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I was a "gun and hunter" guy from the day I got a BB gun. I'd shoot about 10 large Winchester tubes a week when about 10 - 12 years old, luckily having a place to shoot right behind the house. I got pretty good at shooting my pump gun from the hip and could bounce a BB tube or cap on the ground pretty well.
We had a barrel where we burned trash and I'd put a quart soda bottle on it and shoot it offhand, starting at the neck and chipping away top to bottom until there was just the bottom left. That might take 30 shots or so, from about 25 feet.
I never passed up a chance to go to camp and hunt frogs, red squirrels, and a few birds with BB guns. As I got older, I shot as much as my allowance and earnings would allow, but still loved to hunt grouse and ducks, often about a mile from the house.
In high school, I bought my first centerfire, a .30-06 Savage 110, and a bunch of us learned where and how to hunt woodchucks as practice for deer and other game, and we were quite successful, despite my 2.5X Weaver's limitations.
Fast forward through years of bird and deer hunting, competitive shooting, and gunsmithing and today, I enjoy hunting more than ever, but don't usually care if I shoot anything or not. I just love to be outdoors with a rifle or shotgun and watch nature. Wanting a buck, but having an any-deer permit, I passed up about 9 deer before deciding to take a 131 lb. doe at 75 yards.
Best shot of this season: Hitting a grouse in the head, offhand, with my .270, at about 35 yards, as it walked away from me on a trail. That was a gun-guy shot!
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