Hunting without a dad, what is your experience?

[lpcjon2]

I grew up with a dad that gun hunted and some of my fondest memories are of those hunting days .My favorite is when I was 7 sleeping by a big pine next to dad while he hunted and a couple of does came by at full bore only 10' from me and scared the bagebaz out of me.But I got addicted to the bow and nobody else in my family but my kids do the bow.So I try and get with him during gun season,but I find myself skipping it every year to do the bow.I hope to start making the season with him again.

[Killdeer]

There are no hunters in my family. I was always at the creek, catching what I could catch and watching what I couldn't.

I had always enjoyed weapons, though, despite the fact that there were none in the house. I made spears, little bows, harpoons, drawings of Frankish broadswords vs Norman broadswords, learned what a chamfron was. I got my first bow at eight years, thanks, Mom! From then on, I always had one, getting a Bear at thirteen and a Ben Pearson at fifteen.

I'm all the way over on the right. That's my target, and a Bear Green Fox, and my plastic horse with the removable armor.   :D
 
 

I went away to college, and saw what hunters were like. I hated them. They were the ones who left the carcasses at the train tracks, sometimes with only the rack cut off. My friends warned me not to trail ride during hunting season, whenever that was. Not wanting to be found among the rotting meat at the train tracks, I stayed close to the barn.

It was later that I decided that I would like to buy a gun, as I really loved shooting. It might as well be of a goodly caliber, too, as I might take up hunting... You see, I decided that I could invent for myself just what a hunter was.

 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Killdeer/Hunting%20and%20Camp/First%20Twenty%20Years%20of%20the%20Hunt/AlphonseH.jpg

So, a .270 and I entered the hunting field. It was annoying... all those idiots out there. I traveled to get away from the bulk of them, and taught myself how to hunt. I used books and magazines, and Nature taught me a thing or two. I started killing deer. The bow came back into play and I had come full circle.

You would not think it, but I am really not that much of a social critter. I much prefer to be alone, and having folks around tends to make me feel inhibited. All of a sudden, I have to coordinate meals and such with them and get along. (Yikes!   :eek:   ) When I go out on a hunt, I am exploring, listening for messages from the Eternal, and rummaging for treasure. When I get back, I want to do the simple chores that need to be done in camp while I quietly mull over the day. Then I can see if there WAS a message, or a theme, and spend the dark hours by the lantern, writing it down.

With people in camp, I get sidetracked, drawn into conversations, my thought train derailed and I don't write. While I enjoy talking with my friends and husband, I feel that I have missed out on what I should really be doing. The past few years, my journal has been sadly neglected.

Somehow, I need to work this out, because when I am unable to hunt, broken and confined to a rocker and a spit-cup, I want there to be lots of experiences written in my journals, that some health aide can read to me so I can travel in my dreams.

Killdeer

 

[hawkeye n pa]

Great thread!  My Dad was a avid gun hunter and took me out often.  Duck hunting was a labor of love for him and I could never understand why we took along the homemade canoe much less the paddles.  It rarely seemed to touch water on the duck hunting swamps.

I took to archery at a early age and was aloud to go by my self and learn.  Dad worked alot of weekends and some of his friends would take me to their camps bowhunting. I learnt alot from them.    When Dad retired he started bowhunting and I became a teacher.  It has been a great ride, he will soon be 77 and is still at it. I cherish every outing.

[buckeye_hunter]

I was wondering when I posted this how many of our female members would chime in on the topic.  I have 2 daughters and, consequently, a vested interest in any replies by daughters or moms.

-Charlie

[Mudd]

Absolutely none!
God bless,Mudd

[weezy]

I grew up in a family of 11 kids. I was the 2nd youngest. It was a great childhood living near the Mississippi river. Two of my older brothers and I spent most of our time fishing and playing or working outside from sunup to bedtime.We made bows from tree limbs and arrows and spears from horse weeds. I can remember maybe 1 time dad taking me squirrel hunting. He pretty much worked all the time to feed the family. He had a stroke when  I was about 12 years old and was never able to use the right side of his body much after that. I played around a little with fiberglass recurve bow a neighbor had but never really discovered archery untill I was 19 years old. I had 2 brothers that shot for a while but neither lasted long with it so I'm pretty much self taught. I learned a lot the hard way and from reading bowhunter magazine and reading the Wenzel Bros. books, also every other book I could get my hands on about bowhunting. It really became a passion and still is some 37 years latter. I always took my kids with me to the woods when they would go. The youngest just never had the interest. The oldest always enjoyed it but I just got him  off the compound bow last year and now he is hooked big time. Reminds me of the passion I had when I started this journey. I can remember every harvest of a deer over the years to this day down to the exact spot it happened and time of day.Also the misses and the couple that got away. I still feel bad about the couple that were not recovered and that's been 20 years ago.The animal giving up its' life was never the highlight of the hunt for me but is a part of it. Those memories   can never be taken away. Oh and by the way, I have a nephew that is the same age as me which puts him 3 years older than my younger sister.Mom was pregnant with me at the same time my 2nd oldest sister was pregnant. I don't know about all big families, but this one is great to be part of.I might have share more than you wanted, but when I got started it was hard to stop.
Good luck to all.
Bob

[ChuckC]

I had a step father who wasn't extremely interested in me, and 6 sisters.  No hunters among them.  Not certain how I did it but it was always just me.  I think that for many of us, hunting, fishing, sitting in the woods, watching and listening. . . they are not something we do cause it is cool, or the "in" thing.  

As Killy stated so eloquently (sp?)  it just is what is is.  I can't help it and I can't stop it.
It was there, burning softly when I was born and I kept fanning the flames for all my life.

You would think I would get bored and leave it. .  I have a habit of doing that with many hobbies. .  but I can't seem to shake this.  It just is what it is.

There were very few movies about hunting when I was young. Certainly no videos. Even but a few real books that were mainstream.  Back them you learned by doing, and very often by screwing up.

Fred Bear was like "God".I religiously watched "Jim Thomas. .  Outdoors ", a TV show. I believe it was on Sunday nights. .  That was 45- 50 years ago.

Back then here weren't 25 magazines out there all telling me about food plots, and all the best gear to get, and how and why I needed to kill 3-4 "book Bucks" every year or I really wasn't much of a hunter.

The more I think about the past, I feel a bit sorry for the new generation.  So much pressure to beat everybody else for some goal and prize that someone else contrived instead of just doing it for themselves.

A couple years back, while bored and walking the aisles of the local Gander Mtn store, I overheard one of the VERY young clerks telling a prospective customer all about bow hunting.  

He told him stories about all the bucks he let pass because they were too small, not "book".  I found out later that he had not yet shot a deer with a bow.   This is the person that is teaching a newbie all that they need in equipment, and gear.

Too much pressure.

I grew up with a friend whose father hunted.  I don't know for certain if "dad" was actually a poacher, but I do know that rules were for someone else. How lucky I was to have grown up with NO hunter influence rather than following in the foot steps of "dad".  Although we were quite close because we both shared that outdoors fire and passion,  I couldn't do the things he and "dad" expected me to do, both in the field and also in life, and we drifted apart.

Wow. .  . so many paths I could have followed, so many different roles and ideals I could have taken.  Life is so complex.
ChuckC

[trad_bowhunter1965]

My Dad hunted just not with me he jetted when I was seven left me and 3 brothers, two older hunted deer with my dad but I was our Uncle Huey that took all of us Deer hunt and my Mother and Grandmother made sure that we had what we needed to hunt. I was the only one bit by the Archery bug from about 15 years, my younger Brother now bow hunts, I went Traditional last year and I love it is were I have always wanted to be.

[varmint101]

Well, it's been a learning experience.  Dad never once took an interest in me.  So, most of the stuff I've learned has been through trial and error.  Oh well whatever.  I got used to myself I know that LOL.

I got into hunting just because it seemed like fun and it's progressed from there.  Not sure where I'd be today without the outdoors.

[bolong]

Well I'm not to good at putting things into words but I'll do the best I can. My dad was an avid outdoorsman. He truly loved to hunt, fish, camp and be in the outdoors period. Not only did he love it he was very, very good at it. Sadly he died at the young age of 46 in 1963. Cancer, treatment was not as good back then as it is now. I was 11 years old when he died but he had been taking me hunting, fishing and camping since I was just a baby. At abiut age 5 he was taking me bird hunting (quail), deer hunting and squirrell, duck and anything else there was a season for. I quickly developed a passion for it just as he had and still have it to this day. He bought me a Ben Pearson 35 lb. solid fiberglass recurve when I was 10. Killed a robin and a rabbit with it, still have it,it's priceless. He went to New Orleans to a Cancer Hospital a few months before he died and brought me back 2 fancy cedar arrows with Pearson Deadheads on them. I truly adored them and would just sit and admire them. I was swverely bitten by the archery bug. After he died when I was 11 I continued to hunt and fish with my older brother and uncles. When I was 14 my mother bought me a Ben Pearson Hunter 45#. When I as 15 I killed my first deer ever ( a yearling doe with that bow and one of the arrows he bought me at an archery shop in New Orleans. Broke the arrow though and I dont  know what happened to the othe one, lost it I guess. To make a long story shorter my Dad had a tremendous influence on my life. Just wish I could have had him around longer but it wasn't in Gods plans. If you still have your father, don't take it for granted, make the most of every day you have with him. Nothing is quaranteed.

[John3]

My Dad started me.. He bowhunted a bit and shot tournaments in the late 60s and early 70s.

Dad worked for Earl Hoyt Jr. in St. Louis and brought me home a 15# recurve sometime around 1974.  
I loved to shoot that bow (which my parents kept and gave back to me 30 years later) but I never considered bowhunting due to cars and chasing blue eyed women until I went off to college in 1986. I got serious about wanting to bowhunt and Pop helped me with shooting form and scouting. He just didn't want to sit and get stiff and cold.. LOL  Bowhunting has mostly always been a solo event for me.
Dad was more excited than I was when I got my first whitetail killed with my bow.  This was the first archery killed deer in my family and that little button buck was a big time trophy for us...
Even still today anytime I get a new bow Dad will run his hands all over it checking the finish.  Then he will say, "that bow would not have passed inspection at Hoyt"...  

Thank Pop for starting me on this path so many years ago...

John III

[buckeye_hunter]

None of these posts are TOO long or poorly written. They are all your experiences and abilities.

What is written so far is interesting AND helpful.

Several things come to mind...
1. It is nice to hear stories about dads and hunting, because I don't have that experience.
2. Those who hunt alone reaffirm that it is okay to have time to yourself. Like I said before, I like to hunt with other people, but sometimes all by myself.
3. Not having a "dad" to hunt with can open other avenues for friendship and bonding with other relatives, spouses or friends.
4. Helps me focus on what I DO HAVE and not on what I'm missing.

Thanks for all the posts so far,
-Charlie

Oh yeah, the show that I watched every Saturday morning and couldn't wait for was "Wild America" hosted by Marty Stouffer. That is where I had my initial "fetchins up" about wild life. I was given the complete set on DVD last Christmas as a present!

[beaver#1]

my dad tought me how to hunt, and take care of game once it was taken, other than those first few years we never hunt together other than squirl once a year.  it has gotten even less sense i turned to trad.  and i have never had a hunting partner. yah its tough.  any east texans looking for a hunting buddy lol

[highpoint forge]

My Dad got me started but I learned pretty much by self study, and to me, he seemed ill-prepared most of the time, so I learned to hunt without him pretty much right away, but we would be on the same trips mind you. He works a lot, even at 75 years old, and I wouldn't call us close. We have hunted most seasons here in TX since about 1980. Once I could drive I was pretty much heading out whenever I could with friends, etc. during dove, deer and turkey season.

I married into a very serious hunting family with no male children seven years ago and dated my wife ten years before that. I am still the only son in law. I picked up my first bow, a Bob Lee recurve, for Xmas 2007 from them, and never looked back. My fatherinlaw had his difficulties with his Dad too, so via an interest in bow hunting and the outdoors to "bridge the gap" we fostered a relationship. If we didn't trad bow hunt and love archery, we'd have ZERO in common! He works a lot as well but he's younger than my Dad. Between the two Dads I have a pretty good deal, not a buddy or a pal, but hey, I get to hunt a lot and learn a lot about trad archery. I'd call that more than sufficient. I'm grateful for their hard work and success that has provided these wonderful experiences for me. We'll see what happens with my kids whenever I have any......

[Mark U]

My father was an avid hunter, but he was killed in an accident when I was two in 1952.  I have an older brother who raised me, along with my mom, and my brother was an exceptional deer hunter, having learned from dad, but they were Winchester 94 people in northern Minnesota.  My brother gave me a 22 single shot when I was six or seven, taught me to trap mink and how to hunt deer. I took my first deer with a 38-55 model 94 that was my dads favorite gun, and I still have it. Took up bowhunting on my own for whatever reason, but when I did I learned more about animals than most rifle hunters will in two lifetimes.

  We hunt the same farm I grew up on every fall, and my kids all hunt.  This picture is on the farm last fall, with a deer taken by my eldest son.  They now want to do a family hunt next year in either Alaska, Africa or Oz.  My daughter just got a new Robertson fatalstyk recurve.  

 

And this is from an earlier time, same place, same daughter.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

My father never hunted but my mother hunted with her brothers. However, dad not hunting did not affect his outlook on the outdoors. He is a 3rd generation fur farmer-so there has always been a tie to the outdoors.
My brother and I started hunting when we were 5 for rabbits and squirrels, mostly close to home. Mom saw the desire in my bro and i and had a family friend take us under his wing and show us the ropes. In my 20 years of hunting now, I have only been hunting with my father one time-and that was because we begged him to go when we were in grade school-all our buddies were hunting with their dads, we wanted to as well.
Now, my brother and I help support the family with our hunting practices-meat in the freezer! Though dad does not hunt, he has supported us in our choice to do so.

[Soilarch]

I have a great Dad.  He's too busy, but I'm old enough now to appreciate how hard it is to juggle work and family.

Growing up he and Mom supported me in most things.  He took an archery class in college because it was Pass/Fail...and I found his old Bear recurve one day.  It was probably #50 and LH even though he's RH (I'm LH.)  I BEGGED for some arrows at Wal-Mart one day.  Wish I had a clip or pic of me pulling that thing half-way back and pointing straight up in the air.  God smiled on me and didn't allow me to shish-kabob myself.

It's all history from there. Got a compound for my birthday a few years later.  Then again for christmas when I was 15. (That was 2000) Bought another compound in 2007 but was burnt out shortly after.  So, remembering that old Bear I found this place and dived in.

Dad grew up hunting, we went rabbit hunting a few times when I was little. And he went with me for my first Shotgun Deer season. (He drove to the woods, set down by a tree with a gun and let me go off to a stand we had put up earlier.  I never found that stand in the dark and ended up settlingly in at the base of a big oak tree.)  That's about it as far as me and dad hunting together.  

GRANDPA!!!!!!!!!!   Grandpa taught me to shoot with a .410 "Snake Charmer" and a Ruger 10/22. He was a coon hunting fanatic and ran blueticks till his health failed him in his late 70s. His eyes were bad enough at the end he'd always shine the light in their eyes and let me shoot the coons out of the trees.  He took me squirrel hunting several times as well.  Those nights in the woods and the few hot August days were what taught me to love the outdoors.  If for no other reason, I wanted to be like Grandpa.  Still do.  (I'm tearing up)

Archery and deerhunting though, from an educational standpoint...I've been on my own.  I sure don't regret it though, it is what it is.

It's been fun, and I look forward to it.

I hope to be financially well-off enough someday to buy up a bunch of bows and start a youth-archery thing.  Heck, I might even let the parents join in.  But if I can see in a kid's eye what I felt when I was with Grandpa...

[Earthdog]

My father hunted a bit in his youth,but by the time I came along he was well past doing anything other than working to keep the family going.
I never met my mother until I was in my late teens,and it was only then that I found out where my own drive to both hunt and fish came from.
Because I was bought up in a blended family and had little in common with anybody else,I was always looked at as being a little "outside" the norm.
All my brothers and sisters where very much city type people,while my only real wish in life was to get the H out of anything to do with citys an towns,and would head for the hills or the coast.
That caused a lot of problems an I always seemed to be in the S for something.
I got to where I'd catch good fish or shoot a couple of rabbits,and I'd give them to naibours because my step mother sure wasn't cooking them or having them in her kitchen.
The day after I turned 15 I simply packed my few belonging an hit the road without saying a word.
It was 3-4 years before I got back to dropping in to see how things were going back there.
One of my brothers had hung himself,the other was in a bike gang,my sisters were hanging around with scumbags,my father was still sitting in front of a TV,my step mother was fatter an uglier than ever,,,,and all I had to talk about was working on the land,hunting,fishing,climbing mountains,living off the land,and meting most of my mothers side of the family.
None of that made me any more popular than when I was a kid,so from there on I just visted now an then to see my father,,but not much else.
I learnt everything the hard way,got it all from books and magazines,then made all the mistakes you could,but never gave up trying.
I never had any direction until I did it for myself,,but I've made damn sure my own kids never had to do it like that.

[buckeye_hunter]

It's amazing so many people have to learn on their own like I did. I guess that is a bit of a commentary on how society is seperated from the land and where their food comes from......


Mark and Killdeer,
Your pictures are truly worth a thousand words.

Vermonster,
If you are reading this thread at all, good on you for helping so many kids!

-Charlie

[Eric Krewson]

My parents were both mentally ill in my youth, they took turns having nervous breakdowns. They hated kids and had 4 of them. My mother was bed ridden for months after one psychotic episode. My mother also molested my youngest brother. My father had a penchant for violence toward us kids so I distanced myself from him.

The woods were my escape.

Most of my paper route money was spent at the bait shop for ammo, rods and reels or fishing lures. What was left went to Herter's for one gizmo or another or to Outdoor Life, Field and Stream or Sports Afield for subscription renewals.

I was completely self taught in the outdoors and had a circle of like minded friends(with normal families) who I hunted and fished with from an early age.

I still would rather hunt alone and be able to come and go with no time table. I do like to meet occasionally with a few friends for a campfire lunch then go our separate ways for the evening hunt.

Although my life has become incredibly rich and fulfilling, with the best family and friends a man could hope for, I still feel the need to make my "escape" to the deepest part of the forest and always will.