Slowmow24
Senior Member
My grandfather got me started and now my brother and I are obsessed.
My outdoor addiction came from scouting. I was in a very active scout troop - campouts every month, long hiking trips on the AT, the occasional canoeing or kayaking thing, etc. My summer job in high school was working the local summer camp. Then, college at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA - surrounded by national forest, mountains, New River nearby. I spent a lot of free time hiking, backpacking, and caving, and during the brief window of weather that allowed river fun, doing that.My story is much the same…my Dad Vietnam and Korean War Vet…the Greatest Man I’ve ever known as well!
He did take me across country and back to Alaska stopping at every National Park we could on the way back to Florida..and so began my passion for the outdoors. I started reading Field and Stream and anything else I could get my hands on relating to the great outdoors, hunting etc as a kid…still read a lot mostly related to archery hunting for the last 15/20 years..so I suppose it’s been me along with the 100’s of writers that have graced the pages…and yes I’m still learning as well!
I heard he’s a real peach to deal with . Got some buddies we hunt with that lease some of the same property he leases from, said he won’t even look at you, definitely not what he portrays on the tv@Josh B I actually got to meet him before. I worked at a hunting store all my teenage years and I worked every turkeyarama and buckarama in the southeastern us.
I ain't gonna say nothing at all because I ain't got nothing good to say if that answers your questionI heard he’s a real peach to deal with . Got some buddies we hunt with that lease some of the same property he leases from, said he won’t even look at you, definitely not what he portrays on the tv
I also have to mention @Gaswamp, he started my boys and me turkey hunting. And we’re not the only ones he’s helped by a long shot.View attachment 1207719View attachment 1207718
I was taught by my dad! My grandpa and uncle also hunted but the one who sat with me since the beginning was dad! He doesn't get to hunt much anymore due to a back injury. He's had 3 surgeries and still isn't right. He can still hunt but not very comfortably.I have posted a picture a couple times in the forum, one for who over a certain age is still hunting and another for Oldies. As I looked at the photo I was thinking back to the man that taught and gave me a love for hunting. I remember soon after I first met him I begged my mom to marry him and eventually she did. I was never a "step" and to this day still not. He took me to the hunting club every chance he got, work days, scouting missions, and of course hunting. He put me in prime places to be able to kill my first deer and second. He smeared deer blood on my face the first one. Sad to say there were a good many years he wasn't in my life. Somehow, he made a bad decision which resulted in a terrible addiction. He has been clean for 15 years now and just last week received a full pardon and got his gun rights back. He and my mom aren't together any longer but praise the Lord he and I reconnected a few years back and it is awesome to get to share the woods occasionally with the man that gave me a passion for it when I was 7 years old. Van is pictured on the left. I'll forever be grateful for him not only for hunting but being a dad to me during the most vulnerable years of my life.
So who taught you to hunt?