Mom and dad both grew up on small farms during the depression.
Mom in W Va and dad in Ohio.
As kids they hunted for food for the family.
They went pheasant hunting on their honeymoon in Findlay, Ohio.
Used to be famous for pheasant hunting.
Mom gave dad a 1957 Sweet 16 as a wedding present and ironically he gave her a 57 Light 20.
Then a few years later dad got into the fast draw craze of the 1960s and started collecting and shooting Colt SAAs.
Mom shot with him too. They had a range and timer set up in the basement where they would practice every evening.
I was born in Dec of 62. Christmas I was 12 days old.
Under the tree was another A5 Light 20 with my name on it though I wasn't big enough to shoot it until I was 9 years old.
Dad started taking me rabbit hunting with him and my uncle when I was about 2-3 years old.
Started me on a Red Rider BB gun in the back yard at age 4 and I quickly became very frustrated.
He'd blow up balloons and tell me to shoot them, I couldn't hit squat.
One afternoon mom came home from work and said " go grab your BB gun, I wanna try something."
She blew up a balloon and told me to shoot it, of course I missed.
She said" This time, put the rifle on your right shoulder rather than your left."
Low and behold I broke it, and the next 5 .
Dad was left handed and assumed I was as well, boy was he ever wrong.
Dad was an avid wing shooter and started me on a single shot bolt action 410 that had been his first shotgun at age of 5.
Took me dove and duck hunting at age 7.
We started shooting clays w a group of his friends and by age 8 he had me reloading shotgun shells.
At 9 he introduced me to handguns, and by 12 I was reloading handgun ammo on my own on a Rock Chucker that I am still loading rifle ammo on to this day.
Dad never deer hunted a lot until I got into high school and that was only because I got the bug.
He only owned 3 centerfire rifles in his life, a 740 Remington in 280, a Model 81 in 300 Savage and a Browning A Bolt in 30-06.
He shot that 740 for over 50 years until part of the action bars wore out and the rifle wouldn't cycle reliably.
The only 22s dad had were both Brownings
A Grade III Belgian Auto and a Grade 2 BL22.
So yeah I was raised by a gun guy.
When dad passed in 2000 he had 67 Colts and Browning's one or two Remington's and a couple of Mdl12s in the safe.
I still have them all.
As far as the rifle looney part ?
I am self taught.
