[TreeDoc]

Interesting thread.....provides for some real reflection.

I'd have to say my brother, Pat. Though we don't necessarily see eye to eye these days, I'll give credit where credit is due. My Dad wasn't the hunter type but when I was just a little guy I remember my older brother's interest in Dove hunting. My Dad didn't really promote it but he never turned him from it. I remember my brother who is 7 years my elder, received a High Standard 20 gauge for Christmas one year when he was in High School. He used to Dove hunt with his friends and they took me along one year when I was 12. The first and only bird I shot that day wasn't a dove however, it was a small owl. It's kind of funny now that I think about it some 32 years later but I remember I felt pretty bad at the time. I was just too excited to shoot a dove and this is what came flying by. I guess I didn't have much guidance then. That's changed a lot.

Anyway, later on in years my brother got heavily involved in Duck hunting and I was exposed to that a few times as well. I didn't do much of any hunting for a few years later but got myself into guns in general. When I went away to college after my Navy service time, I ended up in a place that had a fair amount of hunting and fishing going on. I started quail hunting a lot, then Deer/Pig, and then got absolutely stupid over Duck hunting. I'm still stupid over Ducks and now when I'm not doing that, I'm fishing for Tuna, Rockfish, or Bass. I decided this year that Deer hunting is pretty much a thing of the past for me. I drilled a nice big buck in Colorado last November but after 7 or 8 years of up and down mountains and all the money I have spent in pursuit, it's just a little too late.