How Did You Get Started?
Connecticut
I was 10 years old and I bought an old fiberglass recurve at a tag sale for $3. I had followed my dad around hunting pheasants and rabbits for a few years and listened to him tell stories about his deer hunting trips to Maine like only a young wide-eyed kid could do. I heard the stories, listened to the tales of his seven years in Maine without ever pulling the trigger. He never bow hunted....but I had this drive to make things harder than they should be, so I wanted to learn this archery thing.
I practiced with that bow for a year in the backyard with some wooden arrows and a hay bale. Killed a few critters with it and saved up some cash from my paper route to go buy a new compound bow to hunt deer with. So my dad and I made the trip to Hall's back in the mid 80's and for under $200 I got a Bear compound, 1916 Easton Gamegetter arrows, Wasp broadheads and some extra stuff.
I became quite proficient killing everything in my backyard with that bow. I loved shooting it. But the deer woods called for me that fall and so I began my journey. My dad showed me some state land spots....but he had never killed a deer, so I was learning everything on my own, trial and error. No internet, no quick fixes back then.
It took me 5 years, another new bow (a Hoyt) and many mistakes to kill my first deer, a doe. I remember it like it was yesterday.
But my dad got me addicted to hunting and the outdoors....and taught me well. It would be his 71st birthday on Tuesday if he was still here. I don't know what kind of a person I'd be today if wasn't for him teaching me good ethics, doing what's right, respecting the outdoors and the animals you intend to kill and good woodsmanship.
How'd you get your start in bowhunting?
Very nice read BT.
I'm 59 and hunted deer with a rifle or shotgun since I was 19.
I did not start bow hunting until 2010, I was 53.
I wanted to spend more time in the woods and after many years of talking about bow hunting, just one day hit my local bow shop.
When my 2 sons returned home after serving in the USMC, they started bow hunting as well. With their full time jobs and part time school schedule, they don't get out very much. Hopefully that will change in a couple of years.
I now only bow hunt for deer.
Actually started this last year at 33 years old. No one in my family ever hunted, we camped and spent time outdoors but no one ever hunted. I always figured that without someone to show you the ropes and get you started that it wouldn't be possible to really get a start.
Last spring I finally decided I was just gonna give it a shot. Took the class and found a small state bow hunting only parcel near me and started slowly buying gear and spending as much time in the woods I could, which wasn't much with 2 kids under 2 at home.
Didn't get out too often, but was able to harvest a good sized doe at the end of October. Glad I took the leap and dove right in, think about how I can learn and get better all the time. Looking at topo maps of potential areas and reading everything I can. Hope this coming season to get out more often.
I hunted rabbit and squirrel growing up, but I had stopped hunting many years ago after my stint in the Army. An engineer at my job was always jacked-up about turkey hunting and deer hunting and it awakened that primitive part of me and I had that overwhelming desire to learn to deer and turkey hunt.
So at the age of 36 or 37 I got back into hunting, just using the gun at first but eventually I got into archery around 2012 I'd guess and I actually put the gun down for a few years until last season. I love the challenge of archery and the length of the season is really hard to beat.
Like some of you guys, I had to learn everything on my own, and boy is it a steep learning curve, but it's also so damn rewarding when you take that first deer. As Bloodtrail stated, I can remember the first deer I took in Easton at Trout Brook Valley. Hunting for me is so much more than killing, it's about bonding with nature, enjoying the beauty of the woods and marveling at the smarts and survival instincts of the animals we're trying to outsmart.
Lastly, I've gained so much knowledge from you guys here on the site, the PM's I got from guys offering me stands to borrow when mine was stolen, it makes me proud to be a part of this community and even if I never meet any of you guys, it has been a pleasure just sharing my stories and reading about your adventures as well.
It was my dad that got me started in the outdoors. He was a trapper, fisherman and hunter. He would carry me as a small child while he checked his trap line and taught my brother and me about setting traps for muskrats and we were running our own trap line at age 10 and 11. Fishing was for native brook trout and bass fishing was magical to us then as dad would take us at night and he always used a black jitterbug which I still love to hear as it sputters thru the water. When we got into our early teens, the deer hunting started! There were trips to the Catskills and Adirondacks and hunting on my father's friend's property in Hartland. it was all an adventure and still is. Dad will be 89 in April, living in Florida, and although he doesn't hunt any more, he still get's out fishing now and then. Archery. When I got out of the service in 1971, I took up bowhunting mainly to extend my season and time in the woods. My first deer was taken in 1973 (doe)with a Bear recurve in Tunxis State Forest. Since then ,I became an archery hunter and have taken my share of deer, an elk and a Woodland caribou with the bow. I still gun hunt also and now do a lot of bird hunting thru out New England with my Brittanies. I have to thank my father for making me an outdoor addict!
My grandfather and uncle were the early influences with me (my Dad never really "took" to hunting!) and I learned from both, but the bulk of my training was from my uncle.
He started me with small game and bird hunting but never missed the opportunity to point out deer sign, trails, and then tried to build my knowledge base.
While in the Marines I met a bowhunter and I can recall the first time he had me with him when he sighted in a new bow; I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen! Believe it or not, I still stubbornly clung to the gun for a few more years but then I finally took the plunge and bought my first bow, a High Country Ultra Force.
I've never wanted to be "ham-and-egg" at anything so I drove my wife crazy with my endless practice sessions and shot 3D's pretty much every weekend always working to become a better shot.
I bought endless books (the best were by Greg Miller IMHO) and then learned to find and identify as many food sources as I could. I put in a lot of miles in the woods trying to improve my woodsmanship and I remember the first deer I took with the bow; a nice doe in Roraback WMA.
Over time I began passing far more often than I shot and my goal was to take a mature buck each season and only if it was "better" than anything I'd taken before.
Far and away though I've gotten the most pleasure from mentoring new bowhunters; nothing beats seeing that seed grow in a newbie and seeing them grow as a hunter.
My wife's finally stopped asking me about when I'll put down the bow; she probably got tired of hearing "when I'm so old and feeble I can't draw a bow or when I'm dead and buried!" It's become such a part of who and what I am I can't imagine a fall coming without me spending a good chunk of time in the deer woods.
Great thread Kyle and great stories!
I just turned 65 in November my father hunted a little but before I was old enough my to best friends both hunted with there father and they took me along small game hunting in 1970 we went to Vermont with there fathers gang I did not see a buck for the next 5 Years we went. about 1975 my wife bought me a bear recrve for Xmass I shot it every day I shot. My first deer that year a button buck and the rest is history when Dave was old enough to. Come with me about 10 he loved it at 12 he started hunting I think he w as about 16 when he got hooked he is now 35 years old and takes me hunting ! It has been a great part of my life and would not have done it any other way .steve
To the above posters that were in the military..
Thanks for serving.
My uncle paved the way with pheasant hunting and I am forever grateful to him. Buckndoe and me started bowhunting 12 years ago together. We always share ideas and stories. I enjoy his hunts as much as mine. It's nice to have someone to share our passion with. But of course I always get jealous when I go in his basement and see the monster buck he shot at RWA! Thanks Matt! You're a great bud!!!
My Dad was taught by his Dad in the 50's, and he taught me in the early 70's. I tagged along with him in Vermont when the Deer were plentiful. I shot my first Deer in 1976 when I turned of legal age in Vermont (15 Years old), an old Bear recurve with wooden arrows. Now I'm 54 and my Dad still archery hunts and my two brothers are game wardens. We followed the deer population through the Years, when VT dried up we started going to PA. Have not been to PA since Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana rut hunts spoiled me.
Now I have a 22 Year old daughter who is following in the family footsteps.
Borrowed a shot gun and went bird hunting with smoothdraw. Eventually he got me into deer hunting. Best thing I ever did.
I'm 56 and have been hunting deer since I was 16 years old with shotgun & rifle. Bought my 1st compound when I was 27, hunted hard for 2 years with only 1 shot taken at a doe, hit a branch and that was that.
I gave that old thing to my son which "forced" me to buy a new one! Got back into bow hunting two years ago and took 2 bucks that year. It was such an amazing feeling, I have taken about 100 deer in my life but that 1st bow kill there was nothing like it!
No one in my family ever hunted. However, my best friend in High School came from a family of hunters. Paid him a visit After graduating college in 1984 and saw his new Bear Alaskan compound. I always like archery and was hooked. When my parents asked what I wanted for Xmas that year it was an Alaskan with a dozen Game-Getter arrows. Bought the archery and deer hunter bibles and a subscription to Bowhunter mag and read up on as much as I could. The next fall I took the Hunter safety course and got my license. My friend had access to some killer property in NW New Jersey. Remember my first shot as if it was yesterday. Deer came from behind right underneath me. Quartered away and of course I dropped the bow down on release and shot right underneath it between its legs. Took 2 years before I harvested my first deer.
Pops built a cabin in Vermont and we hunted there. Woodchucks mostly. With a .22 but getting one with my old Bear recurve was the thrill of a lifetime. Got into bowhunting because of watching Fred Bear on Curt Gowdy's American Sportsman TV show. Gut busy, college, Cornell Medical, married an anti-hunter. So when I divorced I asked myself: what makes me happy? Got back to rifle hunting in 1987 and then bow hunting year later. Was able to kill deer right off, as I was an adult and went about it in an educational way. Subscribed to every magazine, got coached by the Hall of Fame coach Len Cardinale in the ways of the bow. Always loved hunting and will never stop till my dying day.
My buddy's older brother, MooMoo, dangled a fossil Bear compound bow in front of me and told me if I took my Bowhunting CE/FS, it was mine to keep. I'm a first generation hunter. I would listen to his stories of hunting the Maine big woods. His passion and enthusiasm got me hooked before I ever drew back a bow. I'm forever grateful and thankful he took me under his wing and served as an incredible hunting mentor. His pure basics and knowledge of being afield has always stuck with me.
Thanksgiving night 1983 - rainy - my friend pulled up in my driveway and said we are going deer hunting is upstate NY- get in (Hudson)-
woke up the next morning at the cabin on 12 acres in the middle of farms and woods in a snow storm-
Saw some deer but it was bucks only back then -
At night we drank our beers and played Risk - the risk games would get quite colorful too - alot of drunk screaming and yelling and trash talking
Been hunting ever since
Dr. Deer,
I took my Hunter Safety Course at Len's shop Butts and Bows in NJ 30 years ago.
Started on Eastern Long Island, first in my family to hunt, started with rabbits and squirrels. Saw some quail once in a while. Started hunting deer upstate New York as a teen and young adult. Moved to Connecticut and continued to hunt deer with a rifle or shotgun. Got into bow later in life, I enjoy the long season and being outdoors. Enjoy seeing wildlife of all kinds while hunting. Have a good time with friends hunting, checking cameras, setting up stands, butchering deer and of course eating the deer we get. I now look forward to it every year.
Garbonzo, did mine about then at the Ollinville gun club in the Bronx. If you learned from Lenny, you learned right.
Always wanted to hunt but when I was younger my Dad didn't hunt and he wouldn't let me miss a few days of school to go to deer camp with the neighbors. While in the Corps I always came home for Christmas.. well past deer season and everyone wanted a piece of me anyway. Going to school left no time in season except for a couple of years some quick outings in late doe season. By then they were wise and not to be seen in daylight. Finally finished school and setteled down and took a look a hunting in CT. Basically no rifle (too rich for my blood) and no nearby shotgun areas. However, 1/2 mile away as the crow files was a bowhunting area only. So.. I bought a bow and started getttig educated. Learn a lot online and by making mistakes but learned the most from a fellow bow hunter who silently took all the newbie questions I could ask. Its been a blast and I hope to continue for as long as I can draw back a bow.
My friend's dad had beagles and he took me out with him one day and I was amazed at how the dogs chased that rabbit in circle right back to us. I was 17 at the time and got my hunting license at 18 yrs old and I've hunted ever since. No else in my family hunted, so I was the first. Nature has always amazed me, and always will.
