Newcomers Versus Rite of Passagers

[quack head 11]

My father has been all but absent from my life since the age of 15. Even before that he never was a hands on dad. He had no hobbies. NONE. He worked, we camped and he would watch baseball on TV.
He didnt hunt, fish, golf, play mens softball, nothing.

As a youngster I grew up on the family farm, but no one and I mean NO ONE hunted or fished in my family. Back then I had a spot light that came from an old video recorder setup that plugged into the wall. It was bright and would light up the world.

I would always sneak outside and shine the fields that were planted in oats. The fields would be FULL of deer like nothing I had ever seen before or probably ever will again.
Luckily we lived in an area that had an extremely high deer population and many many big bucks.

Something about those deer just flat turned my crank.

Fast forward until about the age of 9 and my mommas brother was going to look at a horse and asked if i wanted to go, so I did.

We had to go through a little spot inthe road called Epworth. This would have been around 1986, and there was a little store there named Epworth grocery. They had biscuits, drinks, coffee hot dogs etc.
They were also a big game check station.
We pulled into that parking lot, and there was pickup trucks, big red three wheelers, and every one of them had spikes, 4 points, 6 points and anythign in between straped to them.

I was in utter amazement. I bet I made 40 circles around that parking lot inspecting each and every deer.

I knew right then and there that deer hunting was for me.

The probelem was I had land, and I had desire but I didnt have the knowledge, a gun, nor anyone to teach me. So every time I would go to the grocery store while my mom shopped I would sit at the magazine rack and read every article that I could.

I even got me a wind up camera and would take pictures of rubs, scrapes and different trees. I would get my momma to have the pictures developed and then I would take them to the grocery store and compare my pictures to what was in the magainzes.

It took me until October 11, 1990 before I shot my first deer. A doe on opening day when it was NOT a doe day. I couldnt resist the temptation after 4 years of preparation. Once I had her down, I had no idea of how to skin and gut her.

Luckily i called a fella that went to church with me Mr Jerry Duncan . He came over and said, "i will skin this one while you watch, after that the rest of them are yours to clean"

And the rest is history. Ive been blessed to take numerous big bucks in South Carolina, Ive killed 2 pope and youngs one in Indiana and one in Kansas, and Ihave lost one that was 160 class and another 140 class with archery gear.

I have hunted 8 states and still love deer hunting as much as I ever have, but these days my happiness comes from watching my kids squeeze the trigger!

[quack head 11]

Dad introduced me to deer and dove hunting as far back as I can remember and anything else I was interested in hunting he would help facilitate and would go along with me .He set me up with Gene Hayes for my first Turkey hunt when I was a kid, Robert Lollis when I thought I wanted beagles and wanted to be a rabbit hunter and he introduced me to Bobby Maffett for squirrel hunting with dogs and the rest is history.

Dad doesnt hunt a whole lot these days, he still likes to plant and shoot a dove field but rarely does he deer hunt anymore but he will go squirrel hunting with Jake and I a couple times each year. Now a days he’s a glitter boat bass fisherman

Son you named a couple of Greenwood/ Ninety Six legends in this post!

[Kioti]

It mostly always seemed to me like if the dad loved to hunt then the sons didn't care for it that much. My dad left when I was about six but fortunately myuncles and older cousins took us deer and coon hunting. Turkey hunting was pretty much on my own though.

[Duck cutter]

Son you named a couple of Greenwood/ Ninety Six legends in this post!

I’d love to load up that old jeep and hit the woods with Mr.Bobby one more time and maybe sit down to a plate of Mrs. Myrna’s cooking. I was the last person to ever hunt with him before he died, I’ve got tons of memories with that old man

[Duck cutter]

My father has been all but absent from my life since the age of 15. Even before that he never was a hands on dad. He had no hobbies. NONE. He worked, we camped and he would watch baseball on TV.
He didnt hunt, fish, golf, play mens softball, nothing.

As a youngster I grew up on the family farm, but no one and I mean NO ONE hunted or fished in my family. Back then I had a spot light that came from an old video recorder setup that plugged into the wall. It was bright and would light up the world.

I would always sneak outside and shine the fields that were planted in oats. The fields would be FULL of deer like nothing I had ever seen before or probably ever will again.
Luckily we lived in an area that had an extremely high deer population and many many big bucks.

Something about those deer just flat turned my crank.

Fast forward until about the age of 9 and my mommas brother was going to look at a horse and asked if i wanted to go, so I did.

We had to go through a little spot inthe road called Epworth. This would have been around 1986, and there was a little store there named Epworth grocery. They had biscuits, drinks, coffee hot dogs etc.
They were also a big game check station.
We pulled into that parking lot, and there was pickup trucks, big red three wheelers, and every one of them had spikes, 4 points, 6 points and anythign in between straped to them.

I was in utter amazement. I bet I made 40 circles around that parking lot inspecting each and every deer.

I knew right then and there that deer hunting was for me.

The probelem was I had land, and I had desire but I didnt have the knowledge, a gun, nor anyone to teach me. So every time I would go to the grocery store while my mom shopped I would sit at the magazine rack and read every article that I could.

I even got me a wind up camera and would take pictures of rubs, scrapes and different trees. I would get my momma to have the pictures developed and then I would take them to the grocery store and compare my pictures to what was in the magainzes.

It took me until October 11, 1990 before I shot my first deer. A doe on opening day when it was NOT a doe day. I couldnt resist the temptation after 4 years of preparation. Once I had her down, I had no idea of how to skin and gut her.

Luckily i called a fella that went to church with me Mr Jerry Duncan . He came over and said, "i will skin this one while you watch, after that the rest of them are yours to clean"

And the rest is history. Ive been blessed to take numerous big bucks in South Carolina, Ive killed 2 pope and youngs one in Indiana and one in Kansas, and Ihave lost one that was 160 class and another 140 class with archery gear.

I have hunted 8 states and still love deer hunting as much as I ever have, but these days my happiness comes from watching my kids squeeze the trigger!

Was Bill Murrell running the store then?
I remember stopping in there and Dad buying me Yoo-hoos as a kid on our way to and from the farm.

The HotSpot also used to be a check station. I can remember us riding up there in the evening sometimes just to see what was getting brought in. Now a days, the area that used to be the check station is set up with electric vehicle chargers, breaks my heart to see

[Carolina Counsel]

I had a seed planted in me at a young age by my father and my dad's brothers. That started it all. I passed my dad in all levels of skill and passion for hunting pretty early on; 16-17. What that showed me was he liked to hunt but he didn't love it. He took me because I wouldn't shut up about it. Everything from there was self taught/learned or I sought out resources and people who would teach me etc. For my kids, I just want them exposed to it all. I won't force them. I want them to have success but not have success handed to them either. They may love it as much as I do or they won't. But I know they won't ever care about things if they aren't exposed to and don't know about those things. God, Jesus, conservation, hunting etc. So early exposure and an appreciation of what a life lived to serve Christ and what an outdoors lifestyle gives us sets a good baseline for them in my opinion. I can buy them and give them ingredients. It's up to them what they make with those ingredients or whether they use them at all.

I could have typed this exact post. Identical background other than lack of uncles and same philosophy for children. As a kid, I read about every hunting magazine I could get my hands on and learned by trial and error. Lots of error. As a young adult, I was fortunate enough to befriend a world class turkey hunter named Tony Valentine who took me under his wing for a few seasons and dramatically improved upon my self-taught turkey hunting skills.

[Sportin' Woodies]

You should email him today and thank him.

[quack head 11]

Was Bill Murrell running the store then?
I remember stopping in there and Dad buying me Yoo-hoos as a kid on our way to and from the farm.

The HotSpot also used to be a check station. I can remember us riding up there in the evening sometimes just to see what was getting brought in. Now a days, the area that used to be the check station is set up with electric vehicle chargers, breaks my heart to see

I am almost positive this was before the Murrells took it over

[centurian]

Daddys folks lived in the country and all hunted, Mommas folks did not hunt or fish. Daddy was a quail hunter and that was what is did but work got the best of him so he worked all the time 7 days a week. We were able to fish together a lot after i was grown and i think he liked fishing better than hunting. When i was 10 i got a double barrel .410 which i still have, thought i was the king of the woods with that thing in my hands when ever I got the chance to go. I was hunting crazy but didn't get the chance to hunt much till i got my drivers license and from that point on i was infected with the bug. I started quail hunting as that was what i knew and it was easy enough to do back in those days. I stayed on that path for a while getting strong into bass fishing just about the time tournament became a thing. Won my first tournament when i was 16 picture in the paper and all. Gave the bass hell for quiet a few years. I was in two bass clubs but still quail hunted after Thanksgiving. I never deer hunted until i was 18 and started hunting GMA with a recurve bow in the early 70s. Teaching yourself to deer hunt and with a recurve was difficult so i was not too successful. Turned to duck hunting and taught myself the ropes becoming pretty good at it. Started deer hunting again when about 40 and taught myself to be successful at that also. In short what i know i taught myself but the influence was daddys folks. In the end with my bass fishing experience i taught daddy the modern bass fishing techniques and he loved it. Lot of memories there.

[Black Bart]

This is awesome. Keep 'em coming.

[BigBrother]

I take back partially what I said before. My pappa took me fishing. A lot. I was a sponge but he passed when I was a youngster. He didnt do much hunting, if any. I actually never saw him pick up a gun, but he had some.

He was one of the badasses who cleared the Japanese out of all the pacific islands. I think he was just tired of killing.

[cajunwannabe]

It truly is the luck of the draw for a kid to be born into a solid family, even as a kid like me who loved the outdoors, hated big cities and was born in Detroit. I was still blessed with an incredible outdoorsman / mentor / dad.

My dad raised me to be a duck hunter even before it was "legal" for a kid to shoot in Michigan (legal age was 12 with hunters ed). I started shotgunning ducks, geese, upland birds, fox squirrels, rabbits, pheasant, quail, etc when I was 9. Just to preface, I was an "oops baby" born in'66 when my dad was 48 years old (mom was 42). Growing up most of my friends had grandparents my parents age.

My dad was born in 1918 the youngest of 12 kids in the Taylor family. He was born in the rural town of Conway in the northern tip of Michigan. As a kid he would row the family boat to Graham Point (Graham Motors Family land) on Crooked Lake in Conway to kill ducks during the Great Depression as a kid. He and his brother hunted a blind on Graham Point for 50 years, the blind where I killed my first duck and burlap sacks full growing up.

I ice fished a little growing up but the best was dodging Spring ice flows in a 1965 Starcraft deep vee with an 18 hp Evinrude Fastwinn on the Detroit river boating over to Canada to fill 5 gallon buckets with yellow perch. We fought fog many times listening for ships as we slipped across the shipping channels watching the river current to navigate. After a day of perch fishing we built a fire on Sugar Island, fried fresh fish while waiting to dip net smelt at night. The last Saturday in April was opening day of trout fishing in Michigan which rivaled the opening day of rifle deer season up there. We drove to my dad's home stomping ground in Northern MI and trout fished in the morning and hunted for morel mushrooms during the day every Spring. I've fished some absolutely gorgeous rivers and streams back then catching brook, browns and rainbows. My friends and I bowfished and speared carp, suckers and gar during the Spring spawn. We shot frogs in the marsh with bow and arrows, killed pigeons at my uncles farm and with wrist rockets under the I-75 interstate bridges. We fished walleye, northern pike and smallmouth during the summer. Sept 15th was upland bird season chasing Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock as well as building / brushing the duck blind and scouting for ducks which opened the first Saturday in October. I shot ducks and geese over my uncles fresh picked corn fields. My brother and I would shovel snow for gas money to chase pheasant and rabbits in the snow. It was a darn good childhood for someone that hated being born in the Motor City.

After discovering South Carolina as an 18 year old college kid I felt like I was "home". Looking back, it was my upbringing that prepared me for life in the South and you'll never hear my kids say they felt like they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time like I did. Luck of the draw I guess.

[centurian]

It is funny how those been hunting and fishing have evolved in a life time of hunting. Started out small game and waterfowl hunting (there were no deer around us) and though deer hunting was kinda elitist. Used to read all about it in the magazines. Now deer hunting is common place, Quail and duck hunting is more difficult an endeavor. I still remember the first deer tracks I found in the local woods. Nobody would believe me.

[ecu1984]

My Dad, his Dad (my grandfather) and his brothers (my uncles) would talk all week about what we were going to do come the weekend.
I was right there with em as soon as I could walk. Still hunting, quail hunting, dove hunting, running dogs, trout fishing, flounder fishing, on and on.
If my Dad couldn't take me, one of his brothers would swing by and pick me up.
My kids fell right in and it's just as much about being together and outside and talking trash as it is about killing anything
We have fun

[FULLCHOKE]

My dad has not hunted by himself in almost 30 years. After I was born along came four others in rapid succession and he has devoted all his time to his children and all our activities when he is not putting food on the table. A great outdoorsman, he stuck mostly to birds and deer growing up on a farm in South GA.

The man killed his last deer in 1989, but I have lost count of the hunts that he has sat next to me and my other brothers on. He taught me how to duck hunt, I remember being bundled up in the front of an Old Town canoe as we floated down backwater creeks for woodies and mallards. I remember water whacking my first woodie sitting on a tree next to him with an 870 28ga that his father gave me. I remember sitting next to him and shooting dove with that same 870 28. He’s been more than selfless in his own pursuit and hopefully one day Lord willing I will be able to do the same with mine.

He taught me to appreciate classic guns, Remington Model Sevens, 1100s, Wingmasters, and the likes. He passed down his beloved 1100 LT20 on my 21st birthday. It has plenty of scars, blueing coming off the receiver, but with character and many memories. It’s by far my favorite gun and about the only thing I shoot nowadays.

When he gave it to me he tasked me with the challenge of getting him his first turkey with that gun. He never caught the turkey bug but has enjoyed living vicariously through me as I have taught myself pretty much it all. Long story short the turkey has still eluded him, he’s missed twice with that gun on two separate hunts. He self admittedly got the shakes both times and it was wonderful to see him come back to life on those turkey hunts that we have been able to go on together. In a way it has all come back around full circle as I take him and try to get his first bird. It’s not over yet though, we have a morning planned this year and hopefully he can make it happen.

[JABIII]

I came into it naturally. Both of my parents shot and fished as far back as I can remember. Before I could ride a bike I could hold a course offshore and had probably seen 2 dozen deer killed on still hunts and dog drives. Ducks were the thing for us, but I was as happy on a bream bed or gigging a sack of frogs. Like others have said, I couldn't get enough of it. I read everything by everybody who had written about hunting or fishing. I loved the outlaws right along with the saints. To borrow a phrase from JB- "I learned much from both of their styles", and I had plenty of both around to learn from. One weekend we might be flyfishing with hillbillies who considered the Great Smoky Mountains National Park their own personal playgrounds, next a side by side duck hunt with Charleston society. Then chasing hogs through the swamps with Sumter folk like S&A's cousin Pebble. I learned something from all of it. Still am learning actually. The sense of being raised by a community of Woodsmen and Sportswomen isn't something that I would trade for all of Goldman Sachs...

[Tater]

I was born a poor black child. I remember the days sitting on the porch singing and dancing with my family. We sang and danced because food was scarce and we were always hungry. Weren’t no meat so we ate fowl. When there weren’t no fowl we ate crawdad. When there weren’t no crawdad to be found we ate sand. Yeah, we ate sand.

Well I got tired of eating sand I started myself to fishing. Other folks ponds cause I didn’t have no pond of my own. I was always getting run off from from ponds and had to walk further further find a pond to fish. One day I was walking and came to a crossroads. I look both ways then I dropped down upon my knees and asked the Lord for a pond I could fish without getting run off. I ain’t real sure what happened after that, but I took off to parts unknown looking for what I believed was a pond from God. Or someone.

Must not have been God because although I crossed a big ol’ river and a heap of ponds I never found one that looked inviting. Well I was cold, tired and had to pee real bad when stepped across the ditch and found the Hand of God. At my feet lay the longest double barrel shotgun I’d ever seen. Bo’ I whooped and thanked God right then and there and began my life as a hunter and never looked back.

[ecu1984]

Oh, and I would read a Field and Stream magazine from cover to cover when I was in elementary school

[Tater]

Starting from the back because Ed Zern was a funny sumbitch.

[smitch320]

Friends and family took me, but mainly friends.

I am not a big hunter, but enjoy the social part of it. I will kill all the hogs I see, and will shoot a deer or two a year, and love to shoot doves.