I grew up in a very rural area of western Pennsylvania in the 1940's & 50s. My grandfather, father, and all my uncles were hunters. I learned to shoot at a very ealy age, and had my own .22 by age 10. My favorite playmates were beagles and blue ticks. Hunted deer with a single barrel shotgun by age 12, and had my own center fire at age 15. Times have certainly changed. The population, landscape, and politics have changed too. I'm an old man now, but I still hunt with my sons and grandchildren. I don't know that I have a favorite game. I hunt most everything, but, squirrel on a sunny fall day, rabbits on a frosty morning, or winter deer all rank high on the list. Of course, I also try not to miss any opportunity for summer varmint shooting or late winter predators either.Then, there's turkey and....well you see, I just love to hunt.
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At which age did you started with hunting
- Thread starter hawkeye1755
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If you count shooting the groundhogs out of the garden as "hunting" then somewhere around age 8.
Growing up in NJ, if I remember right, you couldn't legally hunt until age 12. Then again, living in a rural area, surrounded by a lot of private farmland, the line tended to get blurred a bit.
Growing up in NJ, if I remember right, you couldn't legally hunt until age 12. Then again, living in a rural area, surrounded by a lot of private farmland, the line tended to get blurred a bit.
No body in my family hunted. I hung out with guys at school who talked about hunting all the time. My dad bought me a 22 when I was 12 years old and I borrowed an old double barrel from a friend to go on my first hunt which was for small game (pheasants and rabbits). I was 14. Started hunting deer when I was 15 and I also started to trap. I gave up trapping after 20 years due to the decline in available places to trap, prices for furs and decline in muskrats. My passion is turkey hunting in the fall and spring. I have been doing that for 40 years.
My Dad started teachin' me how to shoot, when I was 5, after WWII was over. He'd bought a Benjamen air rifle for me to use. When I was eight I was knockin' the center outa 50 foot 22 rimfire targets with a Remington 5xx with a tubular magazine. The guys at the gun club bought me a life membership in the NRA so I could represent them in smallbore competition. I couldn't hold up the Model 52 Winchester I was allowed to use, for the entire match, so Dad got me a Mossberg.
My Granddad lent me his crackshot for huntin' the next year, and for my 10th birthday I was given a .410. When I was 12 I was allowed to go for deer, usin' and old Remington slide action in .25 Remington. I got my first deer at age 14, although I was aimin' at the one slightly ahead of the one I got. They were runnin' flat out, and the one I got was about as big as Granddad's old yellow Collie. :rotf:
My Granddad lent me his crackshot for huntin' the next year, and for my 10th birthday I was given a .410. When I was 12 I was allowed to go for deer, usin' and old Remington slide action in .25 Remington. I got my first deer at age 14, although I was aimin' at the one slightly ahead of the one I got. They were runnin' flat out, and the one I got was about as big as Granddad's old yellow Collie. :rotf:
started at 4 or 5 killed my first blacktail at age 10 first year I hunted with a gun of my own also got a spike elk that same year haven't been that lucky in a long time now. started with my dad then with a neighbor when my brother starteding. btw that first blacktail was a 5x4 and very old. well have a good new year tomm
my first gun was a .45cal caplock my dad gave me one christmas I was 11 or 12.the ground hogs and rabbits got a real suprise that year no more little pellet gun stings.
Dad says that I stalked and hunted from the time I could walk ,used to hunt imaginary game with a make shift bow and arrow.
must be true 'cuz I can see it now in my own kids
imaginary moose steak anyone?
Dad says that I stalked and hunted from the time I could walk ,used to hunt imaginary game with a make shift bow and arrow.
must be true 'cuz I can see it now in my own kids
imaginary moose steak anyone?
Rec'd a bb gun when I was 8, use to follow my grandpop into the field for rabbits.
Around 12 we moved to the farm and that is when I started. There were no deer then just rabbits and pheasants. Killed my first rabbit with a lemonwood longbow that my uncle made for my mom years ago. Shot him running cross an opening.
Hunted with a bow until I got the NJ license at 14 and then shot my first rabbit with my 410.
Killed my first deer in the Jersey Pine Barrens when I was 17, 6pt buck. That was a great year as I also took countless rabbits with a bow and two pheasants with my Zoli o/u.
Around 12 we moved to the farm and that is when I started. There were no deer then just rabbits and pheasants. Killed my first rabbit with a lemonwood longbow that my uncle made for my mom years ago. Shot him running cross an opening.
Hunted with a bow until I got the NJ license at 14 and then shot my first rabbit with my 410.
Killed my first deer in the Jersey Pine Barrens when I was 17, 6pt buck. That was a great year as I also took countless rabbits with a bow and two pheasants with my Zoli o/u.
i knew something was up when i got home one day and was telling prowdly to my mom how i had climbed a tree and stabbed a family of baby crows in thier nest.. she ran into the bedroom crying.. 
i tried to kill a rabbit with a stick for years.. me and my dog nipper would walk thru the thick woods near my house,when we kicked a bunny up it would circle with nipper happily yapping after it, giving me a throw with a stick i had picked up when it passed... then at about 14 i blew up an (unmentionable type) revolver i had bought across town (on my bike) becouse i was teaching my self how to reload.. it was a rough start, and iv always been on the edge.. i moved to montana in the 70's to trap coyotes, and started muzzeloading when shooting ducks got too easy.. .. dave..
i tried to kill a rabbit with a stick for years.. me and my dog nipper would walk thru the thick woods near my house,when we kicked a bunny up it would circle with nipper happily yapping after it, giving me a throw with a stick i had picked up when it passed... then at about 14 i blew up an (unmentionable type) revolver i had bought across town (on my bike) becouse i was teaching my self how to reload.. it was a rough start, and iv always been on the edge.. i moved to montana in the 70's to trap coyotes, and started muzzeloading when shooting ducks got too easy.. .. dave..I first went hunting with my dad when I was 12. I had been shooting for a few years, but this was the first time he had the chance to hunt in a while. I used an 8mm Mauser and took a nice buck. I don't hunt religiously, but I still hunt semi-regularly to this day. Only I prefer to hunt with muzzleloaders almost exclusively now.
guncobbler
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Shot my dad's Rem 22 for the first time when I was 6. Can remember very clearly the first rabbit I saw my dad shoot. Shared the shotgun with him til I was 13 and could carry my own. Dad is 86, deals with Parkinsons but still drives his tractor down into the woods to sit on a deer trail during the season. Tough or stubborn or both
I hunt deer because that's what available but would rather hunt rabbits over beagles any day. Don't know if any of my cousins have beagles anymore. They'd start barking a trail and a coyote would come out of the bushes and chase the beagles back to us. Between the bushes growing up into trees, the fields getting planted with houses and the coyotes there is not much chance to hunt rabbits anymore where I grew up.
GC
I hunt deer because that's what available but would rather hunt rabbits over beagles any day. Don't know if any of my cousins have beagles anymore. They'd start barking a trail and a coyote would come out of the bushes and chase the beagles back to us. Between the bushes growing up into trees, the fields getting planted with houses and the coyotes there is not much chance to hunt rabbits anymore where I grew up.
GC
