# How Old Were You When....



## Tacoma (Mar 2, 2011)

you went on your first hunting trip? 

Do you think dads should teach their daughters how to hunt? My son is 15 and my daughter is 17 
they've had some target practice with cans on a fence but I was thinking about taking my son on 
an over-nighter - I want it to be a father/son thing - she seems interested in going, at least to camp.... but I was thinkn maybe they should both have the knowledge and skill to hunt.... any thoughts?


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## MLB (Oct 4, 2006)

If she's interested, I'd say give it a try. Maybe separate trips would be better, but giving your girls the same skills as your boys is a good thing I think. Even if they decide not to use them.


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## Tacoma (Mar 2, 2011)

yeah ... i'm leaning that way too


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

You left out 1 option - never...

I am into guns heavily, but I've never been hunting. I was set to go on 1 trip as a teen, but the guy got sick and cancelled. As I got older, I never developed an interest in hunting. Not my thing.


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

Take them both but on seperate trips initialy.

I started my grandson and granddaughter hunting squirrels at 8 yrs. It was some of the most enjoyable time of my life and they liked it too. She drifted off to girl things eventualy and he progressed to Elk and Deer.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

Girls sometimes make good hunters, if they aren't sissies. I know a couple of petite, pretty young ladies who shot deer this year. They withstood the cold and the boredom for as long as it took to put some meat in the freezer, and didn't let a little bit of blood bother them.

Boys are a little bit easier, because they seem to be natural born killers at about 8 or 9 years old. My two grandsons killed three deer between them, this past season. The oldest, who was 9, shot his second ever, this year, and it was the best deer taken off of our hunting lease. All three were one shot kills with .243 and .223 rifles.


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## Tacoma (Mar 2, 2011)

*Thanks for the feedback*



>


Nice photo!


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## Tacoma (Mar 2, 2011)

Shipwreck said:


> You left out 1 option - never...
> 
> I am into guns heavily, but I've never been hunting. I was set to go on 1 trip as a teen, but the guy got sick and cancelled. As I got older, I never developed an interest in hunting. Not my thing.


Good point - I just thought anyone who didn't hunt wouldn't be in the "hunter's corner"


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

Tacoma said:


> Good point - I just thought anyone who didn't hunt wouldn't be in the "hunter's corner"


Haha, I didn't notice where it was - I just clicked on "new posts" - sorry :mrgreen:


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## Tuefelhunden (Nov 20, 2006)

I was in the 12-14 range when I first went. Didn't actually hunt until some time later after completing hunters safety in the 15-17 age group. Good memories of hunts and time with family and grandparents now departed. I hunt yearly now when I can. I think it is a valuable life skill that teaches some intangible things such as the value of hard work, patience, dicipline, appreciation for life at home were food comes from the fridge and the store, etc. Plus it is alot of fun for those who appreciate a little adventure. May not end up being your kids cup of tea as it's not for everyone but it couldnt hurt to expose them to it and find out. If they are interested and you are willing I can't think of a reason not to do it. Good skill and experience for boys and girls.


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## falchunt (May 8, 2009)

*Free Choice*

Id certainly offer it to both, if your daughter declines just let her know that if she is ever interested to just speak up. I have hunted since I was old enough for a bb gun (probably about 6 yrs). My grandfather taught me and I believe it is the foundation for what has become a great relationship between us over the years. He taught me safety and responsibility when dealing with firearms, wildlife, and nature and it is something that I will be proud to pass down to my children in a few years.

Ship was right, it isn't for everyone. This is why I think just offering it to both would be the best scenario for your kids.

Hope you have fun 

:smt1099


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## Gunners_Mate (Feb 17, 2010)

Shipwreck said:


> You left out 1 option - never...


+1. Always kind of wanted to, but since leaving the part of my family that goes hunting in my past I haven't gotten into it


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## Packard (Aug 24, 2010)

When I was 30 my then employer took some of us out in his 60 foot Hatteras (with an airconditioned flybridge) to go shark "hunting". I thought "hunting" was a misnomer; "fishing" sounded more reasonable.

Nasty work.

Chum is, how can I express this? Odififerous, perhaps? (It stinks so bad that you want to puke.)

I caught a 8 footer. It did not impress me as much as the fact that my boss was driving a $1,000,000.00 boat and could not afford me a raise that year.


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## jakeleinen1 (Jul 20, 2011)

Grandfather was a gun smith... Took me hunting easily by 11 with a single barrel shotgun, first time unloaded but carried a bullet with me if we saw something, next time not. 

Shot a gun alittle before that I think with some friends of my Dads who had some sweet shit, .44 Mag, .50 DE, and a Smith and Wesson 5609.. Vivid memory of that day


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## rgrundy (Jul 16, 2011)

We never went on hunting trips, we lived in the woods so it was a way of life. Everyone knew how to shoot and hunt. My first "trip" was probably when they turned me loose with the 22 rifle at 12 years old and my job was to kill anything that was destroying the garden (big, big garden), which was mostly marmots.


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## ozzy (Apr 16, 2011)

10, scattergun, quail.


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## swampcrawler (Sep 15, 2011)

started going with my dad before i can remember. first deer at age 7, by age 13 i had killed 13 deer.... havnt killed anything sence then. its amazing how changing circumstances can screw a hunter. :smt076


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## Packard (Aug 24, 2010)

swampcrawler said:


> started going with my dad before i can remember. first deer at age 7, by age 13 i had killed 13 deer.... havnt killed anything sence then. its amazing how changing circumstances can screw a hunter. :smt076


You probably should elucidate. Some of us will just assume that you've been incarcerated ever since you were 13--probably for failing to capitalize "I" in posts.

As an aside, in 1965 Idlewild Airport was re-named Kennedy International Airport. In 1995 I needed to get to the airport and I called for a cab. The driver said, "Where too?" and I replied, "Idlewild."

He said, "You've been out of town for a while, huh?" (30 years by his calculation).

And I replied, "Yeah. I'd rather not talk about it." (30 years, probably in prison he thought, probably for murder, and he's riding in my cab! Yikes!!!)

He said not another word for the rest of the trip. (And all I said was, "Idlewild"):mrgreen:


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## Tazman (Jan 13, 2012)

I am very lucky.My son is now 21 but was hunting whitetail with me at 16.My daughter is 15 and started hunting with me this year since NY let 15 year olds hunt with adults at 15.My son has always liked hunting but nothing like my daughter.My best friend and myself have been shooting and hunting for years,ever since we where old enough too.We both reload for rifles so we always have the competition to see who can shoot tighter groups.So both kids have been around it there whole elives.Two summers ago my daughter wanted to shoot one day and loved it.So the next weekend i was out buying here a purple grained Ruger 10/22.She wanted some glass on it and all i had available on the shelf was a 3X9 Tasco so we put it on.The gun shoots awesome and she cant get enough of it.Well this year she took her hunters safety course and out we went to get a shotgun,Rem 870 express 20 gauge.It was the best hunting season of my life.Both kids with me almost every time i went out.My daughter especially,no way i was going out with out her.It was a warm year here and we never did get a whitetail but it didnt matter.We seen a few but just haveing her with me is all i needed.I thought she would get discouraged after not seeing many or getting a shot at one but she understood and kept plugging on.

If you have kids that are interested go for it.It is the best time you can spend with them.Doesnt matter on the kill,its just the quality time you can never replace.Be carefull though.My daughter is now into handgun shooting and has taken great fondness in my Sig Sauer P229,she loves shooting it and is good.So i believe when shes 21 and gets a permit the Sig will be hers,and i dont care,they can take them all as long as they let me shoot once in a while,lol.


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## BCGUNCOLL (Jun 11, 2011)

7or8(cant remember exactly) shooting squirrels w/ a 16ga single shot shotgun.


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## rjrudolph (Oct 12, 2012)

I was 7 years old and my grandpa shot a nice 8 point first day in the woods. Been hooked ever since.


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## RB60 (Nov 8, 2012)

Honestly can't remember, but for my 12th. birthday, my dad gave me a Pre '64 Model 70 Winchester 220 swift with the 26 in. S.S. barrel. I've shot hundreds of groundhogs, a few foxes a few deer and lots of paper Xs over the last 40 years. I think I'm gonna have it buried with me! (I have no children)


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## GunBug70 (Sep 19, 2013)

If she wants to, I would take her. It makes for wonderful memories to have them together for it. I wish I had been able to do those things with my brothers, but I was married before I hunted for the first time.


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## Shipwreck (Jan 26, 2006)

GunBug70 said:


> If she wants to, I would take her. It makes for wonderful memories to have them together for it. I wish I had been able to do those things with my brothers, but I was married before I hunted for the first time.


You do realize the original post was made in 2011, right?


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

I just seen that the thread is an old one


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## t4terrific (Oct 24, 2015)

pic said:


> I just seen that the thread is an old one


Thanks for letting everyone know.


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## Steven (Mar 2, 2012)

I was 8. My dad took my brother and I pheasant hunting and we had a great time. Went almost every weekend during the season.
Didn't go deer hunting until I was 12. Had to use a shotgun in Jersey.


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## Kennydale (Jun 10, 2013)

OK I don't hunt, but i support your right to (Love gifts from my hunting friends Deer, Rabbit)


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## hillman (Jul 27, 2014)

Hunting _excursion_ with adult family members - 11 y.o., second year of shooting guns that went bang. Carried a single shot break-action 12 gauge. Didn't see a deer.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

I was allowed (in certain circumstances) to hunt squirrels and rabbits alone at about age 11-12. I wasn't allowed to hunt with another kid along until about age 14-15, and then only with cousins whose fathers were stricter than mine. This was with a single shot shotgun, not a rifle. I had to have an adult along as a 'guide' to shoot any rifle until about age 14. Every hunt was based on my performance in the previous hunt.


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## PT111Pro (Nov 15, 2014)

12 I was 12 I'll think. They put a screening orange jacket on me, gave me a bamboo stick and a big bell and told me to go with the others trough the underbrush and make a big noise. LoL.
Oh you mean me as a shooter and not as the pray?
I'll think I was so 15 or 16 around when I shot my first Rabbit with a Voere 22LR rifle (Austria).


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## Montogo (Oct 22, 2015)

I was 14 years when I started. My God son started at 14 years, his sister at 14 years and at 34 years she still hunts with us, she gets her deer with 1 shot she is dead on.
How I have two grandson at 10 and 15 that hunt with me. I hunted 5 states and overseas 3 times so far. Still want to and more to my list.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

My youngest grandson was very fortunate to be able to shoot 2 deer, when he was 7. He had a .223 H&R Handirifle and a very cheap scope that he could hit 9" paper plates with at 50 yards. We had a great hunting lease, at the time, and he got two chances at about 30 yards from a rested position, and his dad let him shoot. He connected on both, one a small buck, and the other a doe. It was the year that Barnes first came out with factory loaded 55 grain Triple-Shocks, and we decided to let him try, if a close shot presented itself. All the 'stars aligned properly' for him, and he made the shots count. We were all very impressed, both with his poise and the Barnes ammo. Later that week, his older brother (9) downed a beautiful 10 point buck (see page one of this thread), a DRT shot at over a hundred yards. It was the best season, ever, for me.


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## RobertS (Jan 7, 2016)

I was 18 or so when I first went hunting. It was small game. They had shotguns, I had a .22.

Frankly, I wasn't sold on it. I haven't hunted since. I'm 51 now.


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## Wyoming_1977 (Feb 24, 2016)

I've only been small game hunting, and that was when I was a little kid. I'm 39 now and I still have never been on a big game hunt. Embarrassing since I'm from Wyoming originally, but I've never hunted a deer, elk, antelope, moose, nothing.

I've got plans in the next few years of moving back out west, so I hope I have opportunity to learn soon after that.


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## Freethought (Jan 10, 2016)

Eight , rabbits , squirrels , quail , pheasant......and of course the usual vermin around the ranch/rural area. Around ten running '***** with hounds , twelve first deer , bobcats with hounds and the first time I ever ran mountain lions witha real good pack of Walkers and a big Plott that I still remember fondly , fourteen first Elk and Antelope , year after that my first bear. At 16 I discovered hog hunting and was lost forever to that one.......along about eighteen was the enlightment as to true Varminting and turning ground squirrels and prairie dogs into pink mist at extended ranges. 


My kids? Let them start when they were interested , kids are analogous to a good hound.....if ya push 'em too early and too hard you'll ruin 'em. One of my boys and my step-daughter were both reading sign and tracking by the time they were ten and would compete with each other on a friendly but intense level. They were both of the " first out , last in" mentality when it came to being out in the boonies with dogs or varmint hunting , both were calling coyotes in by the time they were twelve.


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## Freethought (Jan 10, 2016)

Wyoming_1977 said:


> I've only been small game hunting, and that was when I was a little kid. I'm 39 now and I still have never been on a big game hunt. Embarrassing since I'm from Wyoming originally, but I've never hunted a deer, elk, antelope, moose, nothing.
> 
> I've got plans in the next few years of moving back out west, so I hope I have opportunity to learn soon after that.


 You haven't missed much with Antelope , Speed Goats are highly over-rated both from a hunting and an eating point of view.


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## Cannon (May 1, 2016)

I was a tag along with my Dad & older brothers from about 9yrs old but never carried a gun til I was 12. And by that time I was responsible and familiar with both shotguns & rifles. I grew up far from the city and spent most every day during the fall hunting the woods on our property, what a great way to grow up!


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## Blackhawkman (Apr 9, 2014)

Whatever you decide make sure your kids go to Hunter Safety Class! You need to know gun and hunting safety.


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## Bisley (Aug 24, 2008)

My oldest grandson (16) shot this whitetail from my pop-up blind last weekend. The deer had begun moving down this trail, several days before, but they never slowed down enough to make a sure shot, until this one. His dad gave a short bleat and he stopped for just a couple of seconds, and James nailed him through both lungs with a 7mm-08 140 gr. Winchester Power Point, at just over 150 yards. He is an 8 point, 14 inches between the beams, a nice buck for this locale.

I thought it might interest some here to compare this photo with the one I posted I in this thread, six years ago - same grandson, and this is the first deer he's gotten since then, due to no place to hunt for six years.


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## TeddyBear (Sep 5, 2017)

My first hunting trip was squirrel hunting when I was 5. I harvested my first deer at age 8. I was lucky to have been born into a hunting family.


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## Dantar (Apr 18, 2019)

I was 13 years old when my father first took me to hunt.


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## Tangof (Jan 26, 2014)

Took my Son Pheasant hunting when he was 10. My Daughter wanted to learn to shoot, but had no interest in Hunting. My Son and I hunt Pheasant and Deer. My Daughter is a vegetarian and used to scold us for killing Deer. She stopped after killing three Deer with her car in one year. This year she hit and killed another. I gleefully pointed out that she has killed and wasted twice as many Deer than we have shot and eaten in the last two years.


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## MikelyMaikup (Aug 24, 2019)

I have been hunting since I was 13, my father was an example. It's pretty exciting, I think everyone will be lured by this, I also love casinos! I love the risk! My family is often against it all. But there's nothing to be done about it, a man always decides for himself.


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## PetrYan (Aug 26, 2019)

If she's interested, I'd say give it a try. Maybe separate trips would be better, but giving your girls the same skills as your boys is a good thing I think. Even if they decide not to use them.


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## aarondhgraham (Mar 17, 2011)

I dunno if you could call it a true hunt,,,
But when I was 6-7 years old my grandfather took me (and his bottle of apricot brandy) to the county dump.

It was the first time shooting a .22 rifle,,,
I shot several BIG old rats that day.

Even though I was miffed that he wouldn't teach me how to skin one,,,
It was a very good time for me.

Aarond

.


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## Brazos Dan (Aug 10, 2019)

12 yrs. old. (61yrs. ago.)


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## Goldwing (Nov 5, 2014)

On my twelfth birthday with my buddy Jerry who was twelve also. Two squirts with newly minted Hunters Safety patches on our jackets sporting .22 lever actions on our Schwinn Stingray bikes. Four tree rats (squirrels) died and were eaten by the heroes of this story that day. I will never forget it.

GW


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Think I was around 6 yrs old.


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