Similar up bringing; meaning no one in my immediate family hunted.

However, like you my neighbors did and also my uncle and cousins.

I started trapping muskrat and selling them to our local taxidermist to earn enough money to buy my first shotgun - H&R single shot 20 gauge.

You are also right about those times in our lives, as they still loom large in my memories.

I hunt now to keep me connected with nature, and try not to allow society to "neuter" me from the real world !