Hunting without a dad, what is your experience?

[highpoint forge]

Great stories guys. The woods can really help. Therapy of the earth, I call it.

[buckeye_hunter]

Yeah...my stepdad was a total nut job. I really mean that, had to take medicine or he was exceptionally violent. Don't know how he stayed out of jail other than a few people wouldn't prosecute.

Oh well...now I get to be the dad I never had. Here's to the future!    

-Charlie

[K. Mogensen]

Man, it would be tough without my dad. Couldn't imagine anything without him being as we do pretty much everything together. My dad has hunted with my grandpa all his life, and I've hunted with my dad and my grandpa all of mine. When I have kids one day, they'll hopefully do the same.

If it weren't for my dad, I wouldn't have the same passion for the outdoors that I do right now...

[Autumnarcher]

My Dad used to hunt deer during the rifle season, but had given it up long before I was old ennough. As a youngster, I had a deep rooted love of the outdoors, and took up hunting on my own. I did fish on occasion with my Dad, but he ran his own business, and had little time for anything. As a kid I was dissapointed, but I realized soon enough he was working to provide for his family, and I fully understand that. What I would give to have one more day fishing with my Dad. I miss him every day.

I enjoy hunting on my own, although I relish the time in our deer camp with my wife and sons, all of us traditional bowhunters. As much as I like that, I also enjoy a solo adventure into more wild places,using my own skills in hunting, scouting and making camp.

[Dustin Waters]

So far it has been just my dad and I.  I took a year away from that and hunted with some college roommates on our "own".  We still hunt together today, but I would much rather have my dad in the timber with me.  I completely understand what you are missing in your hunting experience.  I dont like to think about when the day comes that I have to trek into the woods knowing that I won't have my dad to talk to or relay experiences with.

[Encino Man]

My dad raised his dad's family. Grampa Riggs died at 42. My dad, the oldest at 14, quit school and went to work full time to help the family. Even after marrying my mother and raising 10 kids, my parents barely made ends meet.

Dad hunted and fished, but mostly with adult friends and relatives. I didn't get to hunt with with my dad until I was an adult.

I'm trying to break that cycle with my kids. My wife and I both love to hunt and fish. Although my oldest, my daughter doesn't really care to hunt, she does like to fish and loves to shoot my bow and she wants a longbow just like dads. My younger one, my son, loves to fish and likes to hunt. He is just now starting to see the light.

I hope to spend as much time as they can stand with ole dad, but they seem to have their own agenda most of the time. I just want to make sure that when they look back. That it wasn't dad who was not willing to spend the time.

[Tom]

My Dad was never a hunter but did encourage my love for the outdoors. Ran a trapline from 9-14, made my own money for a solid fiberglass bow and killed my first deer(on my own) at 15. Went into the service and continued to shoot stick bows until I married and moved to NM. Bought wheels and got bored, went back to sticks and stuck with them ever since. My Dad died 1 1/2 years ago but was always thrilled whenever we had a meal of deer,turkey, rabbit or trout I had caught. I will hunt with him by my side to the day I die as he always was there for me. Hope my daughters think of me the same way. Thanks Dad.

[larryh]

my dad took my brother and me to the mountains where he ran cattle. had us shoot a grouse with an old .22 single shot, catch some fish, and learn to take care of them and cook them. i was 5 and jack was 6. then he left us all summer to keep track of the bell cows so when he rode in on saturday mornings he could get a look at everything before he left on sunday.
we both grew up killing what we wanted to eat and learning how to do that.
i have always hunted alone and still do. don't have much sentimental or any other kind of thoughts about killing an animal i want to eat. it's kind of like going to work or doing a farming chore.
all of my kids grew up shooting a bow and knowing how to track about anything but were never interested in hunting.
have one grandson that hunts and is pretty good at it.

[Killdeer]

Larry, there are a few books I wish you would write. One would be about your life. Did I just read right, that at 5 and 6, you and your brother watched the cattle all alone up there?   :eek:  

Another would be about all the hunting lore you acquired growing up, and what you must have learned by observation. OK, you can mix that into the first book and get by with the one volume.

The other book would be a history of Damon Howatt bows, and Martin Archery, for all of the fans and collectors that are out there, and the ones who have yet to discover those wonderful bows. There is a thirst for that knowledge, and I sure wish you would throw us at least a pebble to suck on.

Respectfully, and with warm gratitude for your hard work,
Killdeer

[Steve Kendrot]

I am from a non-hunting family too. Not sure how I go the bug, but it started in 7th grade when a spike buck ran across the road in front of me as I walked down the hill to the bus stop one morning. It was my first buck sighting and I went on about it to a painter who my parents hired to paint the eaves. Next day he brought me a grocery bag full of back issues of Deer and Deer Hunting and that was all she wrote. That painter was also my shop teacher in school and he helped me get started. I fished a lot with my dad, but he had a childhood friend killed in a hunting accident and it never appealed to him. Got my first bow at 14. Killed my first deer, a 7 point at 18. Lots of hard lessons learned that first four years not the least of which was don't listen to those folks who tell you you'll never get a deer way back in the woods.
I turned that passion for hunting into a career as a wildlife biologist. My parents supported and encouraged me every step of the way. Still do.

Got my first trad bow in grad school in 93 and haven't touched a compound since. Started making my own three years ago.    

I've always hunted alone but did make a friend last year that I hunted with. Looked a long time to find someone I felt
compatible with. And he shoots wheels!

That fire is hard to describe to the uninitiated. My wife humors me, but don't thinks she understands how anyone can be so hooked on "sitting in a tree all day"... I still feel like a ten year old kid a Christmas everytime the season rolls around. And my parents still get me camo for christmas!

[buckeye_hunter]

Steve,

I feel the same way at Christmas. My wife got me a Mr. Heat heater and I was as excited as a 5 year old. Then, last Christmas I got the connector hose for the BIG propane tank and was just as excited! Imagine getting excited because your wife bought you a hose for Christmas....

I'm hoping that heater will pay off so my kids will stay in the blind longer with me on cold days. They are cold blooded and don't last too long!

But hey, I'll settle for any time they want to spend in the woods with their "old man".

-Charlie

[imhntn]

My dad loved to shoot rifles and shotguns and hunted small game but not deer.  I was ate up with hunting as long as I can remember and couldn't wait for the day that I could go with the men and carry a gun.  He took me to my uncles to deer hunt but he could never sit still long enough to do any good.  No one bowhunted in my family but some friends taught me how the first year I was married.  That was 29 yrs ago and it has been my favorite hobby ever since.

[Bowferd]

Dad didn't hunt. Didn't talk much either. When he did say something, he was generally pretty serious. God gave you two ears and one mouth. That sort of stuff. He loved his wife, he adored his children. I understand why he loved my mother but for the life of me can't comprehend why he put up with my sorry butt.
I believe he saw something within me that only recently emerged.
We camped, set trot lines, canned carp.
He spent his late teenage and early twenties in the Pacific.
What a good man he was. I miss him dearly.
So hear's to you Dad from your son.
Fred

[Doc Nock]

Wow. Neat thread. MOds, thanks for letting this one ride.

I sit here reading and contemplating through misty eyes... my 88 yr old Dad went to the hospital with a stroke 6 days after his 88th b-day. He's in rehab now...and, Lord willing, might make it back to some independence.

Mom rode herd on Pop hard. She was afraid of being alone, and truth told, think she was sorta jealous of anything that was an outside interest...or just lonely. Know a bunch of buds whose wives hate being left alone...they just want them "around." Not engaged in anything together..just "there."

Dad was a pretty fair small game hunter. Had a single shot Iver Johnson hammer 12 ga. He was deadly at spotting rabbits in the "squat" and poppin them with the full choke in the head! My Uncles, Dad, and my mom's dad hunted small game when I was a tyke. They'd bring me their empty shot shells from the AM hunt and I'd hide behind the outhouse and sniff the powder residue.  

Once they bought a house in town, his "honey do" lists ran long and by the time I got old enough to hunt in PA (age 12) we'd get a few Saturdays in small game, but that was it. He never could get to the mountains (of PA) to hunt deer. His brother took me a few times gun hunting deer.

I actually taught myself to track and hunt, reading everything I could get my hands on, like so many here. Deer hunting w/ my Uncle was just sit and hope. I had to move...see what was around the bend.

By age 6, I lived in town, I'd cut sumac to make bows, shot no fletch arrows from any straight twig I could find...almost got a few rabbits (close) down at the RR tracks running through town. Neat to take a moment to recall these things...

Actually as I entered my late teens-early 20's, I started to take Dad fishing and hunting. Strange to teach your dad about the outdoors.

He only ever shot 2 deer I know of, one big ole doe and a spike with my old neighbor's camp in Central PA... he was so excited...and I wasn't there for that one.  :(

Now he struggles with basic motor skills and trying to regain some measure of dignity. He worked hard, gave quietly to anyone in need, loved my grouchy Mom with a devotion I may never measure up to myself, and sacrified his dreams for others happiness--- all his life.

Here's to your valiant fight, Tite. Godspeed!

[Howard S.]

Ah The Doorway Buck.  Thank you Mr. Sackett for that fine piece of writing.  

I didn't have a hunting mentor growing up.  My Dad's family was into sports.  I spent 12 months of the year either playing baseball or hockey.
Grandpa (Mon's dad) took me fishing when I was young and one of my uncles put a bow in my hand the first time.  Those seeds sat dormant for a very long time.  We moved to NH when I was around 12 and that is when the outdoor fire was lit.

Didn't start hunting till I was almost 30 though.  My best friend at the time was my first mentor.  Looking back I woulndn't hunt with Ray (God rest his soul)anymore.  Beer and weapons were naturally joined in his camp.

I've since progressed to raising/training my own hunting dogs, from compound to longbow, treestand to ground hunting.  That progression was helped along by many people, some that have become life-long freinds.  I love my time in the field.  Bird hunting is a group endeavor for me.  Bow hunting, I like my solitude.  I do however enjoy the comaraderie of folks in camp when the hunting is done for the day.

My wife doesn't hunt too much any more but she's always in camp when I come in at night.  She understands and tolerates my passion.  For that I'm truely blessed.

I've come a long way from the kid growing up playing baseball in suburban Detroit.  A few year ago my Mom told me that whenever she saw me she thought of Grandpa because of my passion for hunting, always growing a garden and my cooking skills.  I've never had a greater honor bestowed upon me.

Howard

[Shifting Shadow]

buckeye_hunter, I can relate to your story. Dad died when I was 10. He mentioned going bear hunting once. That idea stuck with me. It's just too bad he is gone.

[Danny Rowan]

Grew up in a loving family, Daddy was mostly a fisherman and every year when his vacation came up we went to the lake and camped and fished for two solid weeks. We did that even after I was grown and joined the Navy, I would plan my vacation just to be home when he took his and we would go fishin'. He hunted some but not with a bow, he did however support my endevours in archery buying me my first bow when I was 12, and old fiberglass Ben Pearson. Killed a lot of small game with that bow. Bought a Ben Pearson Ole Ben when I was 16 or 17 and shot that bow for many years. Mostly self taught, learned a lot about animals as a kid from trapping and just observing, Killed my first deer with that bow when I was 19 on my best friends Grandads ranch outside of Ozona, Texas. Living in a small community outside of Ozona, Texas, me, my brother and best friend Mike would jump the fence and hunt/hike on the ranch that butted up to the community, it was an old Air force radar station that some company bought, they remodeled all the houses and Mom and Dad bought a house there. Spent many hours hiking/huntin on that ranch for rabbits with the bow and huntin arrowheads or what ever young boys do. We were always given the freedom to explore and I thank God and my Mom and Dad everyday for the life they allowed me to live as a child. We never had much but I was rich with love and Daddy taught me much about fishin and camping. I miss them both every day, they are with God now but I know they are looking down and hope they are proud of the man I became.

Danny

[Hunter 709]

I grew up with a non-hunting Dad but one that was very supportive.  My Dad did take us fishing the odd time but hunting wasn't his thing. My parents bought me my first pellet gun at age 10 and my first fiberglass bow set at age 11.  My grandpa and uncle on my Mom's side were rifle hunters (my Grandpa got his last moose at age 80). I guess I got the hunting genes from them, funny I look more like that side of the family too.

I remember being under age and needing a parent to be along on a deer hunt.  My Dad came with me and my buddy and was giving us hunting advise, which seems silly now as it was his first time on a deer hunt, I guess he meant well.

I always liked archery as a kid but never had a bow as a teen or eary adult.  The only reason I got into archery was that, my wifes cousin said I could hunt on his property with a bow but not a gun.  

Well that was 8 years ago and I have learned a lot from a good friend who shared his knowledge with this green horn. He helped me get my first bear and whitetail with a bow. I do envy people that can share outdoor experiences with their Dads. I guess its up to me to share my passion with my kids, I'm looking forward to it.

[buckeye_hunter]

I have to tell you guys...these posts are better than any hunting show. We all seem to be blessed in one way or another with hunting , family, dads, moms, friends and those we have become friends with on this site. Keep the experiences coming....I think it is good for us all to hear.

-Charlie

[dpowers311]

I started on my own and still hunt alone. I would like to find some others to hunt with and I know my wife would feel a lot better if I was not hunting by myself.

Dave