Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Was your Father a Shooter/Reloader

Yep. Dad shot and hunted. A natural athlete, he was a fantastic wing shot.

It was an interesting way to grow up. All the gun companies sent Dad practically every new gun introduced, so I got to shoot a wide variety .

My Dad was not a shooter or hunter. Though as he got older, he enjoyed fishing. However, Dad passed in '83 and my step-father, Doc, grew up in Pennsylvania and was a lifetime hunter. When he found out my husband wrote for Field & Stream (Mule Deer) he was thrilled.
We got to hunt with him one time, shortly after he and Mom married, but by then he was pretty old and his eyes were failing. (Well, and other things too.) But my Mom bought him lots of the latest in base layers, and John had him apply for an early season doe whitetail tag, which he drew. So, early October they came to Montana, and John brought along a couple of chairs they could sit on, and extra binoculars and had Doc sight-in at our house. John sat Doc down at a shooting bench, and watched as Doc wiggled and squirmed trying to get the target lined up. After a few minutes of this, Doc asked if he could just stand up and shoot. Sure, John said. And Doc very quickly punched the bullseye three times. He was deadly offhand at 100 yards.
So off they went hunting. First was a morning hunt, along a willowy creek, with cut wheat on both sides, and as they approached the cover John planned to set Doc down in, Doc reached into his pocket, grabbed his flashlight, and scanned the edge of the willows with it. Doe eyes everywhere. The evening hunt was no more productive. As they walked into the cut wheat field, and approached the edge of the deeper cover, Doc did not pull his flashlight out. John had politely made clear that was a no-no. What he did do, however, was have just a wee bit of trouble unfolding his chair, rattling it noisily. Crash, bang, huff, huff. And that was all she wrote.
Great shot, bad instincts. But he had fun teasing my Mom about my hunting, at one point parading my Browning A-Bolt .270 into the living room and announcing, "Cece, this is Eileen's gun." I wish I'd been around him when he was younger..... He was a lot of fun.
PS Mom gave us his rifle when he passed away. A Western Field .270.

My Dad was never a shooter, when he grew up, he used a remington targetmaster on gophers.

Later on he bought a Ruger 10/22, used that for pest control around the farm.
He inherated a cooey 71 from his Dad, not even shot a box of shells

When I got my PAL, basically started his collecting of .22's.

Up here in Canada we had the liscence system, PAL, before that was FAC, Dad had his FAC for many years, he didn't know that he could by guns.
When I bought my first rifle he learned that he was good to go.

It's been around 3 1/2 years and He's been collecting all kinds of .22's he likes the pump type, like the winchester 61.

Have told you I got to hunt doves, perdiz and ducks with Grits in 1996. He was indeed a fine shotgunner--and a great to hang around with!

Father was neither a shooter or hunter. Maternal Grandfather was but was getting long in the tooth so only got to ground sluice a few grouse as he drove the car along back roads before he wasn't able to do that. I was the youngest grandson my older brothers got a bit more time with him, neither of them continued to hunt or shoot after they got into the later teen years. I couldn't get enough and hunted/fished on my own since about 11 or 12 even though I wasn't legally old enough or had a licence to do so on my own. I'd go to gramps place, take the 22 or the 20 gauge single shot, head up the hill in the woods behind the house and shoot the odd grouse or rabbit. Sometimes shot an annoying red squirrel but not often, ammo was to precious to waste on them.