Through the years, we' ve all learned many lessons from a great many different hunters/shooters ie. O' Conner, Bear, Shockley are just a few of the names that spring to mind.Question is, who taught you the most or was truely significant in making you the hunter you are today. Doesn' t have to famous.I' d have to say that combining the teachings of my uncle and Jack O' Conner helped make me a better,more thoughtful hunter[8D]

My grandaddy was the meanest man thet ever lived. Used to beat the hell outta me if he caught me playin' . Said it was foolishness. I weren' t allowed to have no toys. But I allays had a fishin' pole, an' got a single shot 12 ga when I was 12. My grandaddy could hear a squirrel walkin' on oak leaves a mile off. He showed me how to stalk game an' read sign. Also taught me to respect the forest, an' only take what I needed. The old man couldn' t write his name, but he knew lots of stuff mos' men never know.

I think I popped out of my momma wearin blaze orange and chasin elk and deer.
I realy don' t know who was my biggest influence,probaly my Dad and Brother next came Outdoor life and Feild and Stream.

right on " HUNT ON" nobody really taught me just did alot o listen' n to experienced guys and put the knowledge to the test it worked im no great white hunter it' s all a larnin process

Authorwise, Craig Boddington, Jack Lott.

As a kid, my grade school principal.

As an adult, my Michigan mentors re: elk hunting

Never Go Undergunned, Always Check The Sight In, Perform At Showtime,

EKM

Larry Benoit and a friend of the family that took me under his wing and showed me all I needed to know about small and big game hunting...

O' Connor could teach you somthing and entertain you at the same time. If there is something he wrote that I haven' t read I' d like to get my hands on it. I like John Wooters and Dick Idol and Zumbo. There are some local guys here in Western Canada that write stuff for local Western Canada mags. that have some good things to say and an ability to say it.

As far as first hand teaching and mentoring I didn' t get much of that. My dad and uncles took me fishing some but weren' t into hunting. I was born with a hunting gene though cause I learned most of what I know from books and trial and error. So far I haven' t gone to " trial" for any " error" .

When I was a small fry I traded an old gitar for an old .177 cal pellet gun with no front sight. I made a front sight with a file and a penny and spent hours hunting animals I' d built out of modeling clay. Then I graduated to hunting small birds and mice and gophers and rabbits with that pellet gun.

Robin

My Dad....he passed away 10 years ago and I truley miss him. He taught me the ins and outs of hunting and more specifically the area that I hunt to this day. Off the shores of Lake Superior in big country and on occassion I still hunt the old firelanes that I first walked into 33 years ago.

I learnt the hard way and taught myself.
My first deer was real beginners luck, but it gave me the incentive to keep on trying till I got the next, which was a long time coming. After 20 or 30 deer it got easy.
The skills I learnt deer stalking have been transferable to most other types of game I' ve hunted.
I beleive sharpening your senses and getting your eyes tuned in is a big part of sucess. Can only learn so much from books and others.