Your bringing tears to my eyes. Is'nt it funny how much we torture ourselves doing the things we love! I can remember being so cold that I couldn't get my fingers to work good enough to unlock my car door. I can remember thinking I was going to freeze to death right next to my car. Then I go hunting the next day

I remember being so cold that I wanted to friggin die right there. I could not control being cold on some days. I would wear all my clothes into the woods, sweating like hell and then freezing for the next 4-5 hours as that sweat froze til I could not stand it anymore. It was a war against myself and I don't give up to easily. Basically it was a right of passage for me into the hunting world. I would not change that for anything. So now, if I wanted to (or already do) own a Heater Body Suit....then dang it I can without any sissy remarks people!

Ill be 20 next month, I got the fever back when my Dad would go hunitng when I was really young, too young to tag along. I was stuck at home with Dad's unused tags from the previous season, Tagging my 4pnt Rudolph I had just shot. My first experience out hunting was with a 20 Gauge single shot, Never even got to crack a shot with it at a deer. Dad rarely killed a deer, he didnt care, he just loved getting out and hunting public land. My first deer came while hunting with my buddy, (I mention him from time to time now in the USMC) We jump a deer and it stopped and looked at us, we both took aim and herd only one shot. I knew I had got him with my Grandfathers .243. But we both ejected empty shells.

Due to his aiming point and mine, the entrance and exit(he was using 270) we decided it was my deer. After that It has been real slow for me until the last couple of years where Ive really put the deer down with a rifle, and only 2 deer with a bow thus far. But this year I plan on changing that.(see thoughts of Buckmaster thread)I would almost say this is going to be my first SERIOUS year of bowhunting.

I see myself in the future not even getting the rifle out unlessI'm just hunitng with a buddy or feel like doing somehting a little different. I doubt Ill even buy my muzzleloading license this year.

Well, I'm 46. I hunted as a kid with my dad. I was strictly a gun hunter as was everyone else in my family. I stopped hunting in my early 20s when I went through a period of bad decision making. Some of those bad decisions resulted in a felony assault conviction. I could never legally carry a gun again. I thought my hunting days were over. At the age of 42 friend introduced me to archery and rekindled a passion I had sorely missed. At the age of 43 I killed a feral hog for my first bowkill. It was my first kill in 20 years. That same year I killed the doe in my avatar and was ruined for life.

Im 22 years old. I can thank my dad for getting me into hunting when I was 9. Well we only hunted wood pigeon (big game bird here like a dove. Not to be confused with feral pigeons [:'(]) I now use his silver pigeon over n under . Though i'd love a nice pump action shotgun.

Now thanks to meeting my southern boyfriend 3 years ago, I can thank him for getting me into bowhunting and deer hunting. He's been a great help. Was supposed to be hunting roe deer today but its torrential rain so hopefully tomorrow will be better. Such a tasty animal.

I will continue to hunt until my time is up. I'd love to have a small house in the US for hunting, its possible for us because of the dollar and the pound. So maybe we can all get together for a nice auld hunt

I began hunting after my dad retired from the Navy and we moved back to his home town in Wi. Just south of Norwalk up on St Marys ridge. It was back in 1990 when I began hunting. I started out with a an old Sears bolt action 20 Ga. Goose gun. I love that old gun, everything but the kick from a 2 3/4 rifled slug. When i was 18 I bought my first rifle, an sks, shortly after that I won a special edition Mossberg 500 12 ga. I hunted 6 years before I got my first deer. My dad taught me so much about hunting even though the Navy kept him from doing it as much as he would have liked. I hunted the first 6 years on the ground, after I met my wife I built my first stand on her families property, soon to be mine. Opening day for me on stand is a feeling that comes every year and hope never goes away. The smell of the frost on the trees and ground, with the hint of doe estrus and buck in rut in the air. No matter if its bow season, or gun season, it doesnt matter, the feeling is the same. To me its not the hunt thats important, its spending time with family and friends. I could care less if I get anything or not. Thats what I was taught. My dad taught me so much but I owe most of my success to my father in law and nephew Mike. Frankie has taught me so much over the years. Not just on hunting, but how to be a better person, husband and sportsman. Mike put a bow in my hand back in 1997 and got me hooked. Frankie retired a couple years ago from the only job he ever had for over 23 years, then the plant closed down. Mike worked for AO Smith in Milwaukee most of his life and retired from there but is now back to work for Cummings in Wautoma. These 3 people in my life are very important to me and have taught me so much. Im 33 and will soon be passing what I have learned down to my son. Thanks Dad, Frankie, and Mike.

64 right now. Started hunting alone when I was a kid, about 8.... although the legal hunting age was 14. I grew up in the woods and we did it as kids because kids just like that stuff. We hunted, fished, trapped and all that all through school. A poor family of 7 needed the food. EVERYTHING was eaten. The skills of sneak and peak and fast shooting at roughed grouse served me well when I got to Vietnam. They saved my life probably and that of some of my people. In later years hunting has again provided tasty meals and saved my life. If I didn't hunt I'd have long ago gone insane.(no smartazzzz comments on that one) It gives me peace and joy. I don't care if it's an exhaustive hunt or a plop and park hunt. All is well in the woods.

42 and started hunting back in Colorado 1982ish for mule deer and elk.
We pretty much had to live on that stuff back then as my step dad worked in a mine.
Now I work 3rd shift and usually bust out of work around 4 am during the fall and hunt mornings
then nap and hunt evenings. I have a bad feeling once I hit my 50's and if I am still working these
awful hours my hunting time will be reduced big time. Bad enough this shift takes years off your life.
I just say just enjoy what you have.

caleb, same way here, after i started bow hunting- it has made me a much better gun hunter too, just how close you have to get

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