Do you remember your first?

[Chad]

For you guys that grew up with dads that hunted, do you remember some of the first few times you were introduced to the game he brought home?

Tonight was the first for my daughter (up close anyway), and she didn't miss a detail. She started out in awe of the "funny greenishy-purplie head." Then noticed the yellow bill with black tip, the orange feet, the "weird wavy lines over there," and the "cool curley tails."

It was amazing to watch her discovery of the "Mallard Duck," and it made me appreciate again the amazing level of detail in creation (sorry Darwinians ).

About the only thing she missed was the speculum. So when I stretched out the wing and showed it to her, she just stood there and looked at it, not saying a word (very rare for her). Finally she asked if she could have one of those shiny feathers to keep forever... Sure, hun.

[Catfishsteve]

I remember how rabbits smelled when my gramp would bring them home when I was little. That's about all he ever got small game hunting, but everytime I put a rabbit on my pouch, it reminds me of my grandparents home.

I remember always being fascinated by their little feet and claws.

[Phishful Thinking]

Chad, I don't remember my first experience with duck hunting (probably because I was 5 years old) but one good memory I do have is the first duck I shot myself. I was 12 and didn't have a hunters safety card yet, so I still had my BB gun (pretending) to be a true hunter like my dad. A gadwall landed in the decoys while we were cooking some breakfast. My dad told me to grab his gun and take a shot at it. I can't even describe the feeling I had running through my body, "I get to take a shot at a duck with a REAL gun???" I just wanted to make the old man proud. I grabbed his gun and took the safety off, he yelled real loud to scare it up and I started following it with my bead, followed it, followed it, my dad finally says, "Take a Shot!!!" not yet though, gave it about 2 more second until I was sure of the lead and fired, BANG, one bruised shoulder later and I had my first duck. I still can't believe I made that shot, luck was on my side that day. I was so nervous that I waited until the thing was over 50 yards away until I shot, luckily my dad always uses a full choke. Anyways my dog went and got him for me and I will never forget that feeling of holding an animal in my hand that I harvested myself. Still have the picture of me and my dog with the gadwall. That is an experience will never forget. I am glad that your daughter was able experience the sport. I just hope she will keep on going out there with dad and someday she will be able to harvest her own 1st duck and receive the feeling I did 11 years ago, a feeling of pride and accomplishment. A feeling that you made your dad proud!

[thedarkarcher]

one of my first hunts was with my uncle who took a doe with his recurve bow as i sat on the platform of his treestand(i know, it was very dangerous...even i thought so.) but...it was very exhilarating and i was hooked, lost in the pages of outdoor life when all my friends were looking at their grandmas' j.c. penny catalogues.

[blinddukisland]

I have a couple....

My dad took me with him bowhunting one evening. He had to carry me over water and set up in a tree stand about 40 yards away from him. All he told me was to be very quiet and look around. I ended up with about 10 deer all within 10 yards of my stand and he had nothing close to his.

The second was the first day duck hunting. Again...I got carried to the boat, out of the boat and onto the island. I had my BB gun with me of course. I remember some "crap duck" landed outside of the decoys and my dad told me I could shoot at it with my BB gun. Beleive it or not I hit the freaking thing (of course didn't kill it) but scared it pretty dang good. I still have a picture of that first season with my dad and I standing in the boat...me holding a greenhead in each hand. Good memories.

I would have to say the waterfowling gene got passed down to me. My mom always made comments to my dad "What did you do to him?" since everytime in the fall when we drove by water I was looking for birds.

Note to Chad...dang good post. I think most of in here have to be thankful someone passed the hunting heritage down.

[Hookem]

Remember well my first mallard at an age when first could go along with my unc who introduced me and my cousin to hunting. Couldn't wait to get up in morning; he gave us some cold old donuts and said to dress warm, we headed out to the old jeep, dark as heck and cold! Drove along the bluff roads of the MO south of Ne City down to the bottoms and still can remember that smell of the bottoms!

Got to the blind, unc started the oil heater and I looked around thinking this was truely amazing! Was shooting a 410 and could carry gun myself! Early that morning (how I will never know) but dropped a mallard, my first ever, and got it back to blind and kept thinking about how deep orange those feet were and that head color was neat as all get out!!! Hooked thereafter; it wasn't just the shot itself but also the feeling of waiting to go, the drive in that jeep, the darkness walking to blind and the smells of the bottom and the first duck, my unc calling on the call and telling us to keep our heads down, and still remember the beat of the wings above us........will always remember that like yeserday.!! My unc is gone now but he was a real hero to me all my life and remains so in my memeories!! I was the luckiest kid ever to have an unc like him!!

Since that time many years ago, I also introduced my son to duck hunting in a similar way and even today keep a full blown pic of him at age 9 with his first mallard ever!! One of the neatest pics ever had of him and now he is 32 years old.I am as proud of him now as that day he got his first!!

And equally as proud of him when he shot his first squirrel with a 22 and scope. It was sprawled across a limb on other side of creek so told him to take a shot. He waited and waited and finally pulled trigger. I never really expeced him to make that shot but to my pleasant surpirse he nailed it clean. After wading across the creek and eventually getting home, showed him how to skin it out and that evening we had that squirrel for supper, not a big feast by any mean, but a real experience we both recall all these years later!!

Alot of memories in the outdoors....both hunting and fishng! Doesn't get any better other then a new grandchild!!

[Chad]

Wow - some pretty cool stories of first times. Thanks for sharing!

This is great, Hookem!

...it wasn't just the shot itself but also the feeling of waiting to go, the drive in that jeep, the darkness walking to blind and the smells of the bottom and the first duck, my unc calling on the call and telling us to keep our heads down, and still remember the beat of the wings above us........will always remember that like yeserday.!! My unc is gone now but he was a real hero to me all my life and remains so in my memeories!! I was the luckiest kid ever to have an unc like him!!

[Ty Stromquist]

Wow great stories guys.

I cant even remember my first hunt but growing up on the farm with a small river near by and lots of crp and creek beds I had plenty of hunting in my youth days. In fact its about all I did. My dad bought me a 3 wheeler and I trapped, hunted, and fished all year long. It was the lifestyle I would love to raise my kids in but acreages these days are insanely priced.

Now days I have my own boys and I have been introducing them to hunting and fishing almost daily from the start. Hunting they love to check out the birds and keep their feathers. The deer they just love to see. I am thinking this weekend I will be taking the 4 year old on his first goose hunt. He of course wont be shooting but will be having fun taking it all in.

Fishing, well.......... I took those boys out about 3 times a week and spent a ton of time in the boat. If they werent catching bass, bluegill, and crappie it was helping dad get the carp into the bucket when we went bowfishing. Had so much fun and will promise to take them out and their freinds for years to come.

[fishman34]

I remember my first mallard, and it actually wasn't all that long ago. It was when tc_topshot and I were sophomores in highschool. We went to Calamus in search of ducks. After not getting any at the river, we went to the lake. We ended up jumping 2 mallards and shooting them both, it was awesome. As for my first pheasant, Dad and I were hunting some awesome habitat, an ungrazed hill that has corn and beans surrounding it. Dad was walking the outside edge , i was about 20 yards from him and Cocoa was working between us. A rooster flushed about 10 yards in front of me and I dropped him with my trusty ol youth model 20 guage Remington. I was so excited that I got to it before the dog. It had the longest tail feather that dad had ever seen, it was probably 19 inches. I was so thrilled, an experience that will never be forgotten, and one that when I have kids, I hope they experience, and will do everything in my power to make it happen.

[Elwood]

Mine was riding in the car as the ol'man road hunted pheasants in Iowa. Now let me tell the story of my son's first hunting experience. I had been bowhunting Two Rivers for several years, and had a good feel to where the deer were and where the other hunters were. Finally convinced the Mrs that it would be perfectly safe. I constructed a large,heavy wooden ladder stand for him to sit in, and a hang on for me. I placed this set up about a month prior to hunting it. I was hunting near by, and you could set your watch to a couple of does that would come out under the ladder stand. Finally the day came, I took a saturday off of work, and off to the stand. We climb up, get sat down, and see another bowhunter sitting 30 yrds away. He sees us, climbs down, and comes over. Turns out it is a kid, my guess would be 14 tops, he says, sorry, we didn't see your stand when we hung it yesterday. I say, sorry, right back, and off he goes. Two minutes later, here comes the father. He is P.O.ed!!! He starts cussing me a new one!! I take this for about a minute before politely reminding him I have done nothing wrong. Now I am the kind of guy that is not above violence when ticked off. I told myself, take the high road in front of your son, In a calm voice I thanked him for a lasting memory of my son's first hunt. He must of felt assamed and they walked away. My son wrote a nice story about his first hunt for a school project. He told of a great day out with his dad. How we saw two does, and a buck passing by. This was the second time we went out, he just chose to erase it from his memory. I however have not! If this guy is on the forum,,,please arrange to meet me after work!!! I would like to react the way I really wanted too!

[Elwood]

Just about forgot. The buck in my avatar came that very stand.

[tc_topshot]

I have so many....

My father and I used to do alot of phesant hunting when I was younger and we had tons of birds around. Now we are lucky to see a hen, little alone a rooster at home.

This is the first phesant I ever helped to harvest (assit with a BB gun after dad shot two in one shot). The BB was later recovered by my father's teeth while enjoying his meal that night..




This is my first banded phesant. My father wounded this bird, so I played bird dog and chased it down and rang its neck.




And one of my last "firsts" was my 2006 archery procupine shot during early bow season. We have had a problem with them destroying trees in shelter belts in the past few years and this guy walked right out in front it me.

.

somewhere at home I have my first deer and duck pictures, but I can't find them at the moment.

[BPbowhunter]

I remember my first pheasant very well. I had hunted a whole year trying to get my first bird, and the end of the season came without accomplishing that. The next year I set out on the same mission. This time about a month into the season it finally happened. I had watched some birds go into this corner earlier that morning, so I started walking through it, and not 10 yards into it 3 roosters flushed up. I shot once and dropped him. It was a great feeling to see him drop after missing so many shots the year before. I don't think I'll ever forget that.

[wneb.fisher]

Growing up my family lived in a trailor court at the edge of town. There was a big field right across the street that would always rotate corn, beets, and wheat. Some of my first memories are of my dad getting geared up to go hunting. I would watch him walk out the door and acroos the street. He would always bring back something. I alwas had to have the tail feathers off the roosters.

I also remember him coming home from a goose hunt with one of his best friends. I was probably 3 or 4 years old. It is the only time that he went goose hunting that I can remember. He got home after dark and brought home one goose. He brought it into the kitchen and he showed me everything about it. We took pictures and then he went to clean it. I dont remember helping him do that. I look back at those pictures and the first thing that runs through my head is "Mom would NEVER let me bring any dead animals into the house and she let dad bring a large dead goose into the kitchen?!?!" Makes me laugh now. Ahhh .... Good times!

[Chad]

Check this out... I think that mallard made quite the impression on my 5-year-old. When I came home last Friday, this was on the fridge! Great detail and I love that 2nd little baby duck all draked out already!

[Ty Stromquist]

Chad,

encouraging. Thats awesome

[John]

I love it, Chad. I wish mine would draw them instead of running around quacking and honking as loud as they can, but atleast they are interested in fowl.