How did you become a hunter?

As the name of this thread implies, I’m curious as to the path each of us took to becoming a hunter.

As for myself, no one in my family hunted so I began hunting with friends. One of my childhood friends had a cottage and owned a pellet rifle. We started off plinking cans and stuff and eventually moved on to live critters including birds, chipmunks, and squirrels. We eventually graduated to rabbits and thought that we were pretty good lol.

I learned at that age that I loved the outdoors and relished every opportunity to be out and about. Along the way we learned to snare rabbits and set traps for raccoons, skunks, and muskrats. The best that we could do with beavers and foxes were a few toes.

My parents were very conflicted when I asked to take the hunter safety course as hunting wasn’t in their nature. Eventually, they gave in and the rest is history. Unfortunately I didn’t have any adult mentors to learn from so my friends and I learned by trial and error while trying to apply tips gleaned from outdoor magazines and outdoor survival books from the library.

After getting my hunting licence, I was given a single shot 12 gauge for my 15th birthday and developed an obsession for duck hunting however I never became proficient at it. I spent a lot of time building duck blinds and learning how to call but I could hardly hit them.

I managed to get out deer hunting for a day or two in my last couple of years of high school and managed to get in on a kill (a fawn). In fact, I’m pretty sure that I was one of the guys to have hit it.

I continued to hunt during college but didn’t have a lot of opportunity to grow as a hunter. It wasn’t until after I graduated and moved up north did my growth as a hunter really take off. Luckily, I worked with guys that were successful hunters and got invited on moose and deer hunts. At first I mimicked what others were doing, or did what I was told e.g. sit here and don’t move. Eventually I became successful and gained experience. In the case of deer hunting, I became a student and would read whatever I could find and would watch tv shows and videos.

I’m now 60 years old and consider myself a pretty good hunter. If there’s one thing that helped me become a better hunter was my eagerness/willingness to learn whether it be from other hunters, books, videos, or trial and error. Having an open mind sure helps. Taking time to reflect on what you experience is also important so that you gain an understanding of what did or didn’t work. Knowing that animal behaviour is about generalities as opposed to rigid patterns will help you become more adaptable and resourceful, and ultimately more successful.

Feel free to share your experiences.

Enjoyed reading your post Sam.
My Dad got me started at around 12 years old.
If I could carry the .22 without getting any dirt in it, I was allowed to shoot it once at the end of his hunt.
He also bred/trained beagles for many years so that got me onto hunting rabbits , and later enjoying a variety of gun dogs.
He taught me many morals around hunting- I know that not everyone agrees- but he said , "If you aren't going to eat it ,don't shoot it."
He taught riflery in the army and I must say I can't ever remember him missing a shot. :)

Wonderful how an heritage can do so much good. My brother is now a guide on the West coast and another brother was a Conservation Officer in Hawaii for many years.

PS I have Parkinson's disease now so they won't renew my license., nor should they. :(

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Originally Posted by Sharon

Enjoyed reading your post Sam.
My Dad got me started at around 12 years old.
If I could carry the .22 without getting any dirt in it, I was allowed to shoot it once at the end of his hunt.
He also bred/trained beagles for many years so that got me onto hunting rabbits , and later enjoying a variety of gun dogs.
He taught me many morals around hunting- I know that not everyone agrees- but he said , "If you aren't going to eat it ,don't shoot it."
He taught riflery in the army and I must say I can't ever remember him missing a shot. :)

Wonderful how an heritage can do so much good. My brother is now a guide on the West coast and another brother was a Conservation Officer in Hawaii for many years.

PS I have Parkinson's disease now so they won't renew my license. :(

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Hi Sharon, thanks for sharing your story. I wish that I had an adult mentor when I was young as I probably would have developed proper ethics sooner in life. I’m very sorry to hear that you have Parkinson’s Disease, I hope that are still able to find joy and wonderment in life.

awesome post sam,

my grandfather, my father, couple cousins, my uncles, and their uncles are all hunters,

I was brought along when i was a little kid maybe 10 years old. my fathers uncle had a property we use to go to. i use go along and watch them build the deer stands learned alot from all of them , take shots with the .22 at pop cans stuff like that. then he brought me once for the controlled hunt, not going to lie it was hell for me LOL. we stayed in a disgusting motel, and the 1 thing i remember from that hunt is me sleeping in the tree stand beside him, freezing cold, and waking up to my dad taking a shot and missing a deer standing not to far away, his hands were to frozen to get another shell into his gun before the deer started to prance off slowly and into the bush.

i stopped going after that time for a few years , got really caught up in the technology coming out at the time (videogames). i would go once or twice with him to take a couple shots with the .22 but nothing more than that for a while.
i then started getting older and older and started going with him more and more, sighting in their shotguns and rifles being able to take a shot with a shotgun was a really cool thing for me. after some of the hunts they would come to our house to skin and process the deer in our garage, and would show all kinds of photos and it started to grow more and more on me, i was never really a confident kid, so i like to think that thats why i waited so long to get my PAL and my hunting license,

ive only been hunting now for a couple years, i seem to think differently than everyone else we go with, the first year i went i did as i should, i followed my fathers direction, sit here for the week youll see something.

last year, i did something a bit different, i decided to take my phone gps and walk and mark a trail from one field, to another through a massive part of bush that hasnt been touched or hunted by anyone that i know of, needless to say i found a massive path/ trail that is used by big game daily.

my fathers uncle likes to give me a hassle saying im doing things wrong, but i cant be doing it that wrong as ive seen deer just haven't had the right amount of time to connect with one.

i had a camera up last year through that trail only to get pictures of massive bucks that my father was VERY surprised to see. needless to say the NOOBIE (me) of the group found that spot and gets to take it now every year. now just to connect with one :)

I think, like most kids growing up on a farm, you learn how to shoot young. I spent the summers on my uncle Farm, but I guess what we did really wasn't called hunting, it was eradication of the rat population on the pig farm . It was a young boys dream.

Started 'hunting' them with slingshots, then pellet, then .22s'. It was a daily activity and we honed our skills thru the summers setting up ambushes and learning how aim and kill quick with a well placed head shot using sling shot and pellets. A skill set I still use today for bigger game.

Then he army taught me to hunt a different target :) But hey, they gave me free guns and ammo to develop my shooting skills with a wide range of weaponry.

Got into legal hunting once I was near retirement and bought my own farm. The basic were still there, after dinner sitting out in the barn shooting rats or cleaning the beavers out of the swap.

My property is part of a local hunt camps area so they invited me to join and for the past 25 yrs have been hunting with Bows, Rifles and Muzzeloaders solo on my own property and with the camp.

My girls never showed an interest in Hunting or shooting, so I guess the family tradition will end with me.

Good topic Sam !!

literally and figuratively walking in my dads foot steps. From the time I could keep up with him was his shadow.

Got a pellet gun for Christmas when I was 7 pigeons rats blackbirds crows
22 at 15 high school had range in basement.
Always had pheasants so easy to hunt back then ducks geese rabbits coyotes
Still have the pellet gun sold 22 to a buddy bought it back couple years ago sold 16g duh 12 gauge sxs started to hurt so it went
Then got busy farming
Then retired bought place I’m at now.
Deer miss pheasants
Going to be 61 next month

I wasn't really exposed to any hunting in my youth other than my friend's family who did deer drives during the controlled hunt. It never really interested me until I discovered duck hunting through not only living right next to an amazing resource, but asking questions to guys I saw hunting which inspired me to learn more.

Once I took my hunters Ed course with some very enthusiastic instructors I really started to seek out and absorb information from any source I could find. Books, magazines, or asking random hunters I'd meet through work or social events. Also through forums by reading debates about ethics and practices as well as stories. Of course once I had some success wing shooting it really lit the fuse for me to try new things and different species.

Now it's turned into a year round pursuit, scouting and learning new areas and learning new skills. I'm mostly a loner by nature so it's the perfect activity for me to unwind and enjoy.

Well back when I was very young maybe 9 we needed food, I started with a 10 foot length of barbed wire.
I would go along the ditches near the railroad tracks find a rabbit hole and thread the barbed wire in and give it a twist and pull out the rabbit.
I did not call it hunting I called it getting something to eat.
We were very poor lived on crown land in a one room shack no hydro , no running water and very little else.
Lived there until they evicted us that was back in 1952.
But I guess that got me into hunting.

I started hunting with a ferret and nets for cotton tail rabbits in Scotland when I was about 14 years old. Somebody stole my albino ferret from the back yard, so naturally back in the day you called the local beat cop over. In came a guy called Peter Cowie and he was right from the Highland's and his father was a game keeper. Well he takes the report, such as it was and told me that he would see his father and get me another ferret.

Well sure enough about a month later, my Dad tells me there is a box in the kitchen for me.

I go in and there is a hand crafted wooden carrying case with a leather shoulder strap and a scratching sound from the inside.

Open up the box and there is a big sable colored buck ferret , you never seen a happier kid.

I got out that very weekend and found I had a fully trained ferret that knew his business and over the course of a few years caught lots of rabbits.

The kindness shown to me by that beat Cop sent me right on that career path so I have more than one thing to thank him for.

I never knew how to thank him as a kid but later on figured I would meet him on the job locally, turned out he went back to

the Highland's and became Chief Inspector in the Grampian Force he passed in 1997.

After that early start it was my first single barreled Baikal shotgun and shooting pheasants and rabbits. When I came here I was self taught for beagling and so forth but did have a hunting mentor for deer and Moose. Got to say I have meet some real good people through hunting and fishing pursuit's.

Now isn't that a great story! Thanks.

Some very interesting stories! We all come from different backgrounds but yet we’ve a common appreciation for hunting.

I don't even remember how old I was when I started walking the bush with my dad. I do remember him once handing me his 12ga when we got back to the car and told me that he was going to throw his favourite hat in the air and I was to shoot at it. he never figured I would hit it. Well I was pretty much knock across the road on my butt and he picked up his hat that looked like a screen. started caring a shotgun when I was around 12. Got a 410 side by side for graduating grade 9 and still have it, that was over 55 years ago.

Came to Canada with no hunting history and no Family members engaged in hunting.
Back home hunting is different,more organized,more "controlled".You need to be in a club,hunting given area under the Club's jurisdiction, less game(especially big game)and You need to pay for the meat to Your club, for the big game meat(roe deer and wild boar).

Came here,met a guy(who happend to came from the same place as i was from)who had some family tradition of hunting.
We both loved outdoors, we decided,on his advise, to take the Courses,after few years of being here.
We were both in the army back home,...so the guns were not novelty for us.

Being licenced,i bought an used shotgun and a used rifle,plus some cheap work clothing.Thinking-if i do not like this,i will have no financial losses reselling the stuff..
That was many years ago.
If my wife would do a hunting inventory on me:ashamed:

Stared hunting small game(that was hunting mostly at home anyway-so we thought ,that is the hunting here too)then slowly migrated to deer ,then moose,bear....
Quit small game hunting after realizing-while chasing rabbits,my eyes are on deer trails,rubs,scrapes...........
Bought and read maybe 40 hunting or wild game related books,bought countless DVDs and CD-s, Internet, watched many Youtube video also.

Learned ocassionally some from a live person too.Way back ,we attended few courses of 1-2 hrs from an accomplished archery hunter from this area. Learned some from my local buddy,bit from some good guys from Out West too.
Learned from the good people on Huntontario Forum also:thumbup:

I think me being curious and open minded,with willingness to learn and adapt made all the difference.

Opening day in 1954 with Grandpa,Dad and two uncles at 0 dark30 and this five year old is wound tighter than a $2 watch sitting in the middle of the canoe listening to the paddles whoosh through the water heading out to our blinds that we spent the previous day re-building with cedar boughs in the bullrushes. Two years later,I shot my first duck with Mom's CIL 20ga single shot,a big drake Black that I can still remember like it was yesterday.

No hunters, fishers or even campers on either side of my family for at least 3 generations back - I was the first and only one until 3 out of 4 of my kids plus a nephew took it up. Actually kinda strange as we are farmers on both sides and i grew up on a farm. Chickens on my dad's side and market garden on my mom's side.

My earliest memory in life goes back to when i was 3 years old and we were at the fall fair and they had this cheesy fishing game with magnets on a piece of string on a stick. Well parents let me play and after the game was over i threw a tantrum because i wanted to keep the fishing rod. Didn't give a rip about the prize but had to have that rod. Pestered my parents none stop after that for a fishing rod and the following summer they caved and bought me a cheap 4 foot glass rod with an equally cheap spincast reel on it.

That started the journey but until i was a teen it was only fishing. I was fortunate as we had a creek and pond on the farm that were okay for chub and sunfish. By age 8 i was riding my bike all over the township and knew every farmer that had a pond or creek. Most of them were pretty nice and let the immigrant kid fish. Different world for sure when parents let their kid go knocking on doors by themself at age 8.

As soon as i had an allowance for chores i saved it all for subscriptions to outdoor magazines and gear (all purchased from CT). I supplemented my allowance with birthday and Christmas money and by picking empties from the ditches and the beach. The local golf course also used to let me dive all the ponds to retrieve lost balls which i than earned 25% on when they were resold at the clubhouse. Can you imagine what the insurers and lawyers would say now if a 10 year old kid was diving ponds on a golf course with the blessing of the owners.

The outdoor magazines sparked my interest in canoeing, kayaking and hunting and by age 16 i had my gun license and a canoe bought for $25 at a yard sale (it needed some work) and was going out solo on hunting/fishing trips with all gear paid for by allowance, empties, golf balls and a part time job at a factory in town as a cleaner. I am 100% self taught through trial and error and magazine articles. Killed my first buck when i was 16, a 5 point spike. I think it took about 2 hours to stop shaking. Field dressing technique was a little rough on that first one (knicked the stomach with my knife) but all those magazine subscriptions paid off.

When i entered university i quickly discovered the map and air photo archives section in the geography library. Took some extra courses on air photogrammetry and quickly learned how to do 3D interpretation using stereo pairs - the antique version of google earth except better because it's 3D. Spent most of my spare time in that library and planned all my trips that way. A frequent complaint from my girlfriend at that time was that i spent more time there than with her - she was right.

Been blessed and lucky as i have filled at least one deer tag every season since and that was 39 years ago. Mostly focused on deer and small game at first but slowly expanded my horizons to include anything legal.

Best part is i now get to do it with 3 of my kids. My youngest son was able to get his first deer at 13 beating me by 3 years. All my kids took their first bear before i even considered trying bear hunting. They also usually out fish the old man as well but every once in a while i can still surprise them.

Good reads, keep ‘em coming!

No hunters in my family, but spent alot of time in a boat with my dad and grandfather growing up.. Loved getting out on the water. Started dating the girl who became my wife after university and her dad and brother was into hunting. A couple of skeet sessions, and I went and got my license. Mostly self taught, as the FIL wasnt necessarily the most ethical hunter. Lots of empty handed returns in the early days whether for ducks, geese or deer. Went and got my turkey license and spent a bit of time bugging the Quaker Boy Rep at the Sportsman show, walking away with a trifecta call, and got a turkey on my first sit! Have done very well with the turkeys over the years, but still having trouble with consistent harvests of deer and birds.
Joined my local chapter of DU and have ended up learning alot from that bunch of misfits! lol
My son is 14 now and is taking up hunting, and my younger one is interested once he gets older too.

I started when I was 17yrs old working for the MNR in Ignace (I was there for two summers in a row '85 & '86). Part of my job description was scraping road kill off Hwy 599 and some instances the animals were not dead yet (reminds me of the Monty Python "Not dead yet" scene). Anyway part of my training was a crash course - PAL and Hunting Safety Course. Some of the dispatched animals were taken by people on a call list we had in the office. I got to meet several of them and they took me fishing and shooting at the quarry on weekends.

Back in Hamilton after graduating from school I had started shooting skeet and sporting clays. One day at the HGC I mentioned I would like to try my hand at turkey hunting and my buddy said come on over - I have 100 acres and have never been back there........it's yours. Since then he purchased the 100 acre farm beside him and the 125 acre farm across the street. In my late 20's I wanted to start hunting because of my love of the outdoors so I started hunting turkey then migrated to waterfowl, deer, and then bow. I successfully converted my fishing group of friends to over to hunting - the last guy participated in his first turkey hunt last spring.

We enjoy shooting, fishing and hunting as way of unplugging and unwinding. The definition of success is relative........one of the guys (the land owner) hunts but has shot maybe one doe and 2 turkeys in the 20 years I have known him. He enjoys getting our with friends and could care less if he pulls the trigger or not. This year I am trying to get one of the guys on a turkey this year - if I can do that I will be successful.

I grew up with hunting, got the first duck I shot at on the wing when I was 12 with my dads 1100. I think the gun was taller than me. Had my hunting license before my driver's.

Very cool stories and topic. I gotta say im jealous of many with generations of hunters.

No hunters or fishers in my family. Moved to Canada when I was in elementry school and fell in love with the outdoors after the first camp in Algonquin ... So many small lakes, the Raw forests and all sorts of animals that were new to me ...
the 20 something years after was spent outdoors as much as possible, with Fishing being my main hobby, hard and soft water, started with a canoe and now a 30' fishing boat ...
one day on lake simcoe, while fishing and hanging out with friends, I noticed a boat in camo, with hunters on it with shotguns ! this was 2015 I believe. just finished my masters at the time. needless to say, I couldnt sleep for the week following that .. and found a friend of a friend, with land and hunting license ! very nice older guy with hunting experience. I learned alot from them, but the Hunts started to become more of a picnic, kids playing around, couple BBQs going and so on ...

so finally got my pal and hunters course ... and started hunting mostly crownlands, with Waterfowl being the main attraction for me still. this brings all my passion for outdoors together. been watching and reading about hunting, and learning from everyone I meet that hunts since then. I think im lucky that my GF is also into fishing and outdoors and I take her on most of the hunts.

I think I have gained enough experience, and learned about hunting enough to try my hands on big games and bigger birds this year.

I gotta Thank the hunters on here and on public land though for sharing the culture with me. Still have lots to learn ...

My father always hunted but never took my brothers or myself with him. We had farms that he hunted on. I still remember riding the bus to school trying to pick out orange in the fence rows during deer season. We had a BB gun for plinking cans when we were little. Next was the odd shoots with the .22 and the odd clay with the 12. One day Dad enrolled me and one of my brothers in hunter education and PAL. After a couple years of deer hunting with Dad I moved the North after I fell in love with it in the Ranger program. Then started hunting waterfowl, small game and moose and bear with the annual trip home for deer.
My youngest brother started hunting a few years ago as well and it’s a family deer camp with my father, my brothers and our wives. I’m in my 30’s now and my son is just over a year with second on the way and I can’t wait to get them into hunting if they are interested. Right now my son loves it the bush and hates going home when I take him out.

My grandpa used to take me and my 3 brothers almost everyday during summer break out around his farms. I remember seeing all his deer mounts in the house and guns hanging on every wall. He was an avid hunter, Always a gun in the truck or tractor.

He would let us shoot any gun we wanted under his supervision of course. We would go shooting/hunting all day then come home and tell our mother what we did all day.

I'm sure she was mortified to hear what we did and I think she told my grand father not to let us run so wild because I can remember him saying "don't tell your mother we did that"

Bring home dove breasts or squirrel for mom and we would be so proud we shot that. She would freak out, I think grandpa did stuff like that just to see her reaction. I don't remember ever eating them so mom must thrown them out. Dad come home from work and we tell him everything we did and he would laugh. Again, don't tell your mother. Ha

Grandpa died when I was 12, he was 90 so I didn't get to do any big game hunting with him.

Shot my first deer and turkey with my dad at my side when I was 12-14. Didnt realise how lucky I was at the time, But I do now. I'm 34, Dad is 68, I take him hunting now.

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As a teenager I started running with the right crowd. Uncles, cousins and neighbours who hunted.

Fortunately, I was brought up with hunting and fishing. The "hunting camp" was an old family homestead on 400 acres, built in the mid 1800's. My grandmother was born and raised there. It was pretty rustic, no running water, wood heat.

It was a traditional big woods hound camp. I grew up thinking that was just about the only way people hunted deer. I started tagging along with Dad when I was 8 or 9 maybe, then started taking the full week off high school by the time I was 16. All that time spent tagging along with Dad, I didn't even see a live deer while hunting until I was 16, and I missed him in my excitement.

We started hunting closer to home during the 2nd week when I was closer to 20 and it opened new doors for me. The camp was in WMU 60 in a low density deer area. The areas around Peterborough then were full of deer and I was able to get a few deer under my belt by trying different methods from what we used up at the camp. I started bow hunting, using tree stands, having more encounters with deer so when my rare opportunities came at camp I had a little more control over my nerves and had more success up there as well. I also started learning the bush really well there so I could set up the watchers for the dog man and ended up getting more of the choice runways. I got to be pretty decent at picking the right moment for a shot on a deer in front of hounds as well.

Eventually, the old camp had to be sold. Too many family owners and different opinions. I consider myself very lucky to have had that while it lasted though. It introduced me to deer, moose, duck and grouse hunting. We had plenty of bears there too but I never got around to trying to hunt them.

A few of us from the old camp rent a cottage together every November for the first week of the deer hunt.



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I was put in cubs and scouts and took to the outdoors very quickly. Although my father was not into hunting or fishing he would take me out to go fishing. My mothers side was very much into hunting and fishing and I use to spend my summers fishing with my grandfather. My parents wouldn't let me have any guns until I got older but my grandfather showed me how to make snare when I was 12 and that first winter I went snaring rabbit. My mother was the one who taught me to skin rabbits, which is where a common NS term called skin the rabbit was used when getting your small children ready for bath time came from.

My gradnfather was going to teach me to shoot when I turned 14 and we shot the old rifle for 1 evening, sadly the next morning he had a heart attack and 1 month later died as he was leaving the hospital.

From then on I was on my own. The rest is history but now I am teaching my youngest about hunting and fishing.

Simple. Because of my dad. I completed my hunters ed and PAL ed at 12. I never really was super interested at first though, we usually never saw anything at all and I kept getting my excitement squashed by the infinite amount of squirrels haha.

However I got hooked the first time I experienced buck fever at the age of 13. At this point I haven't seen a single deer while on the stand, then out of nowhere a forky comes up from behind and is a mere few yards under us. I however, am shaking too hard and too shocked to get in position to get a shot off and he took off. This didn't bum me out at all, infact I was just excited to get out there ASAP.

Some time passes by and I go on my first bear hunt at 15. We always went up north of Parry sound every year to go cottaging. But bear hunting never peaked my interest. I was too busy chasing turtles, snakes, and fishing off docks.
So, I go on my first bear hunt. It's hot, lots of bugs, and we got setup pretty late at only an hour before sunset. My dad just barely got set up, didn't even have his camo on yet but just got the camera out to film. A mere TEN MINUTES on the stand and a 250lb sow shows up. She circles around us and almost takes off, I get a last second quartering away shot before she bolts and she goes down 25 yards later in seconds. At this point, I can officially say I was hooked on hunting.
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I did it as a kid to put food on the table.

I perfected it as sniper in the army, just different targets now.

Grew up surrounded by hunters on my father's side of the family. My Dad, Grandpa, uncles all hunted the property surrounding their dairy farm and I was included in the activity from a young age, taking a keen interest in deer hunting. I would often join for a day or two of the deer season, mainly sleeping under my dads tree stand or walking with the "doggers" through the bush. It was a fantastic introduction to hunting and some of the best memories. Deer hunting progressed into grouse, rabbit, goose/duck and eventually turkey as well. I now have a 3.5 year old daughter and a 6 month son who I hope will enjoy the outdoors and hunting as much as I do.

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Originally Posted by crtech22

My father always hunted but never took my brothers or myself with him. We had farms that he hunted on. I still remember riding the bus to school trying to pick out orange in the fence rows during deer season. We had a BB gun for plinking cans when we were little. Next was the odd shoots with the .22 and the odd clay with the 12. One day Dad enrolled me and one of my brothers in hunter education and PAL. After a couple years of deer hunting with Dad I moved the North after I fell in love with it in the Ranger program. Then started hunting waterfowl, small game and moose and bear with the annual trip home for deer.
My youngest brother started hunting a few years ago as well and it’s a family deer camp with my father, my brothers and our wives. I’m in my 30’s now and my son is just over a year with second on the way and I can’t wait to get them into hunting if they are interested. Right now my son loves it the bush and hates going home when I take him out.

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What Ranger camp were did you work at?

Hi,
I can't really call myself a hunter - I've only gone out less than a dozen times for squirrel and rabbit. And that was a **long** time ago!

I grew up in a very large city, so I adopted my outdoor pursuits myself - I did not have anyone to get me into these things.

My reasons to get into it way back then were pretty simple:
1) If an activity got me into the forest, I was all for it.
2) Since I ate (and still eat) meat, I figured I should have to go out and harvest my own food at least a few times, so I could better appreciate the fact that a creature died for my sustenance. At the time, it felt like an ethical motivation.

It was interesting to read about other people's stories - thanks for opening up the topic!

Cheers,
Neil

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Originally Posted by neilselden

Hi,
I can't really call myself a hunter - I've only gone out less than a dozen times for squirrel and rabbit. And that was a **long** time ago!

I grew up in a very large city, so I adopted my outdoor pursuits myself - I did not have anyone to get me into these things.

My reasons to get into it way back then were pretty simple:
1) If an activity got me into the forest, I was all for it.
2) Since I ate (and still eat) meat, I figured I should have to go out and harvest my own food at least a few times, so I could better appreciate the fact that a creature died for my sustenance. At the time, it felt like an ethical motivation.

It was interesting to read about other people's stories - thanks for opening up the topic!

Cheers,
Neil

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Hi welcome to the forum. I like your reasons for hunting. So many people have lost touch with where their food comes from.

We were vey poor too. Dad hunted to feed us. When I got engaged my family invited my husband's family for dinner. They were rich; his Dad was a Dr. Afterwards, my husband -to-be said, " That was great. What was that meat? " I said, "Squirrel". I thought he was going to throw up. :)

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Originally Posted by Sharon

We were vey poor too. Dad hunted to feed us. When I got engaged my family invited my husband's family for dinner. They were rich; his Dad was a Dr. Afterwards, my husband -to-be said, " That was great. What was that meat? " I said, "Squirrel". I thought he was going to throw up. :)

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LOL thats actually hilarious hahah

i have yet to try squirrel, no one ive hunted with ever hunted them.

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Originally Posted by Sam Menard

Hi welcome to the forum. I like your reasons for hunting. So many people have lost touch with where their food comes from.

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Hi Sam,
I know exactly what you mean. It kinda drives me nuts.

On a Canadian firearms forum, someone was wondering why anyone would give their business to a local store, if you could get the same thing less expensively, from a big box store. To me, it's obvious why - we're better off with lots of small businesses, than with a city full of only chain stores.

Cheers,
Neil

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sharon

We were vey poor too. Dad hunted to feed us. When I got engaged my family invited my husband's family for dinner. They were rich; his Dad was a Dr. Afterwards, my husband -to-be said, " That was great. What was that meat? " I said, "Squirrel". I thought he was going to throw up. :)

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Ha! Great story. I have to admit, I was a little squeamish about cleaning and cooking the first couple of squirrels I had hunted. And I was surprised how long the front teeth were, as well as how hard it was to skin - probably due to my ignorance and lack of experience.

After tasting the stew, I was really impressed with the meat's flavor.

Cheers,
Neil

I remember an episode of Duck Dynasty with Miss Kay going on about Squirrle Brains, her favourite dish.

But don't do that:

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His penchant for squirrel meat seems to have inadvertently exposed him to an incredibly rare fatal brain disorder, the first time this disorder was ever contracted in the United States. Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is a rare brain disorder caused by misfolding brain proteins called prions.

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Originally Posted by neilselden

On a Canadian firearms forum, someone was wondering why anyone would give their business to a local store, if you could get the same thing less expensively, from a big box store. To me, it's obvious why - we're better off with lots of small businesses, than with a city full of only chain stores.

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I used to make a point of shopping at the local 'Mom and Pops' places in the area. They slowly died out. Two of my Fav's ; Bennet's in Smiths Falls and Gun Mart in TinCap.. have now both closed permanently.

They couldn't compete with the prices and selection at the the Canadian Tire Hunting Stores close by .

My dad loved fishing and hunting so it might be in the genes ? He built a cottage at Long Point in 1952 because of his love for duck hunting and by the time we (my 5 brothers and I) came along he had his own hunting gang to contend with. Opening Day for ducks was like a second Fathers Day for him ! Boats galore full of war painted faces heading off to our blinds . I remember the CO's checking us and after a few blinds asked "Just how many of you guys are out here ?" , got a good laugh at that one ! For the record I will very soon be 64 years old and have been hunting since ......... ? Not sure ? Maybe 12 years old ? Use to go but not shoot then when I was big enough to handle a gun was allowed to do some shooting, so 12 years is about right. My dad's old Auto-5 was a big gun for a kid so he picked up a single shot CIL 12 gauge Full Choke Widow Maker for us kids to learn with. We called it The Widow Maker because if you didn't shoulder it properly the recoil would darn near kill you ! My first kill was a Ruddy duck on the banks of Big Creek . From that point on I hunted ducks every year and as I got older moved on to Turkeys and deer and even did a few Spring bear hunts up north. Now one of my sons hunt with me and I have 3 grandkids that I hope pick up the passion as Grampa has a pile of equipment for them and some knowledge to share.

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Originally Posted by longpointer

My dad loved fishing and hunting so it might be in the genes ? He built a cottage at Long Point in 1952 because of his love for duck hunting and by the time we (my 5 brothers and I) came along he had his own hunting gang to contend with. Opening Day for ducks was like a second Fathers Day for him ! Boats galore full of war painted faces heading off to our blinds . I remember the CO's checking us and after a few blinds asked "Just how many of you guys are out here ?" , got a good laugh at that one ! For the record I will very soon be 64 years old and have been hunting since ......... ? Not sure ? Maybe 12 years old ? Use to go but not shoot then when I was big enough to handle a gun was allowed to do some shooting, so 12 years is about right. My dad's old Auto-5 was a big gun for a kid so he picked up a single shot CIL 12 gauge Full Choke Widow Maker for us kids to learn with. We called it The Widow Maker because if you didn't shoulder it properly the recoil would darn near kill you ! My first kill was a Ruddy duck on the banks of Big Creek . From that point on I hunted ducks every year and as I got older moved on to Turkeys and deer and even did a few Spring bear hunts up north. Now one of my sons hunt with me and I have 3 grandkids that I hope pick up the passion as Grampa has a pile of equipment for them and some knowledge to share.

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Cool story, lots of history and memories. Thanks for sharing.