I grew up in a non shooting or hunting family in Massachusetts. Pestered my parents for a BB gun and a 22 rifle and had them by the time I was 14. You had to be 14 and pass a hunter safety class to get a license back in Mass. then as I remember it. I bought my 1st shotgun,a 16ga Fulton, when I was about 16 and killed my 1st Ruffed Grouse with it which were the only native birds we had to hunt. I bought a 12 ga Sterlingworth in 1966 and I still use it occasionally. The pheasants we hunted there were all stocked by fish & game.
Moved to the MidWest(Ind & Il) where I attended college and discovered that several classmates had grown up on farms there and were hunters so I developed a fondness for Quail hunting. We also went to Nebraska for Pheasants and Ducks yearly and an occasional Prairie Chicken. I shot deer in both Wisconsin and Il. The deer hunting in Il. was the best I've ever seen and I filled my tag every year.
Since I moved to Arizona I've done some big game(deer & elk) hunting but not much bird hunting which is something I wish to change this year and I'm hoping to link up with some of the posters on this site. I used to shoot a lot of trap and skeet but a rotator cuff problem limits that these days.
It's looks like we're in for a bumper crop of Gambel Quail this year and I had a pair in my suburban yard this morning with 18 chicks.
Jim

Last edited by italiansxs; 06/13/08 01:10 PM.
The 2nd Amendment IS an unalienable right.