Just wondering where all of you learned about deer hunting - has it been a family tradition going way back, did high-school friends get you interested, or was it a later in life hobby/pastime ?
My grandfather was an avid fisherman and duck hunter, but did only a little rifle hunting for deer. My Dad is a duck and goose hunter, but not a deer hunter. I had my first deer hunting experience with a camp of veteran rifle hunters when I was 18 yrs old ...... that week got me hooked for life ........ when I started teaching, I could no longer get " gun week" off for vacation, so I took up bowhunting ..... I still do a little gun hunting but concentrate on the bow hunting.

Anxious to hear your stories ........

My dad started taking me hunting and fishing when I was three. Those are some of my first memories. When I was too young to hunt I remember waiting at the house for my dad and grandpa' s to come home. When they pulled in with a deer I almost couldn' t contain the excitement. I have had the deer hunting bug really bad for as long as I can remember. This is my 22nd year of deer hunting and there have only been 2 years in that time that dad and I didn' t hunt together. I have been blessed with three boys and they already go bird hunting with me and are " itching" to hunt themselves. I am also introducing four of my neices to the outdoors. It is very fulfilling to use your " Roots" to grow some new branches.

Being from the South Side of Chicago, I never really thought much about hunting. Never had the chance. But, I had a Friend and his Father who I rode Motorcycles with, that turned me on to Archery. He lived next door to someone that had 10 Acres that he had permission to hunt on. So I gave it a try 3 years ago. Been doing it ever since. And Loving it!

I must say my Father! I also would wait for my grandfather and my dad to come home from deer hunting when I was young and couldn' t wait for them to pull into the drive way and would run out to see what they got, if anything! Been hooked ever since![:-]

Hunting for me starter when I was 10 and had to keep in sight of my father in the woods. We generaly hunted with his friends and my grandfather. I feel bad because as a child I had a difficult time sitting quiet and still and threw my father into and aweful drought. Now that I' m older and hunt by myself he isn' t have the problems of an antsy kid hunting within eye shot.
I picked up bow hunting in high school. some friends in my PE class brought their compounds to class durring archery. I was instantly hooked. I bought my bow 2 weeks after my firend let me shoot his and started hunting bow that same year.

I started hunting; birds- age 8 with a .410; deer- age 12 with a 30-30; bowhunting- age 31! I' m now 36!

My family passed down the tradition. My grandfather, father and uncles all took me regularly and I' m passing it down to my son who' s 8 and my daughter 3.5. My boy already shoots a .410 for birds and has been shooting a bow for 3 years. My daughter just picked up her first bow!

I' m the first generation of bowhunters in my family. I have however gotten my brother started. He' s been shooting for 2 years now.

My dad started my hunting for small game as soon as I could pull the hammer back. It wasn' t until I was 16 that I tried for a deer. My fist deer was a spike that came running up a trail I was watching. It was UGLY!!! I had a small window to shoot through and I ended up shooting 5 times!!! Believe it or not, the spike just stood there for the first 2 shots. The third hit him in his jaw and took out the main artery. I ran up and saw it was still alive, felt bad and tried to put it out of his misery. I jerked when I pulled the trigger and shot one of the spikes off. The fifth and final finished the job.
Being 16 I was just happy I got a deer. Within a few days the adrenaline wore off and I realized how awful that was. I didn' t deer hunt again until I was 25. Since then I have harvested 4 deer on 4 shots. I have forgiven myself for what I did and do not consider it part of my mature hunting past. Kind of a " when I was a child" sort of thing.

My dad belonged to a hunting camp. That' s where I spent all my weekends since I was very young. I started going out with my dad (unarmed) when I was 6. Mostly for small game as I didn' t have the patience yet to hunt deer. I couldn' t wait until I was old enough. I have to admit, I did do a little squirrel hunting on private property before I was old enough.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge

My Dad took me to the woods when I was 5 - squirrel and bird hunting. He has always been a deer hunter, but only with rifle. Funny thing is now that I think back, he never hunted bow, nor did anybody I knew. My dad got me one of those red kid' s bows when I was 6. I guess I was hooked on bows because that' s all I wanted when I turned 12 - a bow. Been hunting bow ever since.

I wish I could say that I had someone to look up to and inspire me to get into bow hunting. I guess I am my own root. I rifle hunted since I was about 12 and always enjoyed it. I never really thought much about hunting with a bow because it always seemed so complicated. I had no idea about how to pick equipment or anything. Then a couple of years ago my Grandfather sold all of his land leaving me no place to hunt except for public land. He had about 2000 acres of farm and woodland and he sold it all to a complete " A hole" . I was not given the chance to buy any of it and I am still bitter about it.

The thought of trying to hunt public hand during rifle season with thousands of other people did not interest me. Rifle season lasts 9 days and it is like a war zone. Scary. So I decided ii was time to take up bow hunting. The season is over three months long and not that many people hunt the public land during bow season. Now I only regret that I didn' t start sooner.