Who introduced you to the outdoors?

[Familytradition]

My grandfather turned 80 this May. His health was very poor this spring and we almost lost him. He is now back to his old self; fishing, cutting firewood, and dreaming of the the November rut that he thought he would never experience again. This is man that taught me to love the bay of the hound, the set of the hook, God' wild areas, and the creatures and plants that surround us. He is reason that I feel most at home and alive alone in the woods.

My dad, grandfather, and I share the hunter's bond. The disparity of the one that got away. The high of dropping the beast in his tracks. The pride when a good plan comes together.

I now get to be the mentor to my young son and teach him to carry on our family tradition. Honor your mentor here and leave us tips on what works and what does not in passing on our passion. I have lots great tips that I will write on. At a time when the boasting of hunting and fishing tails around the campfire is dying, keep the hunter's and the fisherman's reputation for telling his tales alive.


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[Triple C]

That's as good as it gets right there Familytradition!

 

[Sconniebiente]

My dad. # 8 member of Fnaws, holds many bc/py records. He taught me extrene tuffness, shooting, fishing. Lost him 10 years ago. Tuff sob. 4 time state champ trap, 3 field trial dog champs, intense dude. Passed his traits to my son who is a usfw bio dude. Rifle to 600? Good, bow to 60,good, pistol to 100? Yep. More importantly he taught me treestand discipline. 40 below for 7 hours? Yep. He was tuff as nails and miss him daily but i passed all of this to my son. He smokes a 8 weight in canada or the coast, smoke a deer wirh any weapon. Heck, he is 24 with 4 in py. Silly shit but when your day starts@5am everyday in the woods you get a jump on book deer. Thx dad, your grandson is luvin your dream.


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[Sconniebiente]

Btw, just turned 59 thursday, and my wife and i pushing 60 start the southern jmt, 9 passes over 13k, finishing@whitny@14,508...tallest in the lower 48. I guess some genes passed on. Any flatlanders done the jmt? Kicks your ass daily, best trout fishing anywhere, 15 at night, 75 day, snowtrails. Packin 50 lbs@13,900 feet. By far the most scenic 240 miles of the Usa and 2% will ever see it. Enjoy the fishfry.


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[j-bird]

My grandfather and father are the two primary influences in my outdoors addiction. They are/where mostly fisherman and small game hunters, dad trapped some as well, neither where deer hunters. When I was a kid if it held water I was willing to fish it! I grew up in town and we didn't have family property anywhere so I would find every skeeter invested mud puddle and drop a line if allowed. Had a BB gun since the 2nd grade and many a bird and chipmunk bit the dust as well. My life really changed where my grandparents bought 20 acres when I was roughly 12 years old. It had a small pond and that property has been a huge part of my life and is where I introduce my own kids to fishing.

 

[Turkey Creek]

One of my Grandpas was the one who lit the fire! With out him I would have never likely been as active in the outdoors.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Thanks guys for those great pics and reminisces, I can almost smell the wood smoke. Growing up on a farm where the work never seemed to end, at 8 years old I was always allowed to go trap or get fish and game for the table anytime I wanted to, and it beat working by a long shot. My dad got me started a little bit, but it was mostly a self taught experience, enjoyed alone type of thing. Later in life I had to learn to make a conscious effort to include others in my outdoors. Lucky that I did because now I have great friends and family that I can share these things with. Hopefully this encourages others not to be loners, it gets so much better when shared.

 

[j-bird]

We all tend to get a little "push" from somewhere. I have made it a goal of mine as a father to ensure my children all get that "push". Some have taken to it full bore, while others appreciate the outdoors but to a much lesser degree. I'm fine with that. I simply wanted to give them that opportunity. I am a self-taught deer hunter.....might be why I suck at it! But I have also found that hunting for small critters or even fishing shares many parallels. I will also say I prefer to hunt with kids. Yes they are a pain, but to see that excitement again is just awesome. I never appreciated what my dad went thru taking us fishing.....until I took my own fishing.....I will say he took 2 boys fishing.....I took 1 boy and 3 girls......man what a handful! I also see it as a teaching opportunity. kids naturally ask lots of questions and to be honest being out in it I think makes it sink in better. sure they learn about things in school but it's in a book or some electronic do-dad thing now days. Letting them get out and get dirty and wet and chase frogs and run from snakes and all those things is what being a kid is all about. Many kids don;t get that chance.....I made damn good and sure mine did!

 

[Blizzard Ridge]

My father doesn't hunt but I fished with both my grandad's on a regular basis. I moved up to rabbit and squirrel hunting with them when I was about 10. They were both gun hunter's but back in those days gun season was crazy with hundreds of guys together doing drives, killing their doe or whatever and heading home. My grandpa on my mom's side was a trapper, coon hunter and fox hunter. I spent a lot of time in the woods with him when I was young. He then had a heart attack and a couple strokes and was out of commission for a few years. Around 16 years old a buddy and I decided we were going to take up deer hunting. So I read everything I could find to teach myself how to hunt. I did some scouting and decided I would climb up on this bluff overlooking a creek bottom as my stand location. I walked in opening day of gun season sat down the sun came up and I killed my first deer (a old doe) and I couldn't be more proud of myself. From that day on I have been ate up with the deer hunting bug. At about 20 years old my grandpa was well enough to start going to the woods again with help. I would take him to fish and squirrel hunt. He decided he wanted to deer hunt so opening day of gun season I would pick him up and take him to the woods. I would walk him into a good stand location then back off far enough he didn't think I was hovering over him but close enough I could get to him if there was a problem. I did this for about 15 years. His last hunt he killed this nice little 8 point, it was probably the deer he was most proud of in his life of hunting. I had that deer mounted for him and hung it over his recliner so he could see it everyday. He never got to go to the woods again after that. He began to go downhill quickly. When hospice came in he wanted his deathbed set up right under his deer mount. So I moved his chair out of the room and put his bed right there in the living room. Within minutes of his last breaths he laid staring at his last hunting achievement and I could see his mind thinking about that great day as he passed away. He was the greatest man I ever knew. Not because he was a hard nosed, hard working great hunter but because he was a great man, honesty and integrity was his best quality. If he was needed he was there.

 

[Familytradition]

My dad has a farmer friend that would let us hunt any of his farms. Mostly grain and hogs, but he fed a few cattle out. He is literally being paid not to farm now. City folks don't like the smell of hogs. We often walked the fence rows and a small woodlot that he turned the sows out in for rabbits and squirrels. I never remember it being overly productive; there really wasn't a lot of cover. Usually got one or two around the barns. Though we never filled our limit at this place, I have some great memories.

We took care of farm one winter during an ice storm while the man was with a sick relative. My dad pulled
me around the farm while I "skied" holding onto the bumper. Man was my mom mad when I came home and told her. It was the time of my life, I just couldn't understand why she was so mad. I'm married now, so I get it.

Killed my only "tile coon" there. It's what we call the red phase, supposedly they got the color from spending time in old clay field tiles and was considered worthless. I thought it was the coolest animal that I ever saw.

My greatest memory on this farm involves the electric fence. We always had to unhook the the wire, so we could get around. Well one time we forgot. Grandpa handed me his gun and stepped over the fence. Got him right between the legs; he jumped 2 or 3 times before he could get off of it. Needless to say, I was rolling around on the ground.

The next time out, we unhooked the fence where we were told. Went and walked the eastern fence rows and my Grandpa walked over to pee on a tree; well the power to that fence didn't come from same place.

We didn't hunt there much after that; he said that there just weren't enough rabbits around there and that the road was getting too busy for the dogs. I think the electric fence was just too hot for him.


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[DocHolladay]

My brother carried me hunting and my dad carried me fishing. I am the youngest child at 43, with a sister who is 57 and my brother just turned 56. My dad would take me fishing from the bank and his friends would take us fishing in boats. My brother carried me squirrel and deer hunting the first time, carried me to my hunters safety class, taught me how to shoot rifles and shotguns and taught me woodsmanship. I learned rabbit hunting on my own.My grandfather was a big quail hunter, but by the time I was getting old enough, that he felt I could go hunting with him, he had a stroke and never was the same. I still hunt with my brother from time to time, but mostly hunt with friends and their kids.

 

[Scatterlandsfarms]

We was dirt poor because Dad died when I was 1 and I had no hunting relatives. and grew up in town in government housing .Then came the day when a old retired army guy moved in that hunted and fished all the time , I was about 12 then and he took me in and we hunted and fished for 10 or so years then his health took him out . After that I found a hunting buddy and have hunted with him the last 34 years and we are close as can be and I managed to purchase our own land we call Scatterlandsfarms because it was bought 10 to 15 acres at at time . We own and lease a total of 300 acres now in the Arkansas Ozarks , no really monster deer but we get our bucks each year and never shoot does because neighbors keep them thinned out . Its 5 days till our best season , muzzle loader and I get off work the entire season and he will be with me and im sure a couple bucks will fall but most of all will be 10 days on the farm enjoying the woods .

But I have a sadness in me because our kids are into the high tech world and really don't care for hunting and I would love to have someone to mentor and some day give the farm to that will love it and cherish it the way we do .

 

[Mennoniteman]

We was dirt poor because Dad died when I was 1 and I had no hunting relatives. and grew up in town in government housing .Then came the day when a old retired army guy moved in that hunted and fished all the time , I was about 12 then and he took me in and we hunted and fished for 10 or so years then his health took him out . After that I found a hunting buddy and have hunted with him the last 34 years and we are close as can be and I managed to purchase our own land we call Scatterlandsfarms because it was bought 10 to 15 acres at at time . We own and lease a total of 300 acres now in the Arkansas Ozarks , no really monster deer but we get our bucks each year and never shoot does because neighbors keep them thinned out . Its 5 days till our best season , muzzle loader and I get off work the entire season and he will be with me and im sure a couple bucks will fall but most of all will be 10 days on the farm enjoying the woods .

But I have a sadness in me because our kids are into the high tech world and really don't care for hunting and I would love to have someone to mentor and some day give the farm to that will love it and cherish it the way we do .

Great story. The only way you can repay your debt to the old army guy is to pass the experience on to another young person.

 

[X-farmerdan]

So many of the discussions we have here bump a lot of lost memories to the place in my brain where little light bulbs go off! Hunting was a tradition in our family. When kids came of age we were expected to be out there! I have a lot to say about that, but at another time.

I've been scanning old pictures, trying to preserve as much family history as I can find. It seems i'm so busy collecting and saving I never get to share the results. So, I beg your patience for a moment as I enjoy my father and grandfather. Hope you will, too if only for a couple seconds!

 

[Scatterlandsfarms]

funny I don't see any of those guys wearing fancy camo

 

[HB_Hunter]

Awesome pics everyone!

I owe it all to my dad. If he hadn't introduced me to hunting when I was young there is no way I would have ever had the patience to try it on my own. I still struggle sometimes, but getting older and lots of time sitting behind a desk through the week really help .