How did you get into outdoor sports?

[Jack G]

My father was a casual fisherman and introduced me to cane poles and bluegills but that was about it. When I was about 10 years old in the late 40's I saved up about seven dollars and bought a Red Ryder BB gun. A friend, who also had a BB gun, and I hunted sparrows and cat birds like our lives depended on it.

I had relatives who farmed in prime pheasant country and I kind of forced myself on older cousins to hunt pheasants on opening day. I was about 14 and they weren't too eager to have me along. Finally another farmer cousin became aware of my interest and took me under his wing. He was an excellent rabbit and pheasant hunter and he showed me everything. I remember when he first showed me how to spot game by looking INTO the woods and weed choked ditches and not just looking AT the woods and ditches.

In my mid twenties I met a guy at work who liked to fish strip mines for bass. All he did was throw plastic worms at shorelines and visible cover but it was a start. Much later I ran into a fellow in Florida who was an accomplished shiner fisherman for trophy bass. We hit it off and for the next 25 plus years we met up in Florida every March to fish for trophy bass.

Walleye fishing was a complete mystery to me when I first went north to fish for a week. I loved the kind of water I found there and started reading and watching everything I could about walleye fishing.
I came to love Mille Lacs and Oahe.

Trapping interested me but I had to find out about it on my own. Again reading and trapper get togethers was how I learned. To this day a hint of skunk order in the air brings back fond memories.

Deer hunting with a gun and a bow was also self taught.

Except for the bass fishing and pheasant hunting I had no mentors to get me started.

At 76 I am looking into going south to hook up with a guide to hog catfish. I just want to catch one so that I can say that I have done it.

What great memories and stories I have collected

Jack

What a great post Jack! Good for you!

[sidfish]

Your post made me remember my Grandfather! Thank you the gift!

[Phil T]

I'm an old gopher shooter and small river fisherkid who grew up on a farm in ND.

[Mueller]

It kept me from getting bored.

[perchjerker]

Cub Scouts

then

Boy Scouts

[hommer23]

Growing up in a small town we all had sling shots to hunt rabbits, when we had our 10th birthday we could get a bb/pelet gun and a recurve bow, then at 12 I got a .22 and a 410. My dad would teach us how to shoot and hunt small game and at 14 we could hunt deer with a shotgun and my first day in the woods with my 410 with a slug in it I seen my first buck walking to me and the only thing I could think was " wait until the deer stops walking then aim and shoot" well at 25 yards I hear "shoot the SOB" and at 5 yards or less I shoot my first deer, a 8 point. The next year my dad fell off a roof and I have not hunted with him since (40 years), but I think of the words he told me never shoot until they stop walking and shoot the sob every time I see a deer. For the past 40 years I have tried to get him in the woods on the ground or for pheasant but he can't take the cold and rough ground anymore. I do fill his freezer every year for him first. and provide all the stories and vidieos I can so he can see the thrill of the hunt.

[Rapscallion]

My dad got me started fishing and small game hunting. We fished strip mines, farm ponds and a once a year week in Ontario. We struggled to catch walleye in Canada but my uncle always caught a ton. I picked my uncle's brain, started tying my own harnesses at age 12 (40 yrs ago!) and started catching walleyes. i was permitted to hunt and fish by myself by age 12 and I haven't looked back. My sons both like the outdoor sports and we've enjoyed many hunting and fishing trips together and still do although not often enough. I wish my old man was still around to take fishing now that I know a few things about it....

[Morton]

It was a way of life for our family when we were growing up ... alot of sustinance and some recreation. Can't share some of the "redneck" stuff we did for fear of incriminating other members of my family.

I recieved my first pocket knife on my 8th birthday, my first zebco 101 reel at 9, at age 10 I got a 5mm mag with a starlight scope instead of a 22, at 11 I got a 20ga, etc, etc ...

Once I got a little older and could appreciate the value of what I needed and what I wanted, I made the decision to only take what was needed. For almost as long as I can remember I seldom kill anything.

Memories still run deep ... grandpa stringing corn to catch pheasants ... dad teaching us how to catch rabbits with barbed wire or snares ... pond shooting ducks with a 8ga sneek boat gun ... home made bow lines through the ice, fishing big northerns with cane poles and a row boat, etc.

Morton

[Buck Snort]

My uncle. He'd come over to pick me up on Saturday mornings to go grouse huntning whether I wanted to go or not. He was there rain or shine by 0630 every Saturday.

Fishing...I have no idea other than I loved it from an early age. Nobody in my family is a fisherman but I wanted to do it ALL THE TIME.