Was your Dad a deer hunter?

[Findian]

Yes he is, as was his dad. My mom is to, as was her dad.

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[Dewey]

My dad loved hunting, fishing and basically anything to do with the outdoors. My memories since very young always involved the outdoors and I can thank my dad for that. He always involved me and passed the torch so to speak. I lost him January 2014 and miss him every day. His passion for the hunt continues on thru me and I feel he is with me every step of the way.

If your dad is still around treasure that time and make the most of it now because you can never get it back.

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[briar]

My dad hunts and started me hunting, but to him it is pure relaxation, not a passion or something he has any interest in working at getting better at. Funny story, he taught me to look at deer tracks backwards until I was 16 years old and a friend of mine, with a sawed off hoof proved to him that the tracks went opposite of what he thought.

My dad is a fantastic man and a super father, but hunting is just not where he puts his heart at. If he isn't in his back yard he more than likely isn't going. It has to be ultra convenient and just a couple hours and he is happy just seeing a deer. I changed my whole life about 10 years ago to make sure that I was as close to my parents as I could be for as long as I have them. I could probably live in better hunting and have a job making better money, but I realized what was important and am happy with my choice every single day. I wanted to make sure I was 100% available any time my mom and dad have time (and its not much time) to stop by or do something.

I work in a nursing facility and I see every single day what happens to people at certain ages. I wanted to make sure I took full advantage of my parents when they were still well enough to enjoy it.

[Jeff G]

My dad was not a hunter. My grandpa was. I got to hunt with him for 3 years then he passed away. I had to teach myself. Fun to pass along the tradition to my son. I wish I knew what my 10 year old son now knows. I woulda killed a bunch of mega giants back in the day.

[moog5050]

Only hunter in my family and started at 42 years old killing my first deer with a bow. An oddity I know. Hoping to start the tradition with my kids though. My daughter seems more interested than my son.

[Lockdown]

Yes my Dad is a deer hunter. All he ever wanted was for me to be one too. I have a picture of me in a treestand in the backyard when I was 6 months old or so. You can see his hand hand holding me upright as he hid behind the tree. Whether it was deer or ducks he always had me hold or stand by whatever he killed and he'd take a picture. I can remember saying "but I didn't shoot it Dad, you did."

I'm very fortunate to have had such a great teacher. He killed two pope and young bucks 60 seconds apart in 1988 and it landed him in North American Whitetail, the March 1990 issue. Both of his aluminum arrows broke off but were still long enough for me to shoot out of my little red Bear kids bow. I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

We used to hang stands together and often times he would make me pick the tree I thought was best and have me explain why I picked it. Then he would give constructive criticism and show me the tree he picked and explain why.

I learned a ton from him. We spent a lot of time outdoors together in my youth. Deer hunting was always fun, but we were a holy terror for waterfowl. Spent a good bit of time fishing too. When I was real young he'd hook a fish and hand me his pole.

I'm trying to get him going on Beast tactics but it's becoming apparent that old habits die hard. I'm going to set him up a couple times this year and see if I can make him a believer.

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[Wlog]

My Dad started taking me with him scouting and hunting at an early age, probably 4-5. We hunted small game, squirrels, rabbits and dove. Around the same time, he got into bow hunting and I remember him buying a PSE bow from the local archery shop. It seemed like we were at that archery shop all the time. They used to rent out hunting videos and we would check out Pete Shepley or Barry Wensel movies and go home to watch them.

I couldn't wait for my Dad to get home from hunting so I could hear the story of whatever happened that day. When I was nine I got my first bow for Christmas but it would be a few more years until I could draw enough weight to hunt deer. Until then he would take me along occasionally and put me up in a stand 20 yards away from him to watch. He never did shoot one while I was there. In fact we hardly ever seen a deer while I was there. I probably fidgeted around too much.

When I was 14 my dad and two other guys rented a 50 acre patch of woods and I was able to go during gun season that year and kill my first deer. I was almost at a sprint when I got down out of the tree to go get my dad to tell him I got one. My Dad doesn't hunt much now but he still likes to hear how my hunting is going and what kind of bucks I'm seeing. One real special hunt we had was when I took him along with me about ten years ago to one of my spots and put him in a stand I hung. I heard a shot come from his direction at first light. It was the first shot on opening morning. The buck was a 13 point slob. I had to tease him when I got over to him. I said, "well Dad, I hung the stand, walked you to it and you shot the biggest deer of your life, if this were a paid hunt in Iowa you'd owe me 5 grand."

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[vermonthunter16]

My dad is not a hunter at all. He used to fish, but doesn't do that anymore either. Lots of working really. My uncle on my Mom's side was the one who introduced me to my hunting and fishing addictions. He started me out rifle hunting at 12 and I have since moved on to rifle, bow, turkey, ducks, really anything that involves being out of the house. Cool to think that I am now 24 and have spent half of my life hunting. Very cool to look back on these things.

[Whitetailaddict]

My Dad has hunted his whole life. His Dad only rifle hunted so my Dad taught himself about bow hunting and passed it on to all six of his boys. We grew up eating venison and preferred it over beef. My Dad didn't use a lot of the tactics taught on here although he knew a lot of basics and was successful quite often on some decent bucks which I believe was due to the amount of time he spent in the woods. He is stubborn in his ways to this day but I still cherish spending time in the woods with him as I know his days are becoming limited. He would always put us kids in what he thought would be the best spots and would have more bucks on the wall if not for doing this. Now he can no longer pull back a compound (which about killed him) due to a recent shoulder surgery and he must use a crossbow but still finds time to spend with his boys. Today I would rather him shoot a nice buck than me as I know I will have plenty of opportunities in my life. He is the first person I call when I get a nice buck and the first buck I shoot after he passes you will probably find a grown man bawling in the woods. I'm sorry for everyone's losses of their fathers/mentors and I agree to those who have said cherish every moment you can. We can shoot as many big bucks as we want but at the end of the day most people will remember us for the person we were and the lives we led and not the stack of antlers in the garage or on the wall.

[wickedbruiser]

Oh yes. Best times and memories were made with him. Can't express how lucky I am.

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[stash59]

Yeah my dad was a deer hunter. He told many stories about his life over and over. To the point I had them memorized.

It was the deer hunting stories that got me most intrigued. They lit the fire that now burns deep in my soul. He was basically a meat hunter, but killed a few really good bucks over the years. All with a gun. We hunted together during gun seasons from when I was 16 until I moved to Montana at age 30. Then it was me telling stories of my western escapades.

He's been gone about a decade now. So thanx again dad for all you did for me. Especially all those deer hunting stories!!!

[Ridgerunner7]

No my dad was a golfer. He went hunting a couple times but never stuck with it.

[UntouchableNess]

Dad caught the end of when there was loads of pheasants in Iowa (1950s and '60s), where he got spoiled hunting them. As the numbers dropped, he wasn't willing to put the boots on the ground needed to hunt them. Iowa deer hunting was in its infancy at that time, so again, he wouldn't put forth the effort. I seem to recall him telling me that he went deer hunting once with some friends, but he never killed one. Dad and I pheasant hunted together, but never deer hunted.

He was more of a fisherman.

[Jphunter]

My Dad hunts but I think he really just enjoys being in the outdoors. His passion is fishing.

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[mipubbucks24]

As long as I can remember my dad deer hunted. I know it started when he moved the family from Florida to Michigan. He taught both us boys the basics of hunting. He is by no means a great hunter, just loved sharing God's creation with us. Some of my best memories are of hunting or fish with him. He shot a 8 point the day after thanksgiving around 2005. Both us boys were hunting within 100 yards. He dropped it in its tracks and let out a loud ya-hoo. We both came running, it was such a great hunt. I help him drag it out of the woods he always says I was dragging the deer and him out. The last few years he has gotten back into archery because Michigan passed the crossbow law, At first I hated it, just saw it as more competition in the bow woods but now I am glad because it gives us more opportunities to hunt together.

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