Who has Impacted your Love for the Outdoors?

[FLGobstopper]

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.

[lacire]

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.

[crow]

Retch Sweeney, Jim Corbett and Zane Grey

But mostly My Grandfather, Dad and a couple of Uncles

[RutnNStrutn]

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.

[Tail Feathers]

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. 

[fallhnt]

Me,myself and I

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[WildTigerTrout]

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.

[Cowboy]

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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[avidnwoutdoorsman]

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.

[grayfox]

My Dad was the first to take me hunting & fishing. I never really needed any encouragement.

[Old Timer]

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!

[Spellnj3]

My grandfather who ran beagles for over 50 years, then my Dad who deer hunted and taught me to turkey hunt.

[Sir-diealot]

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.