For me, I took up bowhunting for a couple of reasons. 1. The added challenge of having to get close (for me 30 yards or less). 2. So that I could take advantage of the much longer archery season. Up until last year I worked in the private sector and held a job without paid vaccation, so that mean't hunting just the weekends, as I left the house before light in the morning and was dark when I'd arrive home, hunting an hour or two after work was out of the questions. That changed last year though when I went to work for the Federal Government, now I get something like 3 weeks of paid vaccation.
When I was 10 my folks moved to the edge of town and I started messing around with an old fiberglass recurve my older brother had laying around. I got to where I was pretty good at keeping the rabbit population down around my moms garden with it. I started a trap line at 11 by reading fur-fish-game at the library and made enough cash to buy a new Pearson compound bow. It was so sweet and had at least 15% let off! Rabbits became extinct. I shot milk jugs in the back yard until I thougt I was something special and at 12 shot my first deer. A big doe that neither I nor my nonhunting father had any clue what to do with. Fortunately we had a good neighbor. I climbed up an oak tree and sat on a limb and shot the first deer to walk by. I learned by making every mistake possible, several times. Those are still my favorit hunting memories and always will be. Just on my own, with no clue. There have been some great stories on this thread. Good read!
I was 13 when I started bow hunting. I honestly got into it just so I could extend my deer season. Little did I know what kind of addiction that would breed.
I wanted to kill stuff silently, getting in real close. The challenge of taking a whitetail buck, elk, bear, etc with a bow really intrigued me when I was a kid. Dad hunted is butt off, and bowhunted elk and I loved going with him.The first animal I ever shot was a cow elk as a teen. I was hooked from there, she looked around after the complete pass thru, and acted like she had no idea what had happened, she ran 50 yards and piled up dead, I was just blown away at how a well placed arrow could do so much so fast. Not to mention I filled the freezer that winter with meat that is as good as it gets.The first whitetail buck I ever got a shot at when I was a teen, I missed him and stuck my broadhead right in a log he was straddling, that miss drove me to want to get a lot better. He was a really nice buck too, 5x5.. I was sick for days because back then I rarely even got a shot, I didnt know much.
My Dad, even as a little kid I could see the passion in his eyes towards bow hunting.I wanted to experience that. As an aside, that is also probably what got me started into weight lifting and the over all fitness oriented lifestyle. I was real small as a kid to pull back a bow, so I started doing push ups....lots & lots of push ups and a few other exercises inorder to be able to reach an acceptable level of strength. That was just addicting as hunting itself.
Some of you already know some of you may judge me poorly for the following. I'm a convicted felon and can't hunt with a gun. I made a poor choice during my mis-spent youth and at the age of 22 got myself a felony assault conviction. That was 26 years ago. I quit hunting then until 7 years ago when I was introduced to bowhunting as a legal means for me to hunt here in Texas. In some states I cannot even bowhunt due to my past. Here in Tx its OK. I can also hunt with a sidelock muzzleloader here in TX by state law. (And yes I'm aware of federal laws concerning felons in possesion.)
My dad was and still is a very passive archery hunter. For him, it provided a comfortable time of year to take myself and my brother out in the woods when we were young. The spark was lit when we watched a mother and two fawns pass at 15 yards. When I was 10 or 11, I began shooting his Bear Whitetail compound that he inherited from my late grandfather and after much begging, at the age of 13 he bought me my first bow, a 1993 Browning Timberwolf. Without a driver's license, my hunting time was limited. I wasn't nearly as avid as I am now, but after I turned 16 a friend and I hunted every weekend in our 6 week season and really enjoyed just being in the woods. We missed our share of deer, but the "hook" for me was when I shot my first one. After that it was all different. I craved it. Now it truly is a way of life for me. Oh yeah, and my dad just last year began asking about bowhunting again. We got him a Diamond Rock and he is really enjoying just shooting it. I hope to get him out in the woods this year, I owe him everything.
Cool post Troy!! I was always curious of your up bringing and never really heard you talk about It before. Good stuff!!!
I grew up living next to the woods. My Dad and his friends hunted. I spent alot of time scouting, in a stand, trailing, and whatnot long before I was allowed to hunt. I still join my family for shotgun season but the short season and absurd hunting pressure (there seems to be orange everywhere) manages to take something away from my love of the outdoors. I picked up a bow near the end of HS and that lasted a few years until I went off to college. Since then I have picked up the bow again and rekindled my passion for archery, bow hunting, and nature. A hunt based only on trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be... Time to commune with your inner soul as you share the outdoors with the birds, animals, and fish that live there. -Fred Bear C
I was dabbling with Skydiving (made two tandem jumps) and really enjoying it. I started working towards certification for solo jumps when my wife ENCOURAGED me to find another hobby or another wife. (A little bit of an exaggeration but not much). I had always hunted but it wasn't what I'd call a passion by any means. Rather than find a new wife, I decided to give bowhunting/archery a try to elevate the game so to speak and bought a bow instead. I was hooked instantly and bowhunting has become one of my top four activities outside of my family that I enjoy each year. Skydiving? Assuming my son finishes High School and college in the next 5-6 years, I will definitely jump at least one more time. After that, who knows. And I am sure some of you are thinking, "who cares".
I began hunting in college around 1995. My dad was a turkey hunter and waterfowl hunted some when I was a boy but kind of quit both before I was of the age to really take to it. In college I dated a girl whos family had a farm in Missouri, about 400 acres. I would go there for the weekends sometimes with her brother and dad. I actually took my hunter safety course at their farmhouse. He was a licensed instructor in the state of Missouri and tested me there. I hunted public ground in Missouri near college those early years and moved back to this area about 5 years ago. Today I still hunt the same area and have killed multiple deer in this public spot. I didn't kill squat in college, I was a horrible hunter but through a process of learning I have had more success in recent years. I love bowhunting and have never gun hunted much.
Interesting that some were more or less born into bowhunting, following dad into the woods, while others like myself picked it up on our own. My dad was never much of a hunter, but I used to go rabbit and squirrel hunting with my uncles. When we started seeing deer tracks on my dads farm I had to start hunting them too. Then I progressed to the bow even noone I knew bowhunted. Since I started bowhunting a couple of my friends have taken it up also. But most people tell me I was born 100 years too late. I would have fit in better in the 1800's.
My Dad is still amazed that I've become the bowhunter that I have... especially given the fact that I can't even FATHOM hunting with a gun anymore, given what a prolific background I had in toting a shotgun around as a youth.
Some of my first memories are of hunting with my Dad, he would carry me through the woods on his shoulders chasing the dogs coon hunting. He did not bow hunt however. A older Cousin gave me a bow around 1960 or 61, I was 5 or 6 years old, had to cant it at a 45 just to shoot it and had one ever since. I wanted to be like Fred back then.
I was working at a nightclub as head of security and was finally burned out after 5 long years of rolling like a Rock Star. On a whim I decided to run down to Arkansas to see my Dad and Step Mom for Thanksgiving(1999). When I got down there my Step Brother came over since he lives next door and asked if I wanted to come over and grab my dinner. Confused we went to his shed and he had a doe hanging and cut out a roast for dinner. The next day I tagged along while my pops rifle hunted and was kinda hooked even though I wasn't hunting. Next spring while down there I shot my pops bow and bought one shortly after returning home. Later that fall went gun hunting and killed a buck on public land in Missouri on my second sit and then killed my first deer with a bow a week later back home. After that I was hooked on bow hunting and haven't hunted with a rifle except for an Elk trip.
I grew up making my stick bows from branches and boot lace . I saw a story on Bowhunting for Elk in a British magazine ( nothing to do with hunting ) , but that story made a huge impression and I never forgot it . As soon as the chance came ( money and circumstances allowing ) , 20yrs later and here I am waiting for my second Trip to Colorado Elk Camp . I'm so glad I made the choice , cuz I've made some great friends and got to know some great people and fellow Bowhunters , who have taught me a whole lot ..... Thanks
My dad let me carry a bow at a younger age than he would let me carry a gun. That was 20 years ago and I still love bow hunting as much as I ever did.
The long season. Gun hunting is limited to 9 days in Wisconsin. 'That means there is a helluva lot of pressure to get your meat in those first few days. Bow hunting is so much more relaxing because if I don't see or harvest a deer i know there are plenty of opportunities ahead .
