Started hunting with a bow and a BB gun when I was 12. About that time I got my first squirrel with a BB gun...a fox squirrel shot in the eye at about 8 feet! Soon after a cottontail with a arrow...he was in his bed. That was 1960. My father couldn't afford to buy me a gun so I first bought a .22 bolt gun around 1960, and then a shotgun in 1962. I was working on a ranch so I had money. No car, but a bicycle. I read all the books and magazines about hunting and fishing I could. An early favorite was Scattergunning, by Ray P. Holland. I remember him liking #7 shot and 12 gauges with IC/F chokes.

I first bought an Ithaca Model 37 12 gauge for $74.48. With it I killed the first bird I shot at... a dove with the first shot. Went on to shoot the first duck, a Susie, and the first pheasant...each with the first shot at the species. I killed the first two squirrels I shot with the 12...a pair of grays running through the tree tops. Then I found geese...shot the first three geese I shot at...a triple on lesser Canadas...

Is that enough history?

Now I shoot as much as ever and use doubles but miss many shots!