CONTEST!!!! "What got you into hunting?"

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I grew up going hunting. We hunted deer and pheasants. My dad wasn't a very successful deer hunter but he did bring home an occasional spike or forkhorn. We hunted the foothills mostly. We did lots of hiking and spotted occasional does and every so often a buck. Sometimes he hit it sometimes he missed it. Pheasant hunting was the best. We farmed about 40 acres that was just big enough to provide some awesome pheasant hunting.
    I worked for a farm as a teenager and one year the farmer's son  brought home a once in a lifetime buck. It was massive. He fit it in the back of his jeep and brought it to the farm right off the mountain. He hit it on the run with one bullet. I was awestruck by the deer. I couldn't believe they got that big. I told him if I saw one that big I would take a shot at the deer probably miss and then have to clean my pants out. It won most of the trophy contests in the county that year. I decided right then that I had a lot to learn about hunting. I tagged along with his family deer hunting as often as I could so I could learn as much as possible. This meant that I didn't go hunting with my dad but he was ok with it... At least he told me it was ok. Being young and dumb I didn't think much about it.
    The next year my friend said he was going hunting deer. It was only August and I wondered how he could go in August. He said he was going flipper-sticker hunting. I had no idea what that was. He told me it was bow-hunting. I thought he was crazy and wondered how anyone could shoot a deer with a bow. He went. He went but failed to fill his tag. When the October hunt came along he went out again and got a nice heavy 3-point buck which was big but not as big as the last one. I tagged along with him for that hunt and was the driver and never saw a live buck.
    That got me hooked on hunting and I have had some good years and some years I never punched a tag. More of one than the other. I have yet to find or even take a shot at a buck as big as the one he got that year. I still love hunting. I love being out when the leaves change and mornings are cold and frosty. It is experiencing the outdoors at its best that keeps me going. 

 
Definitely my Dad!!  My father was born in Italy and lived there until he was 17. Although no one in his family hunted, he told me from the time he was little it was in his blood and he used to chase birds around with a slingshot. When he moved to America and realized the hunting opportunities here he said he quickly became obsessed and hunted every opportunity he got. He's hunted just about every species but he particularly loves elk and mule deer. He began taking my brotherand I when we nine or 10 years old and by the time we were old enough to drive we were as obsessed with hunting as he was. It's many years later but my dad and brother are still my favorite hunting partners. Well maybe my second favorite because I have been blessed enough to pass that tradition down to my daughter and son. I can't imagine our lives without the awesome memories and bonding that we have done in countless hours spent together in the outdoors. Thanks Dad!!!!!!


Scott
 
After my dad committed suicide my uncle took me under his wing. He has three sons that are older than me and he had brought them up hunting. It was fantastic as it brought my cousins and I closer than we would have been had my dad not made that decision. Little did I know at the time that his selfishness would turn out to be my glory? I am super close to my uncle and my cousins. To this day we still hunt together and most likely will until we all pass on. I take my kids with me and someday when they give me grandkids they will go also. I will need someone to take my sorry butt into the woods.
 
I grew up hunting a little bit with my dad.  When I left home I actually didn't hunt at all, was almost against it a little.  But about 5 years ago I started thinking about what it meant to harvest my own organic meat, what it meant to get out and enjoy the woods, stuff like that.  A friend talked to me about some nice public lands in Iowa to get after some deer, and just like that I was hooked.
 
My family got me into hunting (deer w/ rifle). I also had a youth compound bow growing up, but didn't shoot anymore after I outgrew it. Then a college teammate took me bowhunting, didn't shoot anything, but got me hooked into archery again. After I graduated college I bought my first "real" compound bow. Took 3 years of practice before I would go on my first bow hunt and then a few hunts later harvest my first animal with a bow. Now with the help of UEH and many others (youtube, local archery shop elk seminars,books) I'm going on my first archery elk hunt this season, diy public land with a buddy. I love the outdoors and the biggest thing will be to escape the concrete jungle for the week. Hunting has always been about quality family time.


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I didn't grow up hunting but grew up in the outdoors.  My wife's family all hunted so I thought I would explore what they were so interested in. It didn't take long for me to catch the fever and the rest is history.
 
My dad wasn't into hunting or fishing at all. My older brother sometimes went with friends and I always was interested but had no one to take me as a kid. My brothers friend was about 10 years older than me and when I was 14 he stopped over at my house and asked me to go hunting with him. He took me deer hunting, partridge, squirrrel, etc. I was hooked!
 
I grew up in a very small eastern Ore town.  I believe everyone in town hunted. I started hunting squirrels and jack rabbits at a very young age. My whole family would spend a lot of time hunting during the season. So I guess I never thought about what got me into hunting as I have been doing it most of my life.
 
I grew up in Utah as part of a very "outdoorsy" family. We camped, hiked, and fished our summers away. However, due to a bad experience my dad had in his youth, we didn't hunt. I went hunting with friends but never got into it myself. As time went on, I married and started a family and my time to try new things became less and less. Fast forward about twenty years. I got divorced and needed a change of scenery so I moved to Montana. After partaking of the beautiful mountains up here with camping and fly fishing the first few years, I needed more. I decided to get a bow and get into bowhunting. I've never looked back. I love it!

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It had to be growing up reading Louis L'Amour novels and wanting to be like the Sacketts. My father was in the Air Force as a pilot and did not hunt. I hated to be inside, and grew up with the Sacketts and playing cowboys and indians. I was always outdoors and could care less about TV. I played all of the sports, but was and am most happy when I am out doors. I followed my fathers footsteps, and joined the military. I went in the Army in 1982 and served for 9.5 years before transferring into the IDANG for a total of 24 years 9 months. I spent time in 28 different countries. I deployed for Desert Storm, helped with the invasion of Iraq, and went as a convoy medic from Bagram in northern Afghanistan to south of Kandahar, west to Lashkar Ga Maiwand and Panjwai and east to the border of Pakistan. 3 IED's several ground attacks, and had lots of good times with many different armies from around the world. Each time I would return home, I found solitude, peace and quiet in the mountains of my beautiful home Idaho. I usually start "hunting" in Aug, and finish up after spring bear season. God made the outdoors to help keep us grounded in what is real and what matters. God made me for the outdoors and hunting.
 
What got me into Hunting?


Probably a combination of things. There were no hunters in my direct family however. At a young age I became very interested in the outdoors. I lived in a small town and loved to take walks to the city limits and beyond.  Follow the creeks etc and see where they led me.  My closest friends came from a hunting family and I loved watching such shows as Daniel Boone.  In Jr High I would go to the library and read up on books my Teddy Roosevelt and his Africa and American expeditions.  For me though Elk hunting is at the pinnacle of hunting.  I would rather go on a Elk hunt than to hunt any exotic game. I enjoy deer hunting too but Elk hunting has a certain allure for me like nothing else does.   
 
I would say it was my Dad, Evan thou he rely never actually took me hunting. there were four children in our family( me and 3 sisters) and Dad was almost always working 6 or 7 days a week so never really had time to take me. But  i certainly remember those days we went to the local dump shooting rats and how i always out shot Dad. I also started Archery very early even thou dad did not do archery.I was only about 12 or 13 when i distinctly remember how proud i was when i shot a squirrel out of a tree with my bow. I would also say it was always in my blood. I always feel i have to harvest food for the family, however, if i rely had to we all would have starved to death a long time ago.
 
What got me into hunting?  honestly ive never known anything but hunting. my dad and my whole family hunted and that's all I knew growing up.  and have been shooting a bow since I was 2 years old. between shooting chipmunks and small game as a kid it has escalated into a passion and deep love for hunting over the past 38 years. 4 providences in Canada and now 7 states in the US ive hunted and hope the cover a lot more country moving forward. I only hope that my young children keep the tradition going and pass the great sport along thru generations to come..
 
I started hunting with my family before I can even remember.  Growing up in Northern Louisiana, I was 4 or so when I entered my first dove field and then 6 when I started the annual journey out to West Texas to hunt deer and turkey with my grandfather, father, uncles, brother, and cousins.  We still venture out to Juno, TX every year in search of Aoudad and deer, and I have been hauling my boys out sincethey were 4 years old. 


Luckily for me, the love for the Rocky Mountains started at a young age during family summer trips.  Something about the wild animals in wild places always stirred up dreams of big adventures for me.  As a result, after college I went to work for an elk outfitter near Moose, Wyoming and haven't looked back since.  The fire was lit. 


Now back in South Louisiana, there are no archery elk hunters in my circles.  Thus, in 2012 I decided to put in for a Gila NM tag and pulled it.  While I wasn't successful that year, I did come close twice and I had found my quarry.  Now focused on Colorado, my annual archery elk hunt has become non-negotiable.  Nothing rivals the elk woods in September for me and I know that most folks in this forum share those feelings.  Best of luck this year everybody...






 
I am not from a hunting family. 5 years ago I wanted to be able to provide my own food if shit hit the fan. I wanted to be able to hunt and process it all to be able to survive on my own. I reached out to a couple friends that year that I knew hunted a little bit but at the end of the day shot a doe solo. 4 years later I'm addicted to archery and elk. Hunting and anything surrounding it is pretty much my main hobby these days. It all had really changed me as a person in a very positive way.


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My Dad. Growing up in the '50's and 60"s in Pennsylvania, deer hunting was clearly a boy's annual highlight. My Dad made it all special for my younger brother and me. We got to take off school! We hunted in Potter County "God's Country" with a group of old friends of our Dad. Wonderful!
 
I got into hunting with my dad and brothers to get meat for out family to eat in the winter and enjoy the mother natures out doors.
The same as I do now and the way it has always been when out hunting with my family and friends thank god we can still hunt.
 
Awesome stories everyone! Keep the responses coming. As a reminder, in order to be eligible for the contest you need a minimum of three posts on the forum.
 
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