Dad and older brother had me doing the South Texas shuffle around age 5 or so and been at it, nearly 50 years since. Both are gone and hunting infinite animals, but I keep at it for the joy and excitement of the chase in their memory and honor. The chase will likely end with me, as my son and daughter have no interest in it whatsoever, and that is totally ok and their freedom of choice. Whom or what got you started and what keeps you going at it?

My dad was a bird hunter. He didn’t have a lot of means but was friends with people who owned land so he always had a place to dove or quail hunt. Back then we would drive old brushy fence lines and when a covey was spotted you would get out and bust a few and then on to the next one.

I was just always fascinated with hunting. When my parents got divorced I didn’t get into the woods much from about 6 to 10 years old yet every story, magazine or book was about hunting. I was obsessed with it.

When I finally did start going hunting around 10-11 years old that was all I wanted to do

Killed a few deer here and there but once I became an adult and was responsible for myself I went and hunted as much as opportunity would allow. I was very fortunate that some family and many friends had ranches we could go hunt on and shoot pigs and culls so that was a way I got a lot of experience.

Now, I’m driven by going to different places to hunt different species, what keeps me at it here at home is trying to get proficient killing deer with a traditional bow, totally different game than shooting a compound and you learn to accept defeat on a regular basis.

It’s just a way of life when you grow up in the woods.

My first word was "deer." True story.

My dad would take me a few times when I was too young to drive but was never into the sport. I would hunt more often with friends once I was old enough to drive, but my hunting exploded once I met my wife and began hunting with her dad and uncles. We dated for six years through high school and college and I hunted throughout that time with them. To say I learned a lot from them is an understatement. They've all since passed but the memories are still as alive as ever. Unfortunately, the knowledge I gained from them is something that many hunters today have no interest whatsoever.

My dad took me mule deer hunting for the first time in 1971, I was 11 years old. I've been hooked ever since, taking 45 mule deer bucks since then and too many whitetails to count. I can't get enough of it, and also love hunting whitetails, aoudad, antelope, Africa, hogs, yotes, most anything.

Use to be thought of hunting was what got me through the heat of summer and watching the hunting shows was my crutch till I could get to fall. My father hauled me around till it was time and his fathers grace with shotgun was something I admired. Times have changed and still admire trophies others have taken, just cost,politics and the show of who can afford the biggest and best has me opting out of it all. That and realization that some of my heros growing up aren't all that and have grown apart from aspects of lifestyle. I can see a time when my accumulation of hunting gear is liquidated. Not negative and still enjoy some of tales on here but guess I'm not the man I use to be.

My Dad hunted squirrel, rabbits and birds often It was always exciting for me to go along. Only went deer hunting once that I remember but I have really enjoyed it as i have grown up. We lived in a rural area and my older brother would take 22 rifles to the river about anytime we wanted.

Grandad was the one who taught me to hunt.

Took me squirrel hunting at age 11-12 with a little Remington Model 12. I remember those bright cold mornings in the woods with the sounds of crows, hawks, squirrels, etc. Very memorable.

Dad was an avid Duck, Grouse, and deer hunter with an occasional pheasant hunt.

I grew up in Minnesota and it was pretty much a right of passage to start deer hunting at age 12 (youngest allowed by law at the time). But I was shooting squirrels and rabbits at a younger age.

My boys started hunting around 7 or 8. Although neither one shot a deer until much later, someplace in their teens.

Do mostly deer and hog hunting now with the occasional squirrel or ground hog.

Dad would take me with him before I was in elementary school to the Sabine river and shoot snakes. I still have his Rem. 552 speedmaster, and it still shoots good. He would take me squirrel hunting later and I can remember the cool crisp morning waiting on sunrise. The site of a Deer in East Texas at that time would make front page news. I was able to take him on a deer hunt with me later in life, and if I remember it was probably his last actual hunt. He passed in 2000. I had handed down the love to my son and my son in law is one of my best hunting partners. Myself and children have instilled the love of hunting in my grandchildren. If I'm around long enough I'll be spoiling the Greats when they arrive. As an old Army Sargent told me one time " we train our replacements ". This is so true in life. Spread the love to the next generations. If you don't have your own to help learn, teach some that don't have that guiding light in their life.

My Dad was never a hunter, I am an 80’s kid so grew up in the outdoors. I started and now take my son. It’s something we both love and enjoy spending the time with each other.

Raised on a farm and hunted quail,dove and squirrels at young age.no deer on our place then,dad and grandad leased a place near Mason for a few years and I started hunting there when I was around 12. When I was in jr high we started day hunting on T C Frambo's ranch east of Ranger. (This will let you know how long in the tooth I am ) for $5 per day,then we leased 700 acres for $ 250 per year for 5 -6 hunters. Later deer moved onto our land and now I don't hunt there and don't lease it.,has some nice bucks on it as neighbors ( cousins ) don't hunt are lease .My son hunts it on holidays and likes to hunt turkey but hogs have wiped out the turkey along with the coons eating their eggs

My Dad got me hunting squirrel and coons in the '50's. We had coon dogs but no squirrel dogs, just walked the creeks watching the trees usually Saturday mornings. Coon hunted just about any night we could. Didn't have many deer in Bastrop County at that time, but later in the '60's we started going to the hill country to deer hunt. Just progressed from there to West Texas and then South Texas. It has been a trip, but seeing my son-in-law and now grand-son-in-law joining in has made it all worth it. Now my great grandson has come along and I look forward to getting him in the woods.

My dad never was a big hunter. He loved and still loves to fish. We would camp and fish a lot when I was a kid. I don't remember what drew me to hunting, but it's all I dreamed about as a kid. My dad would always go hunting with his high school buddy, Mr Jones, for one day over Thanksgiving. I always begged him to take me. In retrospect, I think they did more drinking of weller on those 1 day hunting trips than hunting. I was very insitant, and at age 10, I got to go hunting. For many years, squirrel and rabbit was the main prize. Mr Jones got me into hunting, and I still hunt his property at least once a year. What keeps me into hunting? It's just my passion. I can't explain it any other way.

Got myself into it. Dad had all the gun stuff he wanted in WW2. Grandparents had a farm outside of Muleshoe and I spent all my summers there doing farm work. Jackrabbits ate the crops so I rigged up a rifle scabbard for a tractor. Killed a lot of jack rabbits with a 22 single shot while driving a tractor.

Didn’t get into deer hunting until I was 21 yoa and stationed at Luke AFB 25 miles from Phoenix. Bought a POS pickup for desert driving and a Marlin 30-30. Got it stuck in sand and high centered more than once. Sergeant who lived off base kept my firearms while I lived in the barracks.

About 35 years ago, I got tired of leasing and bought my own 133 acres of junk land South of Bowie for $425 per acre. We spend a lot of time there hunting, fishing, shooting and getting away from the metroplex. Have a 2 BR white trash trailer house and various outdoor storage things. It’s now an extended family getaway place. This weekend a young just married couple are honeymooning there.

Have hunted everything but moose and bear across the US. Also Africa where I won’t go to again.

And it all started with rabbits that ate the crops, coyotes that got calves and sparrows that got into the garden and fruit trees.

Dad didn't hunt. Mom grew up in a hunting family and had me sitting in a tree deer hunting with her when I was 5 or so. Loved to hear Papa (Mom's dad) tell his hunting and trapping stories to me and his day hunt clientele. Trapped when I was too young to carry a gun by myself and carried a short baseball bat. Took my son hunting at an early age and it took. Still do opening day with him. Love sitting in a blind with him now and making noise when nothing is close and watching him shake his head and laughing about payback.

Growing up my pop, uncles and granddad all hunted. I lived for the day I would get to tag along. The year I was born (1960) my pop bought me Browning 22LR SA for the day I could go hunting. I still have it 63 years later as it's my pride and joy! On my twelfth birthday I got a new Winchester 94 30-30 to deer hunt with. After that I was on my own buying rifles and shotguns. I started off on squirrels and rabbits, then onto deer. I've stuck with it and will until I can no longer do it. My two brothers gave up hunting early on. It helps that my best bud since high school comes out to the ranch for two weeks in the spring and fall to hunt. Each year we do some type of hunt in south Texas or the hill country for bigger nicer bucks than my ranch produces or exotics. This fall we'll hunt Snow Urial rams in Nov and in Javelina's in early Feb.

Hogs started tearing up my gun range. Then a neighbor wanted help with hogs and things spiraled from there to now covering some 15 properties in Montague County. I don't enjoy the killing but do enjoy the sense of accomplishment in helping folks deal with a problem.

Taught myself the basics.

There were 6 boys & 3 girls with three older brothers, no one in my family hunted or romped in the woods except me. As a small child I would take off to the woods catching whatever, got my first Daisy single pump BB gun and it was game on.
I use to go to lower Kiest park and shoot basically anything that moved. By the time I turned 10 years old I knew every inch of Five Mile creek when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade, was noodling catfish out of the clay banks, perch and some cats under submerged big rocks. Every now and then would catch mud bugs out of Crow Creek.

In junior high my best friends dad was a big wig with John W. Carpenter who they named the freeway after in Irving, started deer & dove hunting.
Life was simple and a lot of fun back then!

My grandpa started me down the path at age 3 or so with a little pop gun, shot a 22 with him when I was 4, just continued on from there with him. His daughter my mother really encouraged me to hunt a lot too. My mother would also drop me off in the Jefferson National Forest every day possible after school to go hunting once it was legal for me to hunt on my own without my grandpa. I want to pass all this down on to my daughter, I think the generational legacy is important to maintain. She may be shooting my grandpa's Lefever with 2 1/2 shells some day.

I was blessed to have been raised on the family ranch in SE Medina County. My Dad didn't hunt but wanted us to stay on the ranch rather than go to town so did everything to keep us there. My Grandfathers and Uncles were hunters and were always willing to give plenty of advise. At age 6, I hunted small game, with stock dogs, coons, possums, rabbits, etc. armed with a pellet gun. When I turned 7, started packing a single shot .22 rifle. That fall, Dad let me hunt deer by myself with a Model 94 Winchester 30-30 and I killed my first buck, a trophy spike and later in the season, a little 5 pointer.
I started caliing critters at age 10 as the Burnham Brothers were my heroes and wanted to be like them. When I turned 11, I got my first hound and began coon hunting. I had the run of approximately 4,000 acres so I could walk out the back door and be in the woods within a couple of minutes.
I still hunt as often as I can, especially for predators. I enjoy rattling whitetails and calling turkeys in the spring. Come to think of it, I like hunting anything that I can call. Not a fan of sitting in a blind and watching a feeder but don't look down on those that do. I turned 71 in March and have no plans of slowing down. At this time, I am planning to shoot season 15 of CARNIVORE next year and then quit doing TV.
Adios,
Gary

Living in West Virginia in the early 70's. We lived on the edge of town and had free roam of the woods. BB gun, bow & arrow, fishing poles and bikes were my main entertainment for those 3 years.

Grew up in Minnesota, Dad took me duck hunting at an early age and started my addiction. Have hunted ducks from Canada to Mexico, love seeing and hearing wings set in the morning. Have taken both of my kids as well as introducing several students to the sights and smells of the marsh in the morning.

Yep. Predators first then for the freezer as I got older.