my grandpa started a love of archery and the outdoors in me. my dad wasn't into it much... but my grandpa used to take me for walks in the woods and this was how i came to love the outdoors. i started hunting small game at 12-13, and at 16 started hunting with a bow. i wouldn't change a thing.

My parents both bow hunted as I was growing up. Heck, all of my parents friends were bow hunters. I've been surrounded by It for all my life.

In 1985, at 11 years old I was asked to enter the world of hunting.It was a warm July evening back in 1985 when my uncle Paul asked me “How would you like to go hunting with me?” My answer was yes! In 1986 my uncles Paul and Mark took me under their wings to show me the way of the woods.I can still remember how they use to get mad at me for breaking a branch and making noise as we stalked through the woods in search for those white-tails.By 1989 I had learned to step in their footsteps and move through the woods like a cat.(I was only 13) On Nov. 8th in 1986 I took my first deer with bow and arrow.A Martin Tiger with a satellite broad head, Easton 1916 arrow @ 42 pounds!From that day forward I was bit.Hunting was in me just like I bet it is in you right now.When it gets into your system it’s a feeling like no other.As I transitioned into the early 90’s I took various animals with long bows and recurves.Groundhogs, wild boar, deer, birds, I harvested numerous animals and sharpened my skills as a teenager.In the late 90’s I entered a traditional phase that truly made me realize what it was like for the Indians when they used bow & arrows to survive.I took a handful of deer with Osage stick bows and flint heads wrapped in sinew.This phase made me realize that it’s not the broad head that counts.It is the shot placement that makes a hunter successful.

As I crossed over into the year 2000, I held a compound and still continue to do so.When I finished college I expanded my horizons and harvested a Newfoundland Moose and Caribou.In addition, multiple black bears with my bow & arrowin Quebec.
I have grown to bepatientin the last 10 years and I've only taken 3 wall hangers for myself on the lands I hunt in Michigan.

In 2008, I have now logged...- 87 bow kills and62 gun kills - I have taken 149 White-tails in my lifetime.

I've been "hunting" WITH my dadsince I could walk, but I started taking a gun when my dad felt I was mature enough, which was a turkey hunt when I was 8. I had never stepped foot in the deer woods until I could carry a gun myself, my dad thought that it would bore me at first. I started deer hunting at 8 also. When I started, we only hunted evenings, for a couple hours, a couple days ayear. I missed my first couple of years[8D]. When I killed my first deer, at 10, I toyed with the thought of hunting more. Well that winter, one of my neighbors gave me an old Bear bow that his son had outgrown. I used that until I was 13, then I bought a new PSE Deer Hunter Package. I shot it a lot, but didn't bowhunt a lot, just a couple weekends a year. This year was my first serious year bowhunting. I've killed one doe, and lost another (made me sick, but a learning experience). That's as much as I'm willing to type right now[&:]

Forgot to mention:
I have been shooting bows since I was 5. They were just cheap 20# Wal-Mart specials.

Had an uncle into it...parents bought me a recurve for Christmas when I was 12.

For me it was taking my first deer during last years firearm season. I had hunted before both gun and bow but never got a deer, different scenarios just didn't allow me to hunt like I would have wanted to so I gave it up for about 15 years. I promised myself last year I was going to start hunting again and bought a shotgun. I was fortunate enough to get a decent buck and the sheer energy and sense of pride from that hunt hooked me on deer hunting for life. Weather ruined 2nd season so Ibought a bow to get back out there.

I practiced for 2 weeks straight and took a small button buck on my 3rd hunt, the deer was smaller but the rush was the same if not even more intense. I won't miss a year again, health permitting.

I've taken 3 with the bow and 1 firearm this yearbut Ithink after Spring Turkey season the shotgun may stay with the smooth barrel on it. I didn't have that same feeling this year sitting on stand with it as I do with the bow. Time will tell I guess, but I do know I'll never put down the bow.

I got myself into it with a desire to make my hunting season as long as legally possible.

Didn't have wally world or the internet so I could be on forums when I was 5. Dang..I am getting old.

I went hunting with my familiy since I was a kid but when I was 14 I wanted to extend my season so I bought my first bow it was like $35 from a neighbor.

Interesting concept. Having you shoot arrows at 4legged deer instead instead of shooting other things at his 2 legged dear. I'll have to keep that in mind when my girls get older.