When and How....
 

I was sitting here reading all the topics and such so it made me wonder when and how everyone got interested in bowhunting/fishing. I've been coming here for almost almost two years now and I became more interested in it by reading all the stories in here and in magazines. I have been bowhunting for a year now but haven't been able to pratice as much as i like due to one reason or another. Once the weather gets alittle better, i plan on shooting every other day if not everyday. Thank you in advance.

RE: When and How....
 

I have been hunting for 8 years now. After my first year rifle hunting, I intended to start bow hunting. I bought a bow and started practicing. I was planning on hunting with my brother in law. We had a falling out shortly after and it took me 4 years to be able to do it.

Now that I am into it, the things that get me are watching the Outdoor Channel, this BBS and talking to other hunters whether they are bow or gun. Now I want to hunt more and more often.

However I am in a new state, not knowing where to hunt. So I am doing research on where to hunt and that too is getting me excited for hunting season.

RE: When and How....
 

My family all hunted when I was a kid but nobody bowhunted. Around the age of 13, my best friend and I were reading the the Arkansas state hunting regs and noticed that bowseason went from Oct 1 to Feb 28th.....5 months of deer hunting. Well, it didn't take us long to save up enough money to buy our first bows, his a pse and my an old Bear Kodiak Magnum. Our dads made fun of us saying stuff like "It's hard enough to kill a deer with your gun, you kids think you are goning to kill one with a stick and string."

It didn't happen right away, as a matter of fact it took me two years of hunting nearly everyday to finally kill my first deer, a small four point. I'll never forget the look on my dad, uncle, and grandpaw's face when I told them I needed help dragging it out of the woods.

RE: When and How....
 

I've gun hunted off and on for about 12 years, and have always been intrigued by bowhunting. i just started reading the bowhunting forum recently and have become very interested in the added challenge as well as the extended season that bowhunting has to offer. I have yet to buy my first bow, but intend to soon. I hope to be ready by this fall to head out into the woods with my bow in hand. Before I make the purchase I'm trying to find out as much as I can about bows and bowhunting. All of you guys on this forum have been a tremendous wealth of information.

RE: When and How....
 

My dad got me into rifle hunting as soon as I was old enough. He bowhunted when he was a kid but gave it up at some point. I rifle hunted 3 years without getting my first deer and I just loved being in the woods. That's when I decided that 2 weeks per year of deer hunting wasn't enough for me so I got into bowhunting. It was the best decision I've ever made. Now I have 4 months of deer hunting, and 12 months of shooting to enjoy.

RE: When and How....
 

No one in my family hunts. A friend of mine bought a bow from Wal-mart and though it'd be "cool" to hunt deer with it after he got good enough. Growing up I had a little exposure to shooting a recurve, so I said "sure, sounds like fun".

I bought my first compound bow a few weeks later. This is 2nd season in the woods with the bow. No deer yet! :(

RE: When and How....
 

I started hunting with family when I was 10. At 16 durring P.E. class we got to try archery and a couple of friends brought in compounds and from the first shot I was hooked. I bought my first bow three weeks later and started bow hunting that fall. That year I bagged a 115lb doe 45 minutes into the season and I've never looked back. This year it's to the point I don't care to hunt with a gun. I'm hooked on the arrow!

RE: When and How....
 

I started 17 years ago. I had gun hunted the 1st 2 years until I was strong enough to pull back a bow. My dad was my teacher and mentor in all my outdoor adventures.

RE: When and How....
 

I have hunted and fished literally since I was 3 years old. My dad and other family always hunted and fished a lot. So I grew up emersed in the life style. One of my dad's good friends bowfished alot when I was about 13 (17 years ago) and I shot his bow some bowfishing. Well I decided I had to have my own bow. So one of the other guys that my dad worked with at the time was a bow wizard and even invented an electronic rangefinding pendulum sight (Mason Rangefinding Sight). So he talked my dad into buying me a good bow so I could whitetail hunt if I wanted to. So I got the bow and practiced a bunch and wound up killing a 4pt that first year with my bow, which was my first deer. I have been hooked every since then. Ironically I never really got into bowfishing although I did do it some. I always spent more time catching frogs in the summer or I didn't want the batteries to be run down so I could fish the next day.

PS The day that I killed that 4 pt I was about 1.5 miles from our cabin. Well I jogged all the way back to the cabin. My dad said he could hear me coming so I asked him how? He said he could hear me smiling:D I guess you have to be pretty happy for someone to hear you smiling.:D

RE: When and How....
 

I started bowhunting in 2000. Most of my buddies had been doing it for a while and I was more into pheasants and ducks....not much fun do that by yourself so I gave it a try.

Killed my 1st bowbuck in 2000. he was a 6pt that to this day is one of my most rememberable deer, because he lit a fire in me that no one can put out.

Now, my buddies that got me started are trying to catch up with me!!!!:D

RE: When and How....
 

As a kid, my great grandpa used to take me with him to pick ginseng in the mountains and check his traplines in fall/winter. We caught everything from skunks to coyotes, and I really thought it was somethin'. He was never much of a hunter, but the guy lived to trap. I guess he just never really took to deer hunting like he did to trapping.

Everyone in the fam. hunts, fishes, traps, etc. I started out fishin', then came the natural progression into trapping, shotgun, rifle, archery, flintlock, etc.

Red - I liked this thread so much, I started it again on the DeerHunting page.

RE: When and How....
 

I've been deer hunting(with a rifle) for over 30 years. About 15 years ago I started pheasant hunting in Iowa. Every year I would see lots of decent bucks while walking along the river bottoms. Seeing as how there were many days we had our limit and then had nothing to do, I thought bow hunting for deer would fill in the rest of the days when we were done pheasant hunting. Five years ago I bought a bow in the spring and was drawn for an Iowa archery tag. That first year I had a shot at a nice eight pointer and missed by a mile. I was so excited I think I came closer to shooting myself in the foot then hitting that deer. That was it for me. Now, when I go to Iowa it's to deer hunt. For me, bowhunting has basically turned into a 365 days a year obsession.

RE: When and How....
 

You know that's when I first shot a bow seriously was in PE class 7th or 8th grade. Do you think they still do that in school today?

I didn't hunt until 18 or 19 and it was gun in Va. They had a 6 or 8 week season. I too noticed I could extend it if I bow hunted and a good friend of mine bow hunted so I bought a cheap bow. I didn't get serious for a few years but I can tell you after 15+ years I have no reason to hunt with a gun unless it's water fowl or clay birdies.

Long live the sport of Bow Hunting. There is nothing like it in the world except long range fishing.

Ps. SA that was a great story.

RE: When and How....
 

I dont remember when i didnt hunt i was raised in a hunting family so our free time was spent hunting or atleast being outdoors. The last couple of years even though i still enjoyed family hunts rifle hunting seemed to be getting old.This was my first year to bow hunt and i am hooked, downed my first late in the season but even if i hadnt it wouldnt have changed the fun i had this year.

RE: When and How....
 

My family was only a bird hunting family. Growing up I went quail, duck, goose pheasent and partridge hunting all over the place with my dad and grandfather and sometimes a german friend of my dad's. It was lots of fun but when I hit my teenage years my dad got a new job and grandpa had to quit hunting because of his vision so I stopped too. I moved out to Montana for a few years and started up out there with some rifle hunting and goose hunting and some upland hunting. Lots of fun until I moved back to Illinois and didn't have the urge to do it, to darn busy trying to get my business up and going and starting a family. Well, went out last year Dove hunting and this year goose and deer and about half way through my first day out deer hunting the shots all over the place bugged me and I decided that I would try Archery.

I used to shoot a lot as a kid (and just recently went home and grabbed my brothers old bow for kicks, might bowfish with it), more recurve back than than compound but the last bow I owned was a wheel bow so that is what I got. Was shooting a lot and was finally confident to go hunting from the ground with the bow (Not sure about the tree stand aim yet) and than I got the tendon problem. Oh well, it seems better now but I am thinking I will just use the 9 months before opening day to learn my property real well, scout the paths and get shooting consistan groups at 30 yards from a stand and from the ground. Than, I will probably sell the bow I have and spend way to much money on a new one. Had this bow for 3 weeks now and already found myself shopping for a new one... I think I have a problem ;)

RE: When and How....
 

When I was old enough to walk and talk is when my folks started taking my fishing. Before I was 10 my dad taught me how to string and shoot his recurve bow and took me on my first hunt , it's been true love ever since.

BTW mr4pt , Love your sig pic man! I darn near spit my coffee all over my keyboard when I seen it.:D That is great!