how did you start hunting and shooting??????

[illwhttail]

I started when I was 7 or 8 with pellet guns back in the mid 70s then 22s then shotguns then wheelies in the early 80s.
Now its Trad gear, it's a constant evolving journey.
I have meet some great people along the way,and formed some great friendships.
It's great watching my boys on there journey.
Life is good my friends.

Scott.

[Orion]

I grew up in the country and got my first  pump daisy bb gun and a lemonwood bow when I was seven in the early 50s.  Grew up with hunting, fishing and trapping. Have been hunting with sticks ever since, with a very brief foray into mechanical arrow launchers in the mid-70s. Rifles and side-by-side shotguns have always been part of the mix as well.

[bornagainbowhunter]

My grandpa bought me a BB gun when I was 3.  My Mom would not let me use it until I was 4.  I had one good year before school started to get good and hooked.      I started shooting a bow right about the same time, a Pearson Equalizer.  Been hooked ever since and enjoyed every minute of this life the The Good Lord has chosen to bless me with.

God Bless,
Nathan

[DaveKing]

I also began life in Wisconsin, lived there until I was 17 then moved away to see the world (and I did).  My father and mother were born in up in the "Jack Pines" and they and their families hunted.  I had my first BB gun at about age 5 (late 1950's) and about age 10 got into bow hunting.  I've hunted in some manner ever since birth I'd venture.

[Stumpkiller]

Grandpa had a "gentleman's farm" and on the weekends we went there.  My brother and cousins all enjoyed archery (free) and pump .22 LRs (a luxury not used as much).  I never "officially" hunted until after I was married (age 20) after connecting up with the family of a friend from college who hunted.

[Rooselk]

My father and grandfathers were hunters. They got me started. An uncle gave me a nice recurve when I was 13. Mostly hunted with rifles but many years later decided try a stick and string again. Wish now I would have made the switch to trad bows long before I did.

[scedvm]

As a kid in the mid-late 70's my grandfather had a terrible prairie dog problem at his ND ranch.  He would pay my little brother and I 5 cents for every tail we brought him.  Since he felt we were too young to be out alone with guns we would pack our fiberglass Bear bows and homemade dowel arrows and hunt prairie dogs all summer long.  Wish I could shoot as good now as I could then!...Shawn

[adeeden]

Dad started me out shooting bows at a very young age. In fact I have no memory of before archery!

[Bowwild]

1st hunts were tag alongs with Dad as he squirrel hunted and I fetched-age 4-9.

Around 8 or 9 I made a bow from a stick and kept birds from landing in our yard.

Dad got me shooting squirrels with .410 at age 10. A pellet gun and I kept the block's song-bird on their toes around then also.

My first bow was a Ben Pearson Cougar about age 13 or 14. Dad took my brother and I deer hunting with a rifle when we were 13 & 14--we never saw a deer but he let us shoot our "hide" -- a wrecked car in a KY pasture.

I killed the first live deer I saw in my life at age 16, in Brown County, Indiana with that Ben Pearson recurve: 15 yard shot with a Deadhead on a Cedar arrow. "Oh my gosh that's a deer!" were my exact words when the 5-point jumped out of the state park and walked to my treestand on private property.  

I've been tore up since.

[wildwood]

My Dad was not a hunter/fisherman but for some reason my brother(Yolla Bolly) and I just couldnt wait to be able to fish and hunt. We were able to have a bb gun when we were 10 and 22's when we were a few years older. Some Men in our church took us with them deer hunting, that was a big plus. Our Mom bought us Hewit recurves and signed us up in the local archery club. That was the start for archery for me.

[Swinestalker]

Grandpa bought me a bb gun and a little fiberglass bow when I was about 5. It remains the greatest favor anyone has ever done for me! Have done the same with my own son.

[sawtoothscream]

went along with my uncle to watch him duck hunt. my other uncle gave my a .22 to play with and i had fun shooting, saw my uncle shoot his bow anad wanted to try. my dads friend gave me some old crappy compound and i loved it. bought myself a youth bow and shot laegues, upgraded to a better compound and keep shooting leagues, at 12 i shot my first turkey with ashot gun and was hooked on hunting, started bow hunting at 14. then one day i was watching tv with my grand pa and some guy was shooting a long bow so i said i would love to try that someday and he said  really? went down stairs and came back up with a bear polar long bow and said its yours.  then later my other grand pa gave me a 59 bear kodiak and thats how i become hooked on trad archery.

love to hunt ALOT

[Notso]

I grew up in Milwaukee and made my first bow from a maple branch at age 10. Terrorized the local rabbits with $.19 arrows from the hardware store. Moved up to solid fiberglass bow, laminated recurves and now a longbow. Successfully avoided all wheeled bows !!!!!

[Covey]

My dad was a fisherman, never got into hunting till my teenage years. Killed my first deer with a g**.  Got married when I was 24,working construction from dark to dark didnt' leave me much time to hunt. Now being 38 years old, with a 12 year old son and a job close to home.. I try to devote as much time as I can to hunting, and getting my son in the woods and on the water. Finally got my priorities right! Jason

[Thumper Dunker]

Step Father hunted with guns . Wore out several BB and air rifles before I was in the 7th grade. always had some kind of bow ,cheap bow fiber glass things, never realy bow hunted till the 8th grade got a Ben bearson 40lb all glass bow.Got my first real bow in late high school 60 @ 28 Wing ,Still shoot it, its one of my best shooters. put the bow away for several years .( got married ect.)Started shooting varmits,coyotes and ground squirrels about 10 years ago. Had to have  rifles that would take a squirrel at 500 yards.A few years back Moved to a new house and found the bow . Took it out and tried shooting squirrels with it. Never looked back. Glad I never had a wheel bow never could hit any thing with one.

[macksdad]

Started shooting BB gun when I was 5 got my first bow when I was 8 Started rabbit hunting somewhere in between the bow and the BB gun.

good thread..

"hunting"... well my family has been a hunting family for many generations - but with shotguns and rifles.  I broke the mould and wandered off into the past...made my own "self" bow at age 10 and ran around the neighborhood shooting at pop cans all kinds of junk.  Actually hunted chipmunks for a few years as a youngster..

In the years that followed, I taught my three brothers to bow hunt and now their kids are avid and successful hunters with the stick-n-string.  

I've killed numerous whitetails, ducks, grouse, and rabbits without the use of a firearm since 1970.

[mookie]

The first hunt I remember is bear hunting with a stick a couple of blocks from home, I also remember the butt whipping when mom found me.

[rdoggsilva]

Was raised by my grand parents. My grand dad was a hunter and grandma the fisherman. My grand uncle a government hunter. So I have been hunting as far back as I can remember. Bought my first recurve in 1966, a Person 50# hunter, still have it. Been using a bow ever since. I also never went to the dark side and used a compound.

[Eugene Slagle]

I guess it all started for me in 75' I had a terrible few years of my childhood which got me staying with my grand parents, that I think was the best years of my life because I learned so much from my grandfather.

My grandfather had me out learning how to scout the area for good hunting & trapping spots, I learned how to trap when I was 5 & started shooting a home made hickory bow when I was 8 or 9, around the same time I learned to shoot a .22 & then later on to the bigger bores.

Got my first store bought Recurve when I was 11 a Bear Grizzly & when I was 16 my uncle bought me a compound, I've been hooked ever since & have now gone full circle.

Thank you Pop Pop.