Seems to me I have always been hunting. Raised on a farm and Dad alwsys took me with him when he went hunting. Got my first .22, a little single shot with a cocking safty, for my 6th birthday. Got my firat rabbit at 8 yrs old and at 12 allowed to go hunt in our woods and fields for rabbit and squrrels on my own.

My first hunting photo


So how old were you and how did you start hunting?

Birds and rabbits at 8...big game at 10.

Got to do the walk around with my dad big game hunting at 8 or 9.

I started my son a bit earlier and now at 15 he is a very good hunter and an excellent shot.

Dad carried me with him when I was able to walk, he tells me stories every now and then about how he would take me along and sit in the truck on our place watching for deer in the ROWs(legal here on private land). He started letting me carry a single shot 20ga at the age of 6 and by the age of 9 I had my first deer with an old side by side 20 ga stevens. When I turned 12, he taught me how to reload shells and started letting me sit in a deer blind by myself(with him close by).

One thing I'll never forget about learning to hunt is how dad pounded in my brain firearm safety, knowing your target and what was beyond, where to shoot game, ete etc....

We still hunt together and have a ball.

Ya'll have a good one,

Reloader

My dad did everything he could to discourage my interest in hunting - to no avail. Two of my uncles took me hunting when I was 14 but these "hunts" involved spending more time in taverns than in the field.

I was 24 years old when I killed my first game animal, a small deer. That was in 1979 and I now have an assortment of over 500 deer, antelope, elk, bison and other assorted game animals under my belt. (I like to think that I've made up for lost time!)

I couldn't even imagine what it would have been like to grow up on a farm or ranch and had a father that actually supported and encouraged my interest in hunting.

I was born into a hunting family and can't remember how old I was when I first walked in the woods with my dad while he carried a gun. In Wisconsin we can't carry a gun or bow until age 12, so that's when I started.

My Dad didn't hunt, but he was an avid outdoorsman and he did teach me gun safety and ability at an early age with a BB gun and later a single shot .22 rifle. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in college that my roommates who grew up in northwestern Colorado took me deer hunting and later elk hunting with them. I bought my first rifle, a Herter's .30-06 and also started reloading. We lived off game meat.

After a stint in the Army and upon my return home from Viet Nam, I bought my first shotgun, several pistols, a re-curve bow, a couple of muzzle loading rifles and I moved to Northwestern Colorado. Hunting there was good, but in 1975 a job opportunity brought me to northwestern Montana. I found good hunting there also, but it was a little isolated for my family, so we moved to southwestern Montana where I still live.

I was lucky enough to start hunting in Montana before the drawing odds for the more exotic species like moose, sheep and goats got to a million to one and I was able to shoot a half dozen of those guys. As I began shooting some pretty good trophies and the exotic animals, I started having them mounted.

By the late 80's, I ran out of wall space, so I built a 1000 sq ft trophy room addition onto my house. Now after a couple of hunts in Canada and several in Africa, I'm again running out of wall space.

My hunting has progressed (?) from a poor college kid and young family man trying to keep a freezer full of tasty deer and elk meat, to a hopeless trophy hunter trying to budget for my next African trip and an endless taxidermy bill.

I 'hunted' the imaginary herds of deer and buffalo in my TN subdivision home with toy guns before i can remember. i got a .22 and single shot .410 just before i turned 6, and started squirrel hunting then. i squirrel hunted until 10, when i could legally start deer hunting. never stopped.

Started when I was 13 in 1944 for small game on the farm. Still hunting big game today, and have 2 hunting trips to South Carolina planned in the fall of 2008 and a moose hunt for 2009 in Newfoundland. Presently 77 years old and still running on 8 cylinders.

Got my first BB gun at 5, passed hunter safety at 7 and was killing rabbits with a .410 that year. Was running my own trapline at 8, had my 12' aluminum boat with a 3hp Evinrude and was fishing on the ocean by myself at 10. Been handloading since I was 12.

My mom and dad would be locked up if they let a kid do that today.

I was raised on a big West Texas cattle and sheep ranch and started shooting when I was very young, probably 5 or 6. I could saddle a horse and hunt deer alone by age 10 or 11, and hunted elk with my uncles and dad at 12, same for my brother, my kids and grandkids, it has been a way of life...

bought my first 22, a Win. Mod 63 auto that I still own with money from shooting javalina hogs for my dad at 25 cents each..I shot those first hogs with a drop lock .22 short, I thought the 22 L.R. was of magnum porportins when I used it the first time on hogs. It smaked'um down good!

I was fortunate enough to be raised in the great state of Texas, where there is no minimum age to start hunting. I started sitting in the blind with dad when I was 2 and I've been hooked ever since. I shot my first squirrel when I was 5 years old. My first big game animal was a 5-point whitetail when I was 7 years old.

Eland Slayer:

Damn it, Eland Slayer, this damyankee is fed up with Texas tall tales! You shot a 5 pointer at age 7? I am the son of a woman some of whose ancestors settled in Mundy, Texas back when we law abiding Yankees were trying to make you folks forget about being Secesh. (My father and I being damyankees never missed a chance to tell her anti-Texas jokes) Now, c'mon! 7 years old and a 5 pointer? Could you even count that high at that age? (Oh, lord, being a dumb Irishman, I've just started a fight with a Texan!)

I started rabbit and squirrel hunting when I was 12 and I used a stevens crackshot and .22 shorts.

Deer hunting started when I was 15 and I used a M-94 in .30-30. The next year I bought my own .270...wow....what a killing machine.

I shot doves out of trees at 7 and was wing shooting at 8. I had started with a BB gun at 5 and was a pretty good shot by age 8, even a decent wing shot. I have managed to overcome that in later years, however.

AGE 8 AND TWO PHEASANT EACH, behind two great Griffons, Rip and lady...


AGE 9 AFTER A CHUCKAR HUNT IN THE MOUNTAINS SURROUNDING RENO...

Started hunting Sparrows with a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun when I was 7. I even set up a blind and baited them with grain.

Started shooting when I was 9. Dad wasn't a hunter nor were there any uncles or anything like that. Not until a friend of mine had a hernia and an elk tag did I ever go into the field. He asked if I wanted to come along as he wasn't able to do much in the way of lifting and such. I said sure. I was 47 years old. Been going every year since, with my own tag .

Ken....

With a BB gun, maybe 6-7 , trapping around then too, first pheasant hunt was at 11, deer was 16, my Dad didn't want me exposed to the "hunting camp" life too early, it almost killed me to not be able to go. I would never do that to a kid, take them as soon as they are mature enough, they hear the language and jokes at school anyway!!

Like some of you guys I started out with my dad
at about age 8. Back in the day you could just drive around in the country side and shoot wood-chucks all day long. Had A Remington 22 with a peep sight. Never forget those days with my dad. "Those days" being over 60+ years ago.
Now days it`s the annual deer hunt with my sons and granson that finishes up the year.
Guys who take their kids hunting or fishing know what a great experience that is!

I remember killing my first game at age five with daisy bb gun. Iam sure I hunted gophers with rocks and sticks before that. But don't remember killing any.

Help Dad with reloading as long as I can remember started loading on my own when about 10.


Been going strong ever sense.

I was given an Ithica lever action single shot for my 8th birthday, which I was only allowed to use in the precense of an adult to hunt rabbits and squirrels.

quote:

Originally posted by gerrys375:
Eland Slayer:

Damn it, Eland Slayer, this damyankee is fed up with Texas tall tales! You shot a 5 pointer at age 7? I am the son of a woman some of whose ancestors settled in Mundy, Texas back when we law abiding Yankees were trying to make you folks forget about being Secesh. (My father and I being damyankees never missed a chance to tell her anti-Texas jokes) Now, c'mon! 7 years old and a 5 pointer? Could you even count that high at that age? (Oh, lord, being a dumb Irishman, I've just started a fight with a Texan!)

gerrys375,

It's not your fault you were born a damnyankee. haha......nobody's perfect

I started trying to hunt when I was 16, about 1966.

Started out on doves and rabbits.

Killed my first deer in 1970 shortly after my 20th. birthday.

My Dad did not hunt, he loved to fish but he never really did much in the way of hunting

For the most part I am self taught when it comes to my hunting experience and abilities.

I was presented with a Stevens single shot 22 at age 5. I could barely hold it to aim. My grandfather decided that I needed to start with a BB gun so I terrorized birds, tumble bugs and grasshoppers around Benavides for a year before I was allowed to start collecting rabbits with the 22. My father and grandfather considered hunting and shooting well more of an obligation than a privilege.

I supplied my grandfather's ranch hands with cottontails, jackrabbits, and javalina during our visits. In South Louisiana, where we lived I spent all of my free time fishing and hunting during the season. One of those swamp rabbits feeds a few more people than a cottontail. We hunted some ducks too.

When I went to La Tech, I kept my shotgun in my dorm room and hunted squirrels down the railroad track from the school. The first batch I cooked in the dorm basement. I made too many friends that day. After that I would clean them and take them to the cafeteria and the ladies over there would fry them for me and I could eat in peace. Those ladies really enjoyed doing that and they would make me mashed potatoes and gravy too! I wish I could tell them one more time how good it was. Those days are gone.

Now, and this is in line with Sav.250's post, my greatest joy is hunting with my sons and nephews. If I never shot another animal I would still go with them.

Alan

Eland Slayer:

Aw, Gee! That's the nicest thing I ever heard a Reb say about us Yankees! I'm all choked up.

Regards. (I was always a somewhat disloyal Yankee)

Started shooting at probably 5 or 6 with grandpa and a single shot .22. Wasn't turned loose until I got my own air rifle at 9. After that, birds and chipmunks were rather endangered around the farm. By the time I was 11 or 12, I could go out with a .22 for groundhogs on my own. Killed my first whitetail when I was 14. Killed my first rabbit a month later (I know, that's a bit backward). Now my hunting time is spent chasing deer, and occaisionally turkeys. I'm also planning to go on my first elk and mule deer hunts this fall. I've been an addict for a long time, and it's growing! LOL

gd

This damyankee can't match Eland Slayer having shot a 5 pointer at age 7 (who can match Texans for stories?). I started off slowly. I was given a BB gun at age 7 and at age 8, a Savage Model 3, single shot 22. With open sights I shot squirrels for the next four years or more with it. I regularly shot aquirrels off the roof top with it in Spring, summer and fall.(My mother wanted no squirrels in the house, ever. They got in, once and destroyed 150 year old lace. Ever since my mother was in a death struggle with squirrels. You could say that I was a paid killer!) (We had a property that was in isolated country and gamewardens (today in NY they say "Conservation officer") were practically non existent. My first deer was shot at age 16 - and also on our property. I really am far behind the other posters. It must be because you Rebs (and Westerners) either are liars or are just better than we Yankees at learning to hunt. Since I am too old to fight with either of you about calling someone a liar I have to agree that you are better hunters.

I was given my first BB gun at about 7 years old. Killed many grasshoppers, minnows in the bayou, and birds at an early age. At about nine I shot my Yankee cousin from Wisconsin with my BB gun in the reenactment of the Civil War battle of Irish Bend. I was then disarmed by my mother.

Seriously I learned to hunt at an early age. I killed my first sqirrel at about age 6. I remember going to the country store and my father buying a honey bun and a carton of milk for my brother and me and hunting squirrels. We were living like kings. At age 10 Dad leased some property in the marsh for duck and deer hunting. Thirty-Five years later I am still hunting the same property. We lost dad back in 1985 (cancer) but my brother and I were both are fortunate enough to learn how to hunt, fish, trap, and enjoy the outdoors before he had to leave.

138 Days until Africa

Dad started taking me on the annual dove hunting shoots in Fresno when I was 5, shot my first tweety w/a target pellet gun at same age; first BB gun at 6, first shotgun, a topper ss .410 at age 11 for first dove hunt I participated in. First duck hunt at 11 w/Model 58 Rem 12 gage, first big game hunt at 14 (pig and deer in NorCal....

cant' wait until my kids are old enough (currently 4 and 2)

great thread,

Regards,
Craig Nolan

This may sound a bit odd, but age 4.

When I was 18 months old, my parents enrolled me in this "swimming survival" course taught by Fleet Peeples, in Central Florida.

For graduation (age 3.5) I swam 1/4 mile across a lake, which was Fleet's final exam. He gave me (and the other graduates) a hunting knife. I was the youngest for a long time.

When I turned 4 I was allowed to go on the camping trips with the older kids, and Fleet taught us woodcraft and how to catch snakes for food.

At that point my father let me accompany him on hunting trips, and I got to be reasonably adept with a 22 for small game, and later a .410 shotgun (still have it).

The sad thing is, I believe if you did that with kids today, they'd lock you up for child abuse.
I loved it.

Garrett

Grew up in the city and on Long island. Thank God had a great uncle who had a farm.We just did not visit we had to work white washing and shoveling out the barnss Was aloud to tag along for woodchucks. At 8 got my first bb gun then a 22lr then shooting ducks at 14 with a double 16 ga deer at 16 with a slug gun.Sorry for being long winded but its been along time since thinking about the good ole days thanks!!! tr 405

gerrys375,

It doesn't matter how old you were when you started.........as long as you started. That's all that matters

First bb gun at 6, slaying dragon flies and those little tad poles in the pond. Real gun at 10. A 90lb stevens .410. Man, my old man must have thought I needed to work out! It's been progressively better since then.

Started out with a BB gun around eight years. Prior to that it was going with my Grandfather squirrel hunting. It was a big deal to me just to get to shoot the .22 rifle. I was 13 when I received my first shotgun; an Ithaca 20 ga Single shot. From there I never looked back. Started on waterfowl at 16, but big game didn't come until I was 21.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I was raised on a big West Texas cattle and sheep ranch and started shooting when I was very young, probably 5 or 6. I could saddle a horse and hunt deer alone by age 10 or 11, and hunted elk with my uncles and dad at 12, same for my brother, my kids and grandkids, it has been a way of life...

bought my first 22, a Win. Mod 63 auto that I still own with money from shooting javalina hogs for my dad at 25 cents each..I shot those first hogs with a drop lock .22 short, I thought the 22 L.R. was of magnum porportins when I used it the first time on hogs. It smaked'um down good!

I call bullshit, Ray.

You are so old that when you were a kid, they didn't have rifles, let alone bows and arrows. Ray clubbed all of those animals to death, while sayign, "booha, ooha, googhooohaha....."

J/k, of course, but couldn't resist

quote:

Originally posted by N. Garrett:
The sad thing is, I believe if you did that with kids today, they'd lock you up for child abuse.
I loved it.

Garrett

Unfortunately we are even more restricted over here. When I grew up I had my first air rifle at 10 and no one cared when we shot birds in the garden. It was just normal back then.

Nowadays, it is even against the law if you let someone younger than 12 shoot an air rifle, not to mention a .22 or something bigger. Can you believe that crap? The reason is probably that the politicians and the media know very well that it's at that age when you connect young people to a sport, they want them rather sitting in front of their PC, TV sets and Play Stations.

Fortunately there are guys who enjoy teaching children the safe handling of smaller and bigger kinds of fire arms, building tree stands and so on, if you never tried you wouldn't beliefe how all parties involved enjoy this.

Personally, I fished quite intensively for many years but took up hunting relatively late, only 11 years ago. Now I have a vault full of stuff, reload, try to train a dog and still wonder why I didn't start earlier. My children are now in a better position than I was...

I started last season for the first time...wife and mom wouldn't let me go out and hunt until I completed hunter's ed.. but I got to go before my 65th birthday...

14 when I shot my first geese with my father. I had an old Model-58 Sportsman with a polychoke. Bagged two honkers when you could use lead. Remember it like it happended yesterday! The good times!

I was four or five. We "hunted" jackrabbits near Artesia, New Mexico. I sat in the back seat between my dad and his friend. They shot the rabbits out the windows with 22s and I caught and saved the hot hulls....It seemed like the thing to do.

In a downpour one day I saw my one and only coral snake.

A year or so later my dad used to shoot prairie dogs out my bedroom window when we lived in Santa Fe.

My brother bought me a ithaca model 49 single shot 22 lr lever action when I was 8,but I had a daisy before that.

I started out at 15 or 16. I'm 57 now so I bin dune'it for a while now.