I had to figure out by myself almost all that I know.

It definitely started with my Dad. Now passed to my three sons and two grandsons, keeping the tradition alive. Even after all these years, we are all still learning.

I learned a lot of the basics from a buddy that I still hunt with. But he also taught me a lot of wrong advanced tactics so now I'm trying to erase all that in both of us. I learn mostly from plases like this,books,mags, very little from tv. Never stop learning its the only way to stay grounded.

Learned how to gut and skin a deer from my neighbor last year (I had always wanted to try hunting, and the combination of where I moved and my neighbor gave me the impetus to start last year at 44).

I watched a few you tube videos to learn how to butcher deer, and got some tips from the nieghbor, and I am obviously still learning each deer I butcher (3 under my belt so far).

Watched a few hunting shows and read a few articles to get smarter on deer habits.

Still working on staying calm and relaxed when it comes time to release the arrow:-)

Reading and hunting experience (which I'm still short on).

What I've found is that reading helps me make sense of things I'm seeing and also to make predictions. e.g. that a scrape probably means such and such, or how to predict what deer might be doing.