First "Real" Hunt

[roy reali]

This time of year I start looking forward to opening day. Today I also started thinking back to my first one.

I was fifteen and had saved enough from my summer job to buy a gun. My oldest brother had a 12 gauge side-by-side. I bought one too. It was a Savage. I then took my hunter safety course and purchased my first hunting license.

My first "real" hunt was for dove. My brother took me to a friends ranch. He put me between two trees. I was in a perfect spot, the birds flew overhead all day. My shooting left a lot to be desired. Anyway, I had the time of my life.

When was your first "real" hunt? What did you hunt? Who took you? I mean hunting some sort of game that actually required a license and/or tags. Shooting tweety birds with a BB gun or dump rats with a .22 don't count.

[jal5]

I grew up in a family of non-hunters in a NY suburb. I moved to Ohio after college and a friend took me hunting for geese. I borrowed a 12 ga. shotgun and he took me practicing with it, tearing up boxes, cans, etc. The next day we went hunting in a little patch of woods between a small lake and recently cut corn field. The geese flew over at daybreak just over the tops of those trees and we both opened fire. To my great surprise I shot the lead goose! The first animal I had ever shot, and to make it even better my friend had been hunting there all season and hadn't shot a goose.

That was my beginning, now it is my favorite pastime and I will never forget that first hunt and my still good friend.

Joe

[lizziedog1]

Dove too.

When I was fourteen I was taken on a dove hunt by some relatives. It was a on a private ranch. That got me hooked for life.

[Gbro]

My dad never hunted.
Dad did have a Ranger .410 SXS and wouldn't let any of us touch it until we took firearms safety.
Well I was good at sneaking out with the .410 and took many squirrels with it.
I would slip it out the basement window and go across the lake and sit on the ground amongst all the big oaks and in about 10-15 min. the trees would come alive with gray's.
I have that old gun and the memory's it brings back are incredible:):).
Thanks Roy!
Many times when I went to sneak the gun out it was already gone, I had 3 older brothers!

[srt 10 jimbo]

Just waiting for it to cool off, still in the 90's everyday. wanna go hog huntin but it's to frikkin hot out.:(

[mlchris2]

oh man, this post brought back some good memories.

I was about 13 years of age. I just finished up hunters safety and purchased a Savage Lever Action .308. Me and pops loaded up the 65 Chevy Carry-All and headed for the mountains. That year we got hit with a early snow storm and close to 8 inches of fresh snow on the ground. I managed to get a nice 2pt mulie that morning. Boy, nothing like a hunters first deer/elk. I will never forget that. Trying to feild dress this deer in snow up to my knees. So it was time to fill my dads tag. We decided to drive to another one of our favorite spots. As we rounded a uphill corner a HUGE 4x5 mulie darted inches from the front of the truck. Next thing I knew, my dad jumped from the drivers seat and gave chase. He was yelling at me "Move over... take the wheel and meet me up top". So I paniced and jumped across the seat, could barely see over the steering wheel and frantically made a reasonable attempt to get that old beast to the top. Now, it wasnt my first time driving this rig, but def my first time driving uphill in close to a foot of snow. I ended up loosing traction, and sliding backwards down the hill and the only thing I could think of was to put the rear of the '65 into the uphill side of the mountain. I came to a stop, shut the rig off, just in time to hear "BOOM". the buck ended up in our freezer and on our wall a few months later.

I will never forget that first hunting trip, when my dad left me to man the wheel of our old hunting rig to chase after a trophy mulie. Even to this day, when were out hunting, that story comes up and we always enjoy a good laugh over it.

[sc928porsche]

My first real hunt was for deer. I was 12 at the time and living up in the Sierras. I had conned my dad into letting me get my licence and tag even tho there was only a week or so left in the season. Armed with his old sringfield and with his guidance, we came home with a decent forkie. It was an experience that I will treasure till my last day.

I have kept that tradition alive with my daughters as we raised them, and look fondly back at those times. Seems I created little monsters tho, because it became "dad, I need a rifle", and "dad, I need a shotgun", and "dad, I need money for ammo", and of course "dad, I need money for licence and tags". Oh well.

[bwheasler]

Was the year of my first hunt, deer. Single shot, 20 ga H&R, with a bead sight. Not bad @ 40yds, anything over was a crap shoot. I saw 1 deer, but I can still see the doe today. Deer population were lower then so just seeing a deer my first 10 yrs was a treat. Compared to the late 90's when I killed 9 deer legally in my state. That doe that first hunt made me a hunter for life. I have also had the joy of introducing other people to deer hunting and been there when they got their first deer. Because as you knowis there is no deer like your first deer. I happy so say that time and this great country has been good to me an be able to upgrade my hunting to my first African hunt, but I still had to use my 870 slug gun. So some things don't change. Shut up and hunt.

[cerberus65]

My first hunt was for doves at 42 years of age. Unfortunately, my dad didn't hunt so I don't have any of those great childhood memories. But I'll never forget sitting out in that dove field wondering if I was going to get any shots and if I did if I'd hit anything. I had never shot at anything moving before. I brought home enough doves to grill the next day so I was pretty happy.