With All the Personal Notes and Prayers sent to Doris and the Bush family, it has me thinking. Who in your life, past or present, that has made a GREAT impact and contributed to your LOVE of the Outdoors?
For me, it has been Clark Bush, Paul Knox (AKA dbltree) and my Grandparents, William and Arfie Rich. All of these people, were always willing to share their Time and Great Information, to spark my Love for Turkey hunting, growing quality food for whitetails and turkeys and my love for trout fishing. I didn't personally know Clark or Paul but the knowledge that they imparted will be used and shared for the rest of my life. Great people that have taken their time to provide knowledge to many.
2 of my brothers.
A childhood friend and his dad. I didn't have a father in my life growing up and none of my family hunted. I had a friend that I played baseball with that loved to hunt and fish. His dad (nicknamed Gator) came to all of our ball games and he noticed that I never had a dad or any family at the games, so he started always inviting me to go fishing with him and his sons. It soon turned into including hunting and other family events.
I learned a lot more than just hunting and fishing from Gator. He was a great guy and mentor in more ways than one. We lost him about 6 years ago and I miss him every day.
Brother and 2 uncles ..
Honestly, I feel like I was born to be in the outdoors.
From the time I could walk, I had toy guns and was started off with a BB gun around the age of 4-5. First pellet gun at 7, then quick progression to .22s and shotguns. We lived around a lot of woods and a 10 minute walk to a reservoir.
If there was an influence, I guess I would say my Dad and his friends. I killed my first deer with my Uncle (my Dad was in Colorado elk hunting at the time) after laying out of school to go with him. I was also with my best friend from childhood and his Dad that day. His Dad is like another Dad to me and our dads hunted together their whole lives. We were taken on dove hunts, deer hunts, fishing, even rabbit tracked in the rare snows. We were rarely left out.
I grew up a tight knit community where everyone knows everyone and all of us kids are still friends.
If not for my mother taking out of her day to take me to the lake or the woods and sit and wait on me to enjoy the outdoors I may have not ever been an outdoorsman. Then my grandfather who helped foster my passion of being outdoors. Then there are 3 of my best friends that I meet because of my love the for the outdoors all of which were way older than me. The first is Edwin Williams (Mr. Williams to me) we met because of a little dog called a beagle. Mr. Williams and I met when I was 12 years old and he took me under his wing and taught me all he could about beagles, rabbit hunting, and fishing. We were friends for over 30 years until his passing at 84. The second is Earl Lawrence whom I met because of his daughter in high school and from then on we crappie fished together for over 30 years and also hunting together. Third was Charles Cannon ( Bubba to me) another Beagler who taught me more about beagles, field trailing beagles and rabbit hunting. Of course they all taught me about life and helped me through a lot of peaks and valleys.
My parents took me on great camping trips in PA during my childhood. All started from there.....
Crazy thing is I didn't know how great the trips where till decades later.
Parents had the biggest influence without a doubt.
My father early in my life, my older brother a bit later.
Funny my Grandfather and my Dad, neither hunted, Grandfather had the land and my Dad took me there every week, I learn to work the land from both of them, then they would let me go fish and hunt on my own, I remember the first time my Grandfather watched me catch a fish with a rod and reel, he watched with amazement because he had only saw fish caught with a cane pole..
My Dad and Mom. Hunting and fishing was our thing. Put meat on the table.
My Daddy. Miss him and thank him every time I hit the woods and water.
My Uncle, he had the rabbit dogs and my whole family hunted with him.
My Dad started taking me with him at a young age. That planted the seed,
and he also had 2 friends we hunted with that would tell stories of hunts
from various places.
If I had to pick one person I would say my Grandfather. However he was never a serious turkey hunter and we never really hunted together until I was an adult. But as a kid I remember helping him skin deer and I was always listening to his hunting stories. I must have inherited his love for the outdoors because it has always just been there. I was always surrounded by deer hunters and tagged along with lots of people, however I only knew 2 serious turkey hunters and they helped a little to get me started when i showed my infatuation with turkeys. After one hunt that we never even heard a gobble i was on my own.The older I get the more I believe that some are just born hunters and some are not. I couldn't and don't want to imagine life without it. I was raised with the belief that a true man was capable of obtaining food from the woods as well as be handy with his hands. He may not be a superstar at everything but he was fairly self-sufficient.
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Grandad the most. He started taking me when I was probably 5 or 6 fishing ponds and stuff. Then it was inshore saltwater, offshore as I got older and some ducks and small game. Then as I got a bit older into the big double digit years he was in his 70's and still chauffer driving me places, but it kinda became me taking him. He would rarely if ever even shoot his gun and definitely just loved being with me and watching me come alive and grow in front of him.
I was probably 11 or 12 and he gave me the confidence to start venturing into turkeys on my own and he would just sit in the truck back then while I went after them with his old Lynch World Champ he had bought but never got to use. Didn't have turkeys or at least a season where he was from. This was in the 80's and I made lots of blunders and didn't know what I was doing, just learning along the way. It took a few years to finally kill one and by then he had already passed. I sure did thank him a lot though because without him I might have never have got the first and without all those days with him I likely would of gotten into a lot more trouble in life like I started to after he was gone. I realized though no amount of fun or trouble nearly compared to those days in the field. So, he didn't just introduce me to hunting but greatly directed the path of the rest of my life.
My Dad first and my son second. There's nothing like being in the outdoors and getting up early in the morning and seeing what God is going to provide for that day.
Retch Sweeney, Jim Corbett and Zane Grey
But mostly My Grandfather, Dad and a couple of Uncles
My Dad. I grew up fishing with him, and at 15 he introduced me to hunting. I miss him every day.
Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.
Quote from: crow on September 17, 2021, 10:13:49 PM
Retch Sweeney, Jim Corbett and Zane Grey
But mostly My Grandfather, Dad and a couple of Uncles
I laughed at Retch Sweeney and company so many times. Zane Grey was an awesome read too. Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and Sports Afield were always part of my youthful reading.
My father was quite the hunter in his younger years. We hunted together some, but by Jr. High I was in the woods or on the water almost daily on my own. It's always been a part of who I am.
I picked up turkey hunting all on my own around the age of 40, I didn't even know anyone who hunted them but they opened the season where I hunt and I just had to try.
Me,myself and I
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My Dad. He took me on my first hunt before I could legally hunt. I tagged along and loved it. I was about 10 years old. We managed to bag a nice cock pheasant that day. He loved hunting squirrels and rabbits and so do I to this day. He was not a turkey hunter however. Together we killed a lot of whitetail deer also. He was a great woodsman. He has been gone for over three years and I think of him every day especially the days I go to the woods. Miss him greatly. He was a real good man.
My Grandpa and my Dad. My Dad bought me my first shotgun at age 6 or so for Christmas. First hunt was a rabbit hunt with Dad with a light snow on the ground. Remember it like it was yesterday. Matter of fact, the very first turkey hunt was with my Grandpa, Dad, and my Uncle (Dad's Brother in Law). I didn't pack a gun on this hunt but got to be included with them. Day before the hunt Dad told me out of the blue, I'm going to take you Turkey hunting with us tomorrow. I remember that like it was yesterday as well. Been over 40 years ago now. We all piled in my Uncle Joe's black 4x4 Chevy short bed and we drove 10 miles or so away as in them days there weren't that many turkeys around our place. None got a gobbler that morning but just to hear them gobbling drive up my pulse off the charts! No doubt I was hooked! We had a big hunting family. Dad had 3 brothers and there were lots of cousins of mine. Grandpa's house was the hub during turkey season. It was EXPECTED to report back details of every hunt successful or not he wanted to hear it. His mind was on turkeys 24/7/365. Everything was about TURKEYS in his world. He's buried down the road at a little cemetery with the rest of our ancestors and on his tombstone is a carving of him sitting by a tree with 2 strutting gobblers working in....
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The good Lord.
Boy Scouts taught me how to camp.
My Dad taught me how to fish.... I taught my self how to catch fish.
A friend's, mom's, boyfriend took me duck hunting for the first time but not again for some years.
Step Brother took me for my first Deer.
None of these people influenced me, or told me to go again. Besides my dad I seeked the others out to get me started in a particular field. BUT I have always said the outdoors was my sanctuary, my church, my time with God. I dont know what going outside would be like if I didnt look out and think "Thank you Lord"
"Would you rather a man be at Church thinking about hunting or hunting thinking about God."
I go out to find the Lord and connect with him to see what I can do better in my life. AND to enjoy his beauty all around.
My Dad was the first to take me hunting & fishing. I never really needed any encouragement.
Didn`t know my kin till dad retired from service then we moved to where my mom`s family lived. Dad took me fishing. My uncle`s had rabbits and bird dogs. They would gather us kids up and we would make a day of it. I was hooked. I had a uncle blind in one eye and he carried a single shot goose gun. Sometimes he would have only 2 or 3 shells. I asked him why he carried so few. He said that`s all I want to get 2 or 3 rabbits.
Never seen him miss. He was a true mentor for me. In my 70`s now and I so much appreciate those days!
My grandfather who ran beagles for over 50 years, then my Dad who deer hunted and taught me to turkey hunt.
May sound stupid to some but Will Primos, had I not seen his videos in the early to mid 90's I never would have gotten into turkey hunting. Other than that a group of friends that got me started in hunting in the early 90's, I am grateful to them for them getting me started with deer hunting. Never owned a gun til I was 21 or 22 I took my hunters safety course in 86 but my father was electrocuted to death on a construction job so I never got to go out with him hunting on my own, I had been in the woods with him once and shot with he and some friends a time or two but that was it.