Same here. My dad didn't hunt much and I wanted to so I got a bow and some arrows and a BB gun and learned how to get close enough the birds in the trees and on the ground for shot. I used to go up and down that old creek on my old property where I grew up ( there is a warehouse where my house used to be now) But after I grew up a little bit my uncle would take me hunting and I wound up with the shotgun I used to kill my first dove and my only turkey. That 870 taught me the basics and when they (my dad and uncles) gave me my own shotgun a single shot 20 , I had to learn to use that. I only got to use that from then on. Scratch a quail trip where I used the 870 again, for my first quail. I took it from there and killed my first deer with a friend at his lease. So read a lot and find a place to take a hunter safety course as it is required if you were borne after the 50's or so. And the course will give you some general info and a book that will have good safety notes in it for field safety. Good luck man, But I should warn you, it is like anything else you go the first time and after that you start saving up for next years elk season and buying a better riffle and o bow hunting............... and then you're hooked.I'm mostly self taught. My dads grew up fatherless & poor & was more or less treated as the bird dog by his older brothers, so he wasn't into it. I grew up reading all the outdoor magazines then books. I really believe it's in us all, some more then others. After all we are designed as predators.
I really want to hunt(cant for a while though). I know little to nothing about hunting, hunting equipment, location, season, and Hunting Rifles...
So who taught you everything you know? When was your first hunt?
My uncle Keith taught me the basics. My father was an outdoorsman, but he was killed in a boat accident when I was 3. My stepfather was a great man, but he was not an outdoorsman. But the urge to hunt was in my genes I guess, so my mother got me together with her younger brother to teach me the hunting basics and safety at first. From then, it was friends, Boy Scouts, and lots of reading.
My first hunt was for ducks in southern Louisiana. From there, I branched out to rabbits and squirrels as well. I didn't hunt deer for the first time until I was 32 years old (8 years ago).
I see you list San Antonio as one of your two locations. I'm local, and would be happy to get together with you sometime to go over things in person - maybe even get together for a range day or something.
"GI" John - are you military? If so, you should come out to Camp Bullis. That's where I'm hunting this year.
All the best,
Glenn
My grandfather.