[jimsdad]

Naturally, I can only speak for myself. Nobody turned me into a hunter, I think I was just born into it. My dad did not hunt until it became apparent to him that I was going to accompany my 2 uncles and their sons hunting at their invitation and with his permission. I read and re-read every outdoor magazine I could find, made paster of paris cast of animal tracks, learned the names of trees and how to navigate in the woods - without much help from anyone. Eventually, my dad bought a couple of shotguns and off we went, both of us learning at the same time. The fondest memories I have of my dad are when he and I were hunting. That's when we actually spoke to each other and got to know each other. Maybe there is a way to turn a child into a hunter, but I don't know what it is. I introduced both my son and daughter to the outdoors at young ages, hiking, watching animals and introducing them to the joys of the 4 seasons and respecting nature. The both hate the outdoors and will have nothing to do with it. I tried everything I knew of and spent a great deal of money trying to get them interested in some aspect of the outdoors but they would not appreciate it or my efforts. My wife cautioned me not to "force" anything and they would eventually come arround. I agreed with her and took it light. Writing this kind of breaks my heart because along with all the other failures I have regarding the raising of my kids - this one, this love of hunting and the outdoors, was the one I very much wanted to leave them with. Well, I got far afield there and became self centered. I appoligize for that. I sincerely hope you have far and away much better success than I did.