Hey y'all, what got you guys into hunting in the first place? Personally, me and my dad fish all the time so I wanted to take it a step further and actually go hunting.

ta HF... Hunten & Fishen twas a family thing, for en & chillen plain & simple...

hunting with Dad

My dad was a hunter. He got me into it. He loved to hunt, his dad and brother to my knowledge never went hunting.

What got me into what I do now was reading adventure stories of jack o’Connor, Jim Shockey, Jim Carmichael, etc.

Grew up reading these authors and that lit my fire for adventure style hunting

My grandpa, from Louisiana, true outdoorsman. One of my greatest memories with my grand father was seeing him harvest a Louisiana Black Bear before they outlawed it and re legalized it recently. I grew up hunting and loving and dreaming about it when I wasn't, kind of lost the drive when i got into sports, after moving, and going through high school, then got back into it through college. It is a desire I know I will never lose. Can't wait to bring my son or daughter with me when they are old enough just as my grandpa did for all of us

I grew up in west Texas. Hunting was the only thing to do. We didn’t have any deer close to home but we had a chitload of Quail, jackrabbits, and varmints. Luckily my Papaw would take me a few hours drive away to mule deer hunt and camp out every year. I thought that was real hunting and never realized how lucky I was to get to Quail hunt almost every day of season with some great dogs. A limit of Quail most days was the norm and limits weren’t observed on weekends and holidays. Papaw would Quail hunt every day of season after work whether he wanted to or not. “Just so his dogs wouldn’t get to feeling too fresh.”

One of the coolest pics ever posted on this forum.

Just wanted to get away from people and out of the city and try it.

Grew up around huntin and fishin, and just assumed that everyone did until I got old enough to realize most of city folk didn't.
Think back and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way!

Grew up in Urban NJ. I could see the empire state building from my bedroom window. My dad was from South Carolina and although he hadn't hunted there he had the cultural desire to hunt. My grandpa had a 5 acre farm in the mountains of western NJ. When I was about 10 he took me ground hog hunting with a single shot 22. It had to be in my DNA because from that day on I never stopped wanting to experience more and more. Growing up in the north east rabbits and the occasional pheasant was our primary game animal. We got a wonderful beagle pup ( Ginger ) and my life's recreation changed forever. I have been afield every year now for 60 years and I love the outdoors more than any other of my lifes endeavors.

Grew up with a dad that loved hunting everything from Dove to Elk. Had a lot of good times.

Grew up from a small child hunting and fidhing, so it has been a way of life

My Dad started me out by taking me to his deer lease when I was 3. Shot my first deer at 6. Ran trap lines in high school and college. Hunted mule deer in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho as well as elk in 3 of those. I even got to hunt moose in Finland! I 'adopted' grand kids and started teaching this little fellow when he was 3 by using a Red Ryder BB gun shooting soda cans off the deck.

[img]https://imgur.com/cIKBs4Z[/img]

My tagline says it all.

Family tradition. Been hunting with my family for as long as I can remember.

I was an only child, raised by my grandparents. I read a lot of books/magazines featuring stories by O'Conner, Keith, Ruark, Hemingway, and other gun nuts. Started with a Red Rider and mainly self taught.
My sons picked up hunting from me.
Own a ranch and a fair collection of long guns and pistols. Did some gunsmithing at Carters Country. Still do some trigger work and handloading.
A lifetime hunter, now watching my grandsons who have the habit and are darned good at it.

From the time I can remember, every fall we would head to Colorado for a deer and elk hunt. My grandpa's bothers lived in southeastern Colorado, Both sets of grandparents would load up 2 or 3 vehicles and head first to Walsenburg, and literally caravan to the mountains and camp for a week or more. Back home in Texas, we had few deer in Runnels county, but we had plenty of jacks and cottontails, along with quail and dove. Even as little kids we had 22's and could wonder through the pastures, ours, and the neighbor's for hours during the summer and fall days.

Like you, my grandpa took me hunting in Louisiana. Started with squirrel and rabbit. When I got older we got into deer hunting.

My grandma told me it made my grandpa's day when I would show up. We'd plan food plots, build trails, bridges for the 4-wheeler, and what ever else was needed in preparation for the deer season. I think I had more fund working on the property then deer hunting.

What's funny is in all that time my grandpa never took me bird hunting. Moved to Texas and fell in love with dove and duck. My Dad said that was all my grandpa use to do when he was a kid. Apparently before the pine plantations of Louisiana when the woods were raw, they held plenty of quail.

Sure do miss my grandpa.

My stepdad hunted growing up on a farm in the panhandle of Oklahoma, he talked about it quite a bit growing up and tools us fishing cause it was cheaper than hunting in TX. Had a friend at work that hunted as well, he spoke about it quite a bit and how much he enjoyed it. Between both of those guys I developed an interest and eventually got on my first lease in 2007, been hooked since then.

I never hunted until college. Had zero experience. Shot guns once before. Fished a lot with grandad though. Went on one dove hunt in college and that was it for many years. Did down my first dove I ever shot at with my 870. Literally chased it for 30 minutes running around. Started duck hunting with a co-worker almost every weekend for a few years but wanted to spend more time outdoors and not just pack up at 9:30 am and head home after getting up at 4 am every Saturday. Quail hunted a little too with him a few Thanksgivings. Another guy I met at work had some big ranches and took me deer hunting once. I then wanted my own lease so we got one we found on a subscription site. Saw 6 deer first hunt and hardly anything after. Did that for 3 years but just enjoyed being out there spending as much time as I wanted on the land. Got off for a few years and another buddy at work had some openings on his larger lease literally few miles from my first lease that I have been on for 8 years now. Didn't shoot a buck for 4 years but done well since. Love every minute of it. Been on many properties over the years with friends I have met and love every minute of it.

One of the funniest memories I have as a newbie was at friends ranch fishing and we see a deer running while driving in the spring. I said that is a doe. He said how can you tell? Well he has no antlers I said. He just shook his head...

I say get on any lease you can afford at the time and go from there. It's like girlfriends, you meet more than you need when you have one!

My Dad. I remember when I was young (less than 7) waiting out in the driveway when I knew he was close to being home just to see what he harvested. I was always excited as a child when he came home. I started hunting when I was around 10 (or so, I can't remember the exact age) at Fort Hood Base in Texas. When our cards were not drawn to gun hunt we would go and get permits to hunt with bow and arrow and we would make a weekend of it. Now that he is older I love hunting with him. We have our own land now (about 61 acres) and we spend as much time there as life will allow. He made the comment the other day to me that he didn't know how much longer he will be able to hunt since it's getting harder for him to walk & I replied back "I will just have to drive you the stand then." He is my deer hunting buddy.

I hunted with my dad since I was about 10. I just carried my Bear Cub fiberglass bow and one arrow. Man I wanted to stick a rabbit so bad with it, but never did. At 12 I got my first real gun, a single shot Winchester model 37A youth 20 guage. I've been obsessed with hunting ever since.
I had two brothers and one sister. My dad took them all hunting and fishing, but I was the only one that kept doing it as an adult.
I brought all 3 of my son's up hunting and fishing. As adults, they still enjoy going with me, but only my middle son seems to be as eat up with it as I have always been. Funny how things work out.

Hunting and fishing with my dad. I got a Savage 24E (top lever-solid barrel) 22/410 for a birthday around 1966 and my dad took me squirrel hunting on some neighbors land and we jumped up some Whitetail Deer. It was the first ones I had ever seen and was hooked. Turns out the area we were hunting was a release site of some northern deer of the restocking program.