I took my first big game animal (a small doe) when I was 24 years old. This was the first kill of any kind for me.

There are lots of youngsters who take their first game animal at a single-digit age but I'd like to hear from other "late bloomers," hunters who bagged their first animal a bit later in life.

Is 24 years old unusually late for a first kill - or not? Can anybody here top it? Might this be a trend because kids have so many other things to do these days but take up hunting as they mature? An author called it "Adult Onset Hunting."

It's NEVER to late. Usually it's a relative who gets someone interested in hunting. How did you get the bug?

Big,
I took my first deer at age 19, my mom and dad split when I was five and then he came down with MS and could no longer walk. He loved to hunt and was a gun nut. This is a long story to say I am a self taught hunter, so it took we awhile to take my first deer. I'm in my late fifties now and have taken a bunch of deer over the years. Bryan

quote:

How did you get the bug?

I've been asking myself that question for the last 45 years and have yet to come up with an answer other than it's genetic or instinctual.

In my early teens I had a series dreams of being on a mountain or in the woods, rifle in hand, seeking some unknown quarry. I was happy and excited just to be there. Someone told me that dreams can be an expression of subconscious thoughts - they were right this time!

I went on my first hunting trip when I was 48. I had never shot anything except a frog with my BB gun. First animal was an impala, second one was a Cape buffalo. Since then I have been back to Zimbabwe twice, also hunted in Canada and North Dakota. I never fired a rifle until I was 46.

I have shot four Cape buffalo, an elephant, a leopard, all sorts of plains game, a black bear, and an elk.

Never shot a deer, can you believe that?

quote:

Originally posted by PSmith:
I went on my first hunting trip when I was 48. I had never shot anything except a frog with my BB gun. First animal was an impala, second one was a Cape buffalo. Since then I have been back to Zimbabwe twice, also hunted in Canada and North Dakota. I never fired a rifle until I was 46.

I have shot four Cape buffalo, an elephant, a leopard, all sorts of plains game, a black bear, and an elk.

Never shot a deer, can you believe that?

I amazed by this!

Was in my 20's before I started bow hunting with a guy from work. Always wanted to hunt but no family that did. Wasn't long before bowhunting locally didn't cut it. Made a few trips out west before divorce put me on the sidelines. Financially recovered around 40 and from there it was off to the races. Now at 56 I have 9 north american sheep, several international sheep and goats and have the North American 29 in my sites. Seems to me that the guys that started later in life are the ones traveling all over. Until the day my mother passed away she always asked 2 things. 1, where did this come from and 2, when was I going to gt it out of my system.

I’ve been fortunate to get to guide many people who have taken up hunting later in life. They’re some of my favorite clients. They take it up because they want to know where their meat is coming from and want to learn more about the outdoors. And it’s not an easy sport to take up.

It’s refreshing because the folks taking it up later in life are interested in learning and not completely focused on killing everything they see. And they typically don’t let their egos blind them as bad as some of the folks who started it when they were young.

Just last month a guy came to me for shooting lessons and then wanted to hunt his first animal. He’s come twice in a month so I think he hooked. He took a really nice boar on his first hunt and a turkey a week or so ago. He’s a semi-retired doctor around 60 years old and has a million questions. He’s really hungry to learn everything about guns and hunting and he’s a joy to be around. Now he’s talking about bringing kids hunting, learning more about conservation, etc. so I’m sure he’ll be an asset to our sport.

About 15 years ago I guided a guy in his 70’s who was brand new to guns and hunting. His wife hated guns so he would sneak gun magazines to work with him like some sort of “porn”, but never bought a gun until she passed later in life. Then he just went crazy. On his first hunt he showed up with a whole pickup load of guns he’d never fired. His health was failing so he couldn’t do all that he wanted, but he would ask me to help him shoot the rifles. It made him happy just to see me shoot them and give him my feedback about each one.

I’ll never forget he asked me to shoot some sort of .25-06 he had bought. So I fired it at a target around 100 paces away from a make-shift rest we had put together on the ranch we were hunting. He just had some generic factory loads, but he was curious to see what I thought of how it shot. I didn’t know that hunt would evolve into a range session so I hadn’t brought a spotting scope. After three shots I walked down to retrieve the target. Much to my complete shock that open-sighted rifle had put three shots into about 5/8 of an inch (my eyes were a lot younger then)! I trotted that target back to him, excited to show him what his new prize was capable of, and he asked, “Is that good?” I realized I had a lot to teach him….

Hunters starting late in life are inspiring. I respect their commitment to our sport and enjoy spending time in the outdoors with them. We experienced hunters should try to be welcoming to them.

Kyler

My wife shot her first animal of any kind, a whitetail buck, at the age of 49. A good friend of mine stopped hunting small game, never hunted big game, in his early 20's when he went into the Army. He started again at the age of 50 with whitetails here in Indiana.

I am honored to have been part of helping both these people learn and enjoy this sport.

Jeremy

At 15 I went pheasant hunting once, followed by a hog hunt at 24. I took my first whitetail at 26.

My father wasn't (isn't) a hunter, and my uncles who I hunt with now just recently got back into it since their children grew up. I fully intend to introduce my son to it as soon as he's legally old enough to hunt. He will be shooting well before that.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:

quote:

Originally posted by PSmith:
I went on my first hunting trip when I was 48. I had never shot anything except a frog with my BB gun. First animal was an impala, second one was a Cape buffalo. Since then I have been back to Zimbabwe twice, also hunted in Canada and North Dakota. I never fired a rifle until I was 46.

I have shot four Cape buffalo, an elephant, a leopard, all sorts of plains game, a black bear, and an elk.

Never shot a deer, can you believe that?

I amazed by this!

Me too!!!

.

I am very interested in this thread and will continue to watch it.

If there are any of you, old and new, who are interested in hunting out West (I am not a guide), but are reluctant to do so, send me a PM and I will be glad to help where I can.

We need all the help we can get, to help promote what we love to do!

Jason -
What a great way to outreach.

Most states have programs to introduce youngsters to hunting and that's great. But I wonder how effective they really are at recruitment because the kids that participate in the youth hunts usually have enthusiastic parents or other mentors and would have been exposed to hunting, youth season or not.

It would be great if kids without an enthusiastic mentor and older prospective hunters had more encouragement.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only late bloomer.

I am amazed too. That's what I get for reading Theo. Roosevelt, Bell, and Selous! I could be driving a nice Porsche instead. But dang Africa gets in your blood. It is about all I think about. I do regret not starting earlier.

I got started tagging along with Dad and others when I was 8. Killed my first bull elk at 14 with him beside me about the time his dropped too. The third guy along let his get away.

Killed my first mule deer at 16 alone. Got excited walking from where I fired from to the buck and had to go back and get reorganized.

I've killed: well over 50 muley's, 13 elk, and maybe a dozen antelope.

Yet I've never: Taken, took or harvested any game animal, I shoot and kill 'em. Hey guys, this is a hunting board drop the liberal bullshit ok?

Good thread otherwise.

George

I started hunting dove and ducks when I was 16, did not kill my first whitetail until I was 20. I have had a good run, and now get more enjoyment guiding others, whether for pay or not. I simply enjoy being out in the field, hunting/scouting or guiding, it is all good.

I started when I was about 22 or 23 I think. A Marine buddy asked me if I wanted to go hunt Antelope in Wyoming and I said sure. So we went to gun show where I purchased a Ruger M 77 in 270. We practiced shooting a great deal to ranges up to 400 yards.

My buddy got me reading "Death in the Long Grass; books by Jack O'conner and Elemer Keith. It has been a great introduction.

I have belonged to a number of business and civic group but I enjoy time with hunters the most. Maybe they have better stories.

Jim

I have taken many men hunting for their first time that were up in years. Usally they had not ever had an opportunity while younger and if you hung around my friends and I you talked about hunting. This peaked their interest and thus the addiction began. My friends and I have helped many of men purchase their first rifle and assist them in sighting them in and proper gun saftey. Before long, I think without exception, they have purchased other rifles, then a pistol, a shotgun, now they need a safe. Next they need reloading supplies so they can squeeze out the best of their arsenal, geez what have we done to these men???

I grew up with a father that took me hunting and fishing, so it was an honor to provide an opportunity to these men and introduce them to a different aspect of life. I truly get excited when I take a new hunter out and witness their success, regardless of their age. At this point in my hunters life, it means more for them to be successful, than for me to put bone on the wall.

I would qualify.
My family were golfers and I was raised mostly around golf courses. I did a little hunting for squirrels at age 10 but nothing special.

When I got to college, I started duck and pheasant hunting but was limited due to money.

I managed to kill a doe when I was 20 that required 8 shots and a stabbing to get her down...

I then moved to Wyoming for work and thought I would become a serious hunter. I drew a sheep tag not knowing anything about it and went. The hunt was a gigantic eye opener to what hunting really is. Up until then, I thought driving around in a truck, and jump shooting stuff was the way to go.

I was unsuccessful on the sheep hunt missing a shot at 20' and consequently losing 20 lbs and all of my toe nails due to the climbing.

I hung up my thoughts of hunting from 1979 to 1990 as I was doing some serious introspection on why I hunt and why I want to hunt. When I landed on the "why", I started duck hunting again, then ended up drawing a tag for elk in Oklahoma. I had no rifle and my wife bought one for me when we were dead broke and ended up killing a super elk. That started me up again.

When the kids were born, that stopped a lot of hunting until they got big enough to go, so I started taking them. Oil at $100 per barrel started us going to Africa as a family and we have been there and other places. I am over 60 now so I really didn't start hunting a lot until 10 years ago. So I guess I was "planted early" but "bloomed late".

I was 20 or 21 when I hunted mammals for the first time, purely due to lack of opportunity.

I'm one of the "single digit" guys but Mrs Blacktailer took her first animal, a bushbuck, at 48. We were on our first safari when she got interested. Since then she has taken a fallow deer and blackbuck in Argentina and a zebra in Tanzania. I keep trying to get her to hunt locally but she claims to be only an international hunter.

When I was a kid, I would go squirrel hunting with my uncles. At that time it meant I got to look for them and walk around the tree so the squirrel would move so my uncles could shoot them. My father never hunted.

When I was 30 I was working with a fellow who asked me if I wanted to go pheasant hunting with him. I said "sure". So for my first anniversary my wife bought me a new Remington 1100 so I could go with him. She grew up in Abilene Texas, so hunting was just something that was done every year.

On that first bird hunt we kept scaring deer out of the bottoms. We were hunting on his in-laws place. I asked permission to deer hunt since my friend did not. I finally got it and for the next anniversary my wife got me a new BLR in 308. I still have it. I took my first deer with it when I was 32, so I guess that makes me a late bloomer as well.

Now, the wife of 31 years still buys me rifles and now hunting trips as well. She only hunts birds, but we have a great mutual relationship when it comes to guns and hunting. She shoots tactical and I go hunting.

Good for you Larry!
My first wife wanted to go deer hunting as her Dad and brothers did and I was deep into it too. I got her a .303 after finding she couldn't stand the recoil of my '06. We worked up loads she could handle and still heavy enough for deer. The best hunting thrill of my life was watching her make a one shot kill on her first deer shot. I had to finish mine up! The next year we hunted on the side of a hill called the: "Manitou Incline" in Colo. Spgs. Just above a co workers folks house. We laid across the cable car tracks and I shot a deer and she shot three to help fill the parties tags. One of the other guys got a deer and another killed a small bear from the garbage dump. Damn that thing stunk! They were tickled pink that she filled their tags for them as that was the last evening of season.

We divorced and my second wife was a bambi lover. "oh, how could you ever shoot anything with such beautiful brown eye's---crap!" Stuck my guns under the bed and gave it up for 20 yrs til I saw the marriage was over and got back to it again. She died 13 yrs ago.

George