Hello guys, I'll tell you a story.
About 14 yeas ago I have a bad accident on the street with my motorbike (a very nice Ducati 900 SL), a old men don't see the STOP..........
At this time I was running in the italian superbike championship. This accident was a disaster for me, phisically and morally. I brock my legs in 7 points!!!
Of course the rehabilitation was very lond and hard. In this time a friend comes about every day to me, one he asq me if I was interested to learn to be a hunter. I have a lot free time!!! Why not, I like to know something new and I like animals. I start to read all possible about animals, hunting, guns, ammo ecc ecc.
So was born my passion for hunting and guns.
How is born your hunting passion?

Faina

Mine was pretty simple and not very long ago... I've been shooting since I was 9 years old so guns were nothing new to me... Fast forward 38 years and a friend of mine, who I didn't even know was a hunter, had drawn for elk. He had a hernia and needed someone to come along to be the gofer... I thought why not... It was such an exciting week that the next year I applied for a drew a tag for elk. It's been that way ever since... We've already put in for this years hunt so here I am typing with my fingers crossed ....

Ken....

I think mine was literally born in me. I believe that we humans are predators and that most "civilized" people try to quell that predatory instinct or urge. I don't. I embrace it, as did my father when I was quite young. Nothing like a kid with a BB gun! Anyway, I've been hunting for as long as I can remember and have been taking my kids since shortly after they were born.

I was 'hunting buffalo' in my back yard (in the neighborhood in west tennessee) with toy guns before i can even remember. i just hear stories that my parents love to tell. i started squirrel hunting with a .410 at age 5, deer hunting with my .243 at age 10.

as a kid i loved it and hunted, just like my dad. as i got older and learned more about what i was actually doing, i love it even more now. i am man, born a hunter, and its in my soul.

i know very few people with a passion for it like myself. my friends think i'm nuts, they have nothing in their lives to be this passionate about. you can't explain it to them. fortunately, i have been able to share it with some, and you can see the passion being born into them, as they get in touch with the inner predator

The folks have photos of my on my mother's back standing in the snow over a dead moose my father killed when I was 7 months old.

I think it started then.

Faina,
I agree with desert ram. It can be cultivated but I think in my case it is literally called out of me. My dad nor any of his brothers hunted. Although my five siblings and I had the opportuntity to hunt all of our lives I am the only one that does. What is the Mossy Oak slogan, "Its not a passion, its an obsession, I can relate. I organize my life around hunting seasons. My acquaintances shake their head and wander whats my problem when I come in around January 10th each year and say its just a little less than ten months till bow season.
GWB

My dad telling me of him hunting Javelina in Arizona while he was in college, as well as us living in Turpin when I was very young, and being taken hunting for pheasant and quail.




Ever since I was able to carry the pheasants in my vest, have the call around my neck, and was able to walk around the outdoors...ive been hooked.

Like many of the others I was born with it, hunting, trapping and fishing. As far back as I can remember it has been all I was interested in, even PISC from my young days show me with toy rifles and BB guns. My Dad hunted, not much, but a neighbor took me every chance we could get, I was going to hunt no matter what. I have always said there are people that hunt, and there are hunters, it is a life style!!

My dad packed me on his back when I was a wee lad to young to walk. I have been hunting every since.

Started hunting and fishing from very, very small child and never have known anything else. Have three brothers who couldn't catch a fish or shoot a bird between 'em. Got my first gun when I was seven and loading tools when I was eight. Killed my first deer with my own gun with my own ammo.

I was made this way and I will die this way.

Dad used to carry me hunting when I was old enough to walk, he would let me sit in the truck or blind with him and watch the game on our family land. Once old enough to shoot a gun, he taught me to shoot with 22s and small gauge shotguns. At the age of 9 when I dropped my first deer(a small doe) with my side by side Stevens 20ga, I was hooked for life and now I just can't get enough of it. My wife says I'm obsessed with it. I try and bring friends and family to the sport every chance I get.

It's a passion that words can't describe and it's not just the kills that keep me addicted, it's the absolute love of being in the field and enjoying God's beautiful creations.

Reloader

I started hunting with sticks and rocks BB gun at 5 shot guns and 22s around 8. Killed my first game at 5. Now in my 50s I hunt as much as I can.

My Dad stated me by taking me with him small game hunting and Javelina hunting when I was 8 or 9.

Shot my first rabbits out hunting when I was 12. My mom sent me out in the back 5 acres to shoot a problem rabbit when I was 9 but it was more of a cull hunt.

From the time of man's creation until he steps beyond the shadows, his life is not so much a matter of years or seasons or days as it is of moments.
One of those highlights in my life had to do with a Wild Turkey Gobbler..

Charles Newton Elliott
Editor in Chief
Outdoor Life

I was to young to remember when I started fishing with my Dad although I have a mental picture of Mom covering me with a blanket to keep off the Mosquitos

I tagged along with Dad jump shooting Mallards until I was around 9, when I wacked my first one with a single shot Winchester 20 gauge.

57 years later the passion to hunt and fish has not deminished. On top of that I have never met a fine firearm I did not want. The older I get, the worse the affliction

Born with it. My parents did not hunt, no relatives taught me to hunt, I just did it on my own. From my first memories as a child, I hunted. As soon as I could walk, I would "hunt" anything. Fish, crawdads, birds, ground squirrels, rabbits ... insects, it made no difference. Hunting, trapping, fishing ... anything having to do with the pursuit of game, big or small.

A slingshot made from tinker-toys and a rubber band was my first weapon. I remember it like it was yesterday.

It is in me, a part of me I can not separate myself from. There has never been a time that I was not a hunter. Ever.

Some of my ancestors moved from Kenucky to Arkansas after the War between the States, or Civil War for the PC crowd. They wrote a diary which states on the very first line: "We moved to Arkansas to hunt!" I have hunting pictures of my family that are over 100 years old. It was born in me, and I began collecting things before I entered the first grade. I live to hunt, fish and enjoy the wildlife of the world. I hope you find this passion. Nothing else is like it. But remember....in the end, the Hunter hunts himself.
LDK

My father started me out when I was very young and when he drifted away from it, I continued on my own...and then some. Back in the late 1980s I took my newlywed wife deer hunting. She shot a small buck but still didn't quite fully appreciate the experience.

The next summer, Uncle Sam shipped me to Korea to serve a one year remote tour while she stayed behind in Montana. That fall, she hunted by herself and shot another small buck, sent me pictures, and said she now understood why I loved hunting so much.

She told me, after she shot her buck, she just stood over it, taking everything in, with the snow falling all around her. At that moment, she said she realized she wasn't just a hunter engaged in some activity...she was part of the whole experience...part of nature...connected to everything around her. I think that's exactly how we're supposed to view it...

No hunters in my family, it was a Diana 25 air rifle plus some books and magazines that got me started. However it took some years with intensive fishing and target shooting before I took up the chore to register for the hunting exam.

For my son it's much easier, dad takes him along and he loves it.

When I was a small boy of 6 or 7 my uncles and their friends from the city would come to my Grandfathers and stay for the deer season. I couldn't wait to be old enough to go along!!! I have hunted every chance I giot since then!

Hawkeye47

long before blood flowed thru my veins,hunting was in my blood.family settled in nothern wyo. shortly after the sioux were whipped(early 1880s)g-grandpa was 9 yrs old.homesteaded the area scratching out fields and a living.trapping in the winter.family stories of going over the mt.to buffalo to have the blacksmith build them a bear trap for the grizzly that was eating calves,g-g-grandma saving the chickens from wandering indains and any hawk in range of her single shot 20 ga.she was awful fast with the shotgun as she carried 2 extra shells like a double rifle hunter and could get 3 shots off on a rise of game birds.
in a family where "whats for dinner"? ment deer,elk or antelope.
it was a proud day when you graduated from picking hair to running a knife for hamburger meat and finally to cutting steaks.
late summers on the mt. cutting firewood or picking goozeberrys,black currents, and raisberrys to make jelly.
a mom that was a deadly 1 shot hunter with her trusty 30-30,and needed no man to help her gut or drag to the truck.
i can hear her say to friends who came to visit
"that boy can't hear you.if it don't have hair,fins or feathers, he don't care,i swear that boy would hunt mice if there was a season for them.not much has changed.........

My passion for hunting began when schools allowed time away from class to go hunting with your father. This policy was actually encouraged.
It was a time (50's) when you could bring your hunting rifle or shotgun to school, so as to have a "after school" hunt. Your gun was simply stored in the janitor closet 'till you were dismissed from class.
Many times our teachers would accompany us into the field. We were awe-struck to their presence. We really learned from them too.
Not only did we learn "readin', writin' and arithmatic. We learned about value, honor and loyalty. And or extra-curricular reading was "American Rifleman" With these qualities, hunting just came naturally.

My Uncles got me into Hunting.Dad didn`t hunt,but loved to fish.My Grandfather loved to hunt also.My brother doesnt Hunt or Fish.Go figure!!!!!I do have a passion for Motorcycles and did some Hillclimbing and scrambles back in the day.Guess I have been fortunate as I have never been seriousley hurt on one.Been riding 50 years now.Hunting about 52 years.Both are kewl sports!!!!!!!!!!!!OB

For me, it's in my genes. None of the other blood male members in my family hunted. My step father introduced me to hunting, and that was all it took.
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."

I started fishing when I was about 5 or 6, but as a big city kid, had zero opportunities to hunt. I always dreamed of hunting, and read about it voraciously, but as I had no family, friend, or family friend that actually even owned firearms, it wasn't until I was 18 that I applied for a firearms permit. It took almost ten years for me to actually get it into my head that if I was going to learn to hunt, it was going to be on my own. It damn near killed me multiple times, learning to hunt ducks on my own in New England deep winter marshes, but when I finally began to figure it all out, I couldn't stop. I'm only ten years into it at this point, and still kind of feel like I'm playing a desperate game of catch up, but I do OK. I've been fortunate enough to have gone on several big game hunts, and now hunting as well as fishing is a huge part of who I am, and what I do. I also try to do everything I can to get others involved, and have succeeded several times. Sometimes all it takes is asking someone if they'd like to see what it's all about. I envy those here that had the benefit of family and tradition, and started hunting very early. Without that, it's not an easy thing learning to hunt. Especially if you're in the big city, and even more so if that city happens to be located in a state with the majority of the population prides itself on being lefty and largely anti-gun. But hey, f 'em. I'm a hunter, and proud of it!

Cheers,

KG

P.S. Good thread, Faina. You still ride? My 1987 Kawasaki 1000R comes out of hibernation in about 50 days.

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How is born your hunting passion?

C-section

Hunting came to me in a dream. I had frequent dreams about hunting when I was in my early teens. The "plots" of these dreams was nothing special. Usually I was wandering around in the woods or on a mountain, rifle in hand, looking for some (unspecified) game animal. What was memorable about these dreams was an intense feeling of happiness and satisfaction.

I mentioned the dreams to a relative. She said that it was obvious that I was a hunter at heart. But how could I ever make it happen? I was born and raised in a major city and my father was not an outdoorsman. Believe it or not it was very difficult for me to even talk to Dad about hunting. It was so 'out of character' for me. Yet somehow I mustered up the courage to ask Dad if I could go hunting. His answer was a somewhat ambiguous "we'll see what can be worked out."

Dad talked to a couple of my uncles and in October of 1970 I got my chance to hunt. Unfortunately my uncles were more interested in drinking than hunting so I didn't kill (or even see) any game on those early outings. Dad did all he could to dampen my budding enthuasism. He'd ask "What are you going to do if you got something?" (Gee, pop, maybe eat it.) And then he'd say "Just wait until you have to gut something. When you have to carve the arsehole out of a dead animal you'll really regret pulling the trigger." For the rest of the '70s I went hunting when and where I could. Never got anything but I still enjoyed every moment.

On November 10, 1979 my luck changed. I was sitting on a stump and noticed movement in the brush. A small (but legal) deer was checking me out. We were both surprised at the sight of each other. But I was quicker on the trigger than the deer was on her feet. A .30-30 slug found its way to her lungs. Then I had to gut her. It took an hour to do the job (nobody ever showed me how to do it) but the man at the check station said I "did it like an old pro." The meat was delicious. I was hooked.

In the following decades I've managed to take an assortment of nearly 500 deer, antelope, elk and even a few bison. (I'm active with my state's ag damage deer control program.) I'm even starting to think about Africa. Yet, for some reason, I have no real interest in fishing.

The statistics say it is quite unlikely that a youngster born and raised in a big city, with a non-hunting father, to become a hunter. But the statistics are obviously wrong. On the 'net I've read many accounts of city boys who became avid and successful hunters all on their own. And I've met guys raised on farms and ranches that have little or no interest in hunting.

I have to echo many of the comments above from hunters who were just "born with it". However, many of these hunters come from hunting families and were also "raised with it".

In my case, similar to Bigasanelk's, my Dad did not hunt. Growing up I begged to go hunting with an uncle who said he was willing to take me. My Dad refused and would absolutely not let me go hunting. He would let me shoot blackbirds and muskrats around our pond, however, since they damaged his swallow nests and carefully constructed structures in the pond. That allowed some sort of outlet, I suppose.

I left for the US Marine Corps the day after my 18th birthday. The next five years were way to fast-paced for me to start hunting, although I dreamed and read about it often.

After I came back in November of 2003 I would frequently talk about how much I was looking forward to going hunting. I remember my Dad making comments like "what if you don't like it?", "what if you don't get anything?", "what if you get shot?", "you wouldn't shoot a deer, would you?" Well, I knew I would like it. It was just in me.

Michigan's 2004 deer season was my first time out for big-game. I still remember walking into the woods from my Jeep on my local sportsman's club's land. In the 2005 season I actually took my first deer, a doe, on a friend's private land. It was on video, no less. I was addicted. Currently, I am completely taken with hunting. I want to go hunt all that can be hunted.

So, there you have it. I wasn't raised with any sort of hunting background. The first time I got out after big-game was when I was 23 years old. The fact that I am adopted and my Dad is not my biological father further cements the idea that hunting is simply born into people. I know that it's in me.

This is one great threat! I do especially like the stories of "city kids" like myself who got into hunting against the odds and even parent's opinion.

What I also like is how several people here commented on bringing others into the sport, this is very important for the above mentioned city kids, otherwise and as told here, it really takes a lot of enthusiasm to get into hunting.

What is also very important for our sport in general is to speak up on our workplace, among friends and in our family environment.

Hi guys, I realy enjoy to read your stories.
We have diferent age, diferent nationality, religions, jobs, economic situations, experience, opinions......
We have many diferent ways that bring us in the same big family.
Hunters, a big family of respectable people.

Faina

Believe it or not, mine started with the Daisy BB-gun I got for Christmas as an 8-year old. The bird population in the neighborhood dropped at an alarming rate.........

I cannot remember when I didn't hunt. Both sides of my extended family were hunters, so I was reared around firearms and dead critters as a small child. I hunted our suburban neighborhood with rocks, homemade beanie flips and bows before I received my first BB gun at age 6. I don't think my passion has cooled in the 40 plus years I have been killing game.

Perry

Perry

My hunting passion began when I was 8 or 9 and I got a Daisey Red Rider BB gun (and no, I didn't shoot my eye out). I would stalk nuisance birds on my grandfather's farm. I even started baiting them and would shoot from inside the barn through a crack in the wall--just like waiting in a stand for deer. When I got my first .410 and killed a squirrel I was locked in for life. Have gotten more guns and the game has gotten bigger and so has the thrill of hunting. I'm so thankful I live in a country where owning guns and hunting are such easy propositions. We'll have to be vigilant to keep it this way. Wonderful thread!

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Originally posted by Red C.:\ I'm so thankful I live in a country where owning guns and hunting are such easy propositions. We'll have to be vigilant to keep it this way. Wonderful thread!

Yes indeed! We also need to ensure that subsequent generations enjoy hunting like all of us do and we need to get more young people involved in order for this to happen.

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Yes indeed! We also need to ensure that subsequent generations enjoy hunting like all of us do and we need to get more young people involved in order for this to happen.

Hear, hear. Well said, sir.

KG

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quote:

Yes indeed! We also need to ensure that subsequent generations enjoy hunting like all of us do and we need to get more young people involved in order for this to happen.

That's true, but many young people have a wrong opinion about hunting. We have a lot to do to theach the next generations to have more respect and to love our passion for hunting.

Faina

Faina, I couldn't agree with you more!

I grew up on a cattle ranch, was horseback all day at 6 years old and started hunting when I was about 10 I guess, it was just an expected natural progression of my cowboy education, and I took to it like a duck to water and it never weakened until the last few years or until I reached about 71 years old, then I slowed down a lot..I still hunt more than most but not near as much as I have over the last 40 or so years.

Today my love is team roping steers with daughter, son in law, but mostly with my grandson, and now my grand daughter is roping and I look forward to that...My grandson and I hunt together every year for Mule Deer and sometimes elk and we did a Bison hunt a few years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by Red C.:
My hunting passion began when I was 8 or 9 and I got a Daisey Red Rider BB gun (and no, I didn't shoot my eye out).

That seems to be a good way to start children. In my case it was a Diana model 25.

By the way, the number of hunters in Germany is at an all-time high, more and more young women join the sport. In my club there was a 20% of them particitating in the last course for the hunter's exam. May sound little but it's upo from a historical 1 - 2%.

A pump Model 25 Daisy BB gun on my 10th birthday and instructions on gun saftey, and directed to protect the family farm corn crib.I also remember sitting in my uncles living room and admiring his whitetail deer heads.