passing everything on to my boys (age 6 & 10) and they love every bit of it, as well as i do sharing it with them!

My dad took me sqirrel hunting a few times, but it just wasn't something he really got into. Once I was old enough to drive, I would go hunting on public land with friends. However, we really didn't know much about the sport or have anyone to teach us. It wasn't until I met my wife that my hunting experiences and knowledge took off. She came from a family where all the men were hunters, and we dated for six years before getting married. During all that time and for years afterwards, I would spend time with her dad and uncles chasing after deer, turkeys, racoons, bobcats, and just about anything else for which a season existed.

Looking back, I know my dad probably resented that I spent so much time in the outdoors with the men in my wife's family. But with his dad (my grandfather) also being an avid hunter, I'm sure he realized it was just something that was clearly in my blood.

Sadly, I never got to hunt with my grandfather because he lived in East Texas and we lived in Mississippi during all those years when I was growing up. And by the time my wife and I moved to Houston in 1982, he was well beyond his hunting years. Still, I like to believe that I'm carrying on the legacy of my grandfather for enjoying the great outdoors. And like him, I'm able carry on his love for the Piney Woods of East Texas.

Grew up in California where you have to draw for just about everything. My maternal Grandfather didn't hunt out there but took me fishing everytime we could, almost everyday during my 2 weeks of summer and 1 week of Easter vacations. But would every once in awhile tell storys of his childhood hunting in Neb.

When I moved out here and learned about all the public and corp. hunting land I wanted to bow hunt. My Biological grand father was Native American and taught me some as a kid about shooting bare bow and tracking. I got lucky when I took the Hunter and Bowhunters education class, my instructor was Jessie Stephans and after talking after class he said he would go hunting with me and teach me. We hunt all we can now, sometimes 20 times a year, a couple times over 50. We've even taking other beginning hunters out with us when they want to go.

Thank God for people who love and appreciate the sport and heritage. I hope I can continue to share the knowledge and joy so many have blessed me with.

Buy the way Jessies now in the Texas Hunters Ed. Hall Of Fame, he has Instructed more then 3,000 hunters and an unknown number of Bowhunters

My Papaw he was a special person in my life and in honor of him I took his name as I became a grandpaw and now I take my grandkids.

my father

Grandfather and Uncle.

Grandpa mostly. I remember riding around his land in an old Willie's jeep and looking for deer. If we saw one he'd stop, hand me the 30-06, and tell me to sneak up on the herd and shoot myself one and he'd clean it. I'd give anything for one more ride through his pasture with him and that old squeaky jeep.

My pop, he passed away in July, and this Saturday will be the first opening morning in 36 years we won't be hunting together.

My dear old dad.

My Dad!!! Very seldom did he ever go hunting, fishing or camping without the family!!!

My mom has pictures of me riding around in an old beat up Ford truck with my Grandfather and uncles when I was 4 or 5. I took my first shot at a deer behind my Grandfathers house, it was offhand and I was shaking so bad looking back I should have never pulled the trigger. I couldn't have been 9 or 10. But my stepfather is the one who really shaped me into a hunter, we had a lease that was him, me, my step sister, step BIL, their 2 kids, and my stepfather's ex FIL...(he hated his ex wife but him and his ex FIL got along great) We spent many a summer building blinds, feeder pens, cutting shooting lanes, putting on varmint guards, filling feeders, etc. It was a lot of work, but worth every second of it. I'd give anything for another one of those weekends in September when we'd go down and fill feeders all day then go sit by the stock tank with a cold beer and our shotguns shooting dove. Get back to camp and fire up the grill to cook steaks and dove breasts. Seems like it was 100 yrs ago.

My father...He is my best friend, he is my hunting buddy, he is my fishing buddy, he is my golfing buddy, he is who can fix my little world when all seems lost, he is there when no one else is, he has always been my greatest supporter and my greatest competition. I pray that I can be half the father to my kids that he is to me.

Here is to many, many more years in the woods...

Pops...He passed about 2 years ago a month before my son was born. He got me going with rabbit hunting about age 5-6 with the single shot 22. then at age 9 he put me on the stand and out walked an 8 point. He said to lift the gun slowly, to breathe aim and shoot. Dropped him in his tracks. My dad was so proud, I am the only son out of 4 kids. Since then, I was hooked and he really taught me the importance of hunting and conservation. From there on out til i was in college we would sit every opening morning together. Never really shot many more together, but we always loved opening weekend. When he passed in the summer of 2008, I did not hunt opening morn that year or last year. But I owe it to him to be in my new stand this year and he will be with me looking over me. He is my best friend and I cant wait until my boy will pick up his 22 and we will go squirrel hunting and then be in the stand. To my father I raise a mug of his favorite brew...Miller Lite. I miss him dearly.

My Son. He wanted a Bow and spent his own money to buy one. Then my BIL heard and invited us hunting. I still haven't killed anything but my son took 2 doe last year as a guest of my BIL. Now we are on the lease just so excited and can't wait for Sat.

My Dad. Lost him 2 years ago and sure do miss him. Taught me everything I know about fishing and hunting. Hope to pass it all on to my son one day.

My Dad I also lost him 3 yrs ago. He was the only other person I had been hunting or fishing with until I started with my kids. There are not many memories people will keep as long as the ones with their father hunting or fishing. It's a great tradition but more important is the time you get to spend with the people you love........

My dad. He never hunted much,but I always wanted to. He had a old Stevens model 94 410 and at the age of 7 or 8 he would give me one shell and tell me not to put it in the gun until I saw some thing. You know I loaded it as soon as I got out of his sight. Any way he taught me to make my shot count. I still have the old 410. I killed a lot of rabbits them days.

My granddad,him taking me squirrel hunting while I was growing up are my most cherished memories.

My father got me into the outdoors (hunting/fishing/camping)

I can actually remember my first hunting trip. I was 5 years old and have been going with him every season since. I'm 26 now and i'm very thankful for him taking me and introducing me to the outdoors.

My dad....I sure miss him, everyday..

My dad started me. Took me dove hunting all the time begining when I was just a little guy. We kept at until I started college and wandered off. At that point dad hooked up with some other guys and started deer hunting. I never took part.

About 10 years ago my mother passed and dad moved back to Hunt county. He no longer does much hunting. I bought a place the next county east so he could hunt if he chose to.

Well dad is 84 now. I take him out to the place when I fill the feeders and such. He likes to get out and see the place but tires quickly. Funny though, at 84 the man can and does pick up pecans on the place until he is flat wore out. He has done this all my life and I assume his life.

We did a lot of hunting and fishing but I believe I'll always have an image of him hanging out under a big' ol pecan tree with a 2 pound coffee can

I think I need to get him out there this weekend.

My Father...

Lots of thoughts come back reading all the responses thank God for all who took the time to teach each of us the importants of outdoors and lets not forget to take and teach others the same. God bless you and your familys and have a safe and rewarding weekend coming up. Make lasting memories

use to go dove huntin with dad. Then igot a BB gun when i was 5, and it went down hill from there.

This is some great stuff and some great memories!!! brings a lifetime of hunts in seconds.
I think we all know how stuborn our gdads can be but they are some of the strongest men we will ever know. Heres an example, My grandad ask me to head head to lease with him one weekend. I told him i was unable to go due to work. So as the story goes he headed to the lease wich is a 3hr drive from our area. Saturday morning rolls around and i get word he has killed a good deer and is heading home. Well what he failed to tell anyone was after he had cleaned his deer, cleaned up camp and did other stuff that needed to be done he had been having chest pains the whole time. My granddad made the 3 hr drive home alone and told my nannie about how he was feeling. Ofcourse her in a panic called 911. He was rushed to the hospital, where it was found out that he had , had a heart attack!!! The doctors did a quaddrouple bypass and we nearly lost him. This was over 5 years ago and we still hunt together. I love everysecond of it and cherrish it all. I dont care who you are, thats TUFF!!!

My dad. Lost him early last year. Still miss him.

My dad, when I was 8...

Lost him in May of this year, his shooting bag and rifle will still be traveling with me & my boys this year.

x2

my Father in law.

My dad, squirrels in Ohio when it was a real treat to even find a deer track in the woods. He's been gone since 98, he would have loved Texas!

My Dad and Granddad, as my Granddad pretty much always went along back in those days when he was living. From the time I was 6 we hunted rabbit, dove, quail, deer and ducks. We had a line of hunting dogs, lemon shorthairs, so quail hunting was a big thing until coccidiosis came through and wiped most of the quail out in this part of the country. From then on, the line of dogs died off and weren't bred or replaced and the quail hunting went to the wayside. Gave us more time for deer and duck huntin. Always had great hunts together, whether we got anything or not. When it came to having a campfire my Granddad didn't believe in burning logs, he believed in burning trees. LOL We still do that. It's more like a bonfire than what most folks would consider a campfire. LOL

I was standing out on a limb outside my Dad's tree stand, which was a box stand, and took a leak out of the tree one morning towards the end of my 6 year old hunting debut. I was just a standin up there paintin pictures on the ground. That was the last time I hunted in Dad's stand and had my own from then on out. LOL

Granddad is long since gone. Dad's 82 now and we'll be hunting again together this weekend. He killed his first wall mount last year. Each time we have together is a great memory that I cherish. I know one day that's all there will be left of it. My daughter and son hunt with us and the tradition continues. I hope their memories become as good as mine are of the time I've been blessed to be able to spend with my Father.

JJ

My Dad & Grandfather. Lost Grandpa last year. I hauled his old deer stand from the old lease in Newton County out to our ranch in Coryell County and refurbished it. I also have his rifle that I killed my first deer with Thanksgiving Day 1985.

My dad and my grandfather taught me how to shoot and told me stories of their hunts when my dad was growing up, but they never actually took me out hunting.

Started going to a friend's family land out in East Texas about 15 years ago, shot some rabbits here and there. When we out during deer season I always just stayed up late drinking then slept in and hung around the house with the other non hunters.

3 years ago I went out with a couple of the guys for the afternoon hunt. We only saw a couple small doe, but I had fun with them and just quietly sitting out there. So the next year I got a license, borrowed a rifle, did the one year deferral, went to a field by myself, and was too stupid to sit still. But it was fun out there and made coming back to the fire and everyone else even better. The next year, I took hunters ed, spent countless hours reading forums, articles, everything I could find. Got myself the biggest buck of all of us last year.

My family is going to be buying some land here real soon, so I am hoping that i can get to experience at least one hunt with my dad.

My Grandmother. I used to take naps on the blind floor. I think I was maybe 5 when she started taking me.

I have branched out a lot since those first deer hunts, but she hauled me first an started the flame.

my dad got me started hunting, from the time i was about 4 years old, i was with him in the woods every weekend chasing dove and quail, and fishing at the guadalupe for rainbow trout.


when i was 11 i killed my first deer, sittin on my uncles lap, ever since then, he (my uncle) has taught me more about the ranching/stewardship side of things, rather than just the killing, although i got pretty good at that as well.

My Grandfather.....when I was 5 or 6 I went hunting with him cuz my dad wouldn't take me and ended up pulling the trigger while he had the crosshairs on an 8pt buck!!! It was a rush for he and I and that will stick with me forever! That very same rifle (Browning Bar 2 .243 w/a Simmons 3x9) was the one I used my first year of hunting 12-13 years ago!!! My Grandfather left us some years back, but he left me with memories that will last a lifetime!!! I sure so miss him!!! Gone but not forgotten!!!

My grandfather got me into hunting at the age of 9. We hunted together til he couldn't hunt anymore. Then his hunting continued threw me until he passed away. But he still goes with me every year and I know he's watching.

neighbor when I was a kid, but after growing up I found my own way. His was a little unethical for me. Since then, I have helped him overcome some of his old ways of thinking.

My father in law got me started my first time out with him i killed my first deer it was just a small spike but it will always be a trophy in my mind!

My dad and mom got me into hunting. Hunting was not for sport but for food back in the 50's and 60's when you grew up on a farm and ranch. Yep, we had high fences, to keep deer out of the grain fields. Had a low fence oat/wheat 6 acre patch about 600 yards from house we could sneak to after school. Many a deer there ended up in soup or chili. Early years, only bucks were legal. Then does, which taste lots better. Blind back then was a brush pile and a 5 gallon bucket to sit on, and a coffee can of sweet feed or corn to hopefully stop the passing deer. Dad was also good at still hunting or hunting from a horse while checking livestock. He used to drop me off at a blind while he fed the cattle and then did a deer drive to encourage the deer to go near my blind. He shot his last deer at 85 or so, but loved to hunt with the grandkids. He went to the happy hunting ground severl years ago but mom still likes to baby sit or hunt with her grandkids and great grandkids now. Me and the kids understand that oma and opa always got part of the first kill of the season.
Those were the good old days but nowadays are good also.

The smartest hunter i have ever known "MY DAD"

My husband and his brother. After the kids got old enough I asked if I could hunt-they said no split tails in the woods, but let me hunt anyway. Gave me a 30/30 open sight gun, thought it would be funny...til I shot a buck. I asked them to hand me the knife and teach me how to gut, then I asked them to teach me how to skin and process the deer. They love that I hunt and am self sufficient. 2 years after learning to gun hunt, I started bow hunting-just love it. Now have 10 grandchildren, ages 3 months - 10 years old, and I start taking them with me when they're 2.5-3 yrs. old. I have 6 that will hunt this year-2 hunted during youth season with grandma and shot their own deer. Honestly, it was more exciting than if I'd shot them myself. Most of gun season will be devoted to spending time in the stand with the grandkids to pass the love for hunting on to the next generation. Very, very exciting and fulfilling. But this weekend...is grandma's weekend Good luck to all. Thank God we live in America where we have the freedom to enjoy hunting and God Bless all of our service men and women who are deployed fighting for our right to stay free!

Dad fished every weekend and my uncle loved to hunt so I spent the sumers with my dad and the winters with my uncle. Still doing the same 20 years later

cant wait to get to the lease. my uncle just busted his first buck with a bow!!!!

The family that abducted me at a young age taught me to hunt and fish, I love it! J/K my dad and grandpa and uncle...it's a way of life!

Me, myself, and I. Sports Afield and Outdoor Life magazine.

My dad got me started. We lived in Galveston and fished way more than hunted. But there was a rifle range on the west end and I could shoot almost anytime I wanted the practice. He taught me to reload too. Back in the day - the west end of the island was largely unpopulated and you could also fish the flats on the back side of the island in west bay. Trout, Reds, stingray the best a person could ask for pretty much in my back yard. How I wish I could do that again. Now I hunt whenever I get the chance. I hunt waterfowl at lake un-named not too far from the house. My son has taken geese and ducks. My daughter took her first deer this season. Yeah, life is good and after a long week I am smiling again.

HUNGER. I was putting myself thru college and ran out of money. Seriously... someone hit a deer and I saw it... then I got to thinking... So, my first venison was really road kill. (Hey, at least it was fresh!) Got a shotgun first, cuz it was cheap and started hunting rabbits, squirrel, grouse & pheasant. The next year, I wanted to replenish my venison supply - didn't have a rifle, so I learned to pick a spot in an apple orchard where I could use a shotgun. Once I got used to having wild game to eat, I was hooked. I guess I was self-taught, necessity being the mama of invention...

myself..i come from a non hunting family. started hunting as soon as i got to Texas after my time in the service. been hunting ever since.

Stepdad got me into hunting. Took my first deer at 11 with a lever action 30-30.

My dad