I got me into hunting. My dad, although I credit him with getting me into fishing, never hunted and my mom was always dead set against it. Some local kids that were older got into trouble by mis-using their long bows, and rather than having it confiscated by the authorities, one kids parents gave me a bow. I was probably about 8-9 yeaars old. I loved it. Got pretty good with it too. I used to tell my parents I'm going hunting, and they thought it was cute. The local cottontail population probably didn't tho... I didn't continually shoot, I only spent the summers in upstate NY, lived in the city pretty much til I was 27. In my early 20's I did buy a compound bow to get back into archery. Spent a lot more time on the range than in the woods, but did get back into shooting. Time got tight between family and work, and I quit shooting for a dozen years. Now I'm back into it with my BowTech!