SwampCollie

My father bought an Ithaca SxS 20ga for me when he found out my Momma was expecting me in 9 months. So I was a firearm owner before my first breath of air.

Being born April 19th, smack in the middle of the first week of VA turkey season, at the ripe old age of 7 days old, my dad wrapped me up in a wool blanket, strapped me to his back, and carried me into the spring woods after turkeys. The first noises I made as a baby were mimics of his calls, and Dad said it nearly made him cry. He knew I was destined for poor grades, divorce, and financial ruin in pursuit of game and fish.

At age 5, I was given a BB gun and proper firearm instruction (safety wise). After having no safety violations for one year, and not shooting any thing I was not supposed to (I was a good kid), I was allowed to graduate to the real thing.

For Christmas when I was 6, I was given a Chipmunk .22, with which I roamed the countryside for many years after; killing beer cans, crab apples, milk jugs, ground hogsand a feral cat or two from under the barn.

At 7 1/2 years old, I used that Ithaca 20ga to swat my first slickhead. The gun was a bit too long, and too light to shoot comfortably (heck it still kicks right stiff with 3" loads), so Dad bought me an 1100LT 20ga that Christmas, and I took off running with it. It was a cut down model, and I still need to get a Decellarator for it and have a smith take it out to 14.5" so I can use it on clays again.

At 8, I went on my first dove hunt, and having never shot at a moving (read: flying) target before, managed to shoot a limit of birds inside of two boxes of shells. Not bad for a youngin'! That same year, I started working on calling turkeys with a diaphram call, which is what I learned to call on, and is still my call of choice. Took a few years to get the hang on it, but I tried mightily, and managed a few squeeks and squawks.

At 10, I tagged along on a duck hunt with a friend. HOOKED! I dedicated every free moment (that was not occupied by girls, turkeys, surfing or fish) to the understanding of waterfowling.

I have always been a self-taught sort of guy, and refused to allow anyone to call in a turkey or a duck for me. So, when I started turkey hunting alone at age 10, I had quite a learning curve in front of me. School of hard knocks was now in session, and I finally killed my first turkey (and still one of my biggest) on my 18th birthday. In the 5 springs since, I have tagged exactly 29 more birds, in 6 different states. I guess the light finally came on.

With regards to ducks, I managed to luck into a drake mallard at age 12 on the farm pond. Then, finding a few wood ducks in the mill swamp creek, began to study the game intensely. I'd consider myself better than average, but considering where I live geographically, we will never have hunting like the other three flyways, especially with short stopping and global warming.

I started bow hunting when I was 19 only for the reason that I was offered access to a Mecca of game, and it was archery only. With only 3 weeks worth of target experience under my belt, and a used $60 pawn shop PSE in my hand, I used my climber and took my first archery deer on my first bow hunt (remember, I was in a very target rich environment). My next three hunts yeilded two more does and a wild hog. I was hooked on bow hunting, and it is still my prefered hunting method for deer and hogs. I found that I became a much better hunter when I started using stick and string. Made me pay attention to things I never had before.

I guess I was sorta born into it all.