Where are your roots?

[DWilk]

Yesterday, I went on a squirrel hunt. I do it every year. Essentially, it is the first thing I hunted as a young kid. I actually had a great morning and limited out :way:, but it also got me thinking about how other folks started hunting.

What's your story? How were you introduced to hunting? Were you a kid or older? If you have kids, how will, or how have you introduced them? Any old photos? Hunting is a pastime as much as it is a sport, and I love it!

Here are a few things I've learned as I look back on my early years squirrel hunting:

Back to My Roots

 

[LYON]

Nice bunch of tree rats! I didn't start hunting deer until I was 13. My dad always went but I don't remember him being gone much doing so. My first exposure to hunting was probably shooting sparrows with a bb gun. Spent lots of hours in the yard doing that growing up. Other than that, my earliest memories are standing at the end of a corn row waiting for the pheasants to come running out as the combine finished that section, hard work hunting I know!

 

[patch86]

I'm going to shoot some tree rats this weekend. I absolutely love it!!!

 

[LYON]

Nice bunch of tree rats! I didn't start hunting deer until I was 13. My dad always went but I don't remember him being gone much doing so. My first exposure to hunting was probably shooting sparrows with a bb gun. Spent lots of hours in the yard doing that growing up. Other than that, my earliest memories are standing at the end of a corn row waiting for the pheasants to come running out as the combine finished that section, hard work hunting I know!

 

[nannyslayer]

My roots are in southern Missouri. All of my family and farms are there. My dad is an avid deer hunter and turkey hunter and I killed my first deer at the age of 7. Someday I will definitely be back there, just not sure when.

Rabbit hunting with beagles were a huge past time with us. Also had a few deer beagles that we would take to Arkansas and hunt deer with. My grandpa had been doing that since he was a kid, so it was neat to do some of the things that he enjoyed. Now days I prefer bow hunting, but sure do miss th excitement of the beagles running and seeing the deer headed your way!

 

[tagged out]

tree rats for me! love shooting those little suckers. always a plus thinning out the swarm before bow season. no matter how many you kill it never seems to put a dent in the population. i enjoy bringing the nephews out after the gun seasons are over. my wife doesn't have any interest in hunting, but will eat anything i bring home! :way:

 

[sep0667]

I started out with a bb gun shooting birds off the bird feeder, dad didn't care as long as they were sparrows. I shot a few woodpeckers/robins, don't do that lol. Went pheasant quite a bit with my dad and uncles. I started deer hunting on my own just wondering around public with my shotgun, only ever got one deer doing that after a 3 or 4 seasons, a little five point. Missed countless others. Finally bought a bow a few years ago and that is now my obsession.

 

[bigbuckhunter88]

For me it started shooting birds in the yard, haymow, and hog buildings with a pellet gun. That is how I spent my spare time growing up while my Dad was doing chores and milking. Went shotgun deer hunting the first time with an actual gun at 6 and shot my first deer on that stand. A button buck, but at the time it was the biggest deer ever. Also went with Dad on a couple bow hunts and sat on the ground/in the stand with him. Thats what got me hooked. Started to get into waterfowl a little more, but that is for something to do when deer season isn't open or the days aren't favorable for it.

 

[bannyrooster]

small birds, ground squirrels, and rabbits as a kid. my dad was a fur buyer so he was plenty busy during prime time, so i never really got a chance to hunt with him. stuck mainly with fishing through high school and college. after i got divorced i had a lot of friends that pushed me to get out in the woods just for something to do. turkey hunting has now become an addiction and i just got into deer 2 years ago. thank God for my friends and their help. i only had one chance to sit in the woods with my dad before he passed from cancer but we both loved it and im sure we will get a chance on the other side.

 

[SaskGuy]

Pigeons at my grandpa's farm and gophers. Spent alot of time with childhood buddies whacking those pasture and field excavators.

 

[TheMadCatter]

Started out with my Dad at age 5 going opening day of rabbit season, I shot 12 that year with our old fasion .22.

I was 6 or 7 in this picture, rabbits during the winter. I shot these..

I believe this was in '99 I would have been 3 caught the ones I'm holding in 1 day on a farm pond where my target buck is right. My Dad even thinks my hair is too long

 

[doubledrop32]

Like many other it was sparrows and blue Jays off the bird feeders and out of tees. I would sit out in the snow just to kill a sparrow lol. Then got my first shotgun when I was 10 and hunted everything I could. Mostly pheasants "when you could fill your limit in less than an hour about anywhere you went". Born and raised in southwest Iowa and started deer hunting at age 13 with a sweet 16 gauge and a recurve bow my grandpa gave me. Have loved every minute of hunting since I started.

 

[jmoose]

western iowa. started shooting everything that sat still long enough for me to take aim with my BB gun when i was really young....6 or so i suppose. then graduated to pheasants with dad and grandpa with an old single shot 410.