We often talk about Fathers, grandfather or other people that passed on the tradition of hunting.

But how about Mom?

My mother never hunted but oh what a part of a hunting family she was!

From taking pictures, to helping butcher, cooking at deer camp, and just putting up with 3 boys and a father who were all very avid hunters. The MANY times she patiently listened as we all discussed hunting. wrapping a 22 rimfire to put under the Christmas tree.. hauling us Boys around trapping. Putting up with skunk smell.

My mom and I once skinned and totally cut up and butchered a buck and were cleaning things up in 20 minutes. Yet........She was a real lady, dressed up and worked in an office as an accountant for Hershey foods.

And now my wife of 33 yrs 5 hunting kids and me...lol...Never hunted, never will, yet so very much a part of it all.

God bless those mom's.

My Mom hunted plenty. Her old Fox side by side double .410 accounted for many a bird on the wing. Pheasants and Quail trembled in fear when she went bustin through the brush. I miss those days afield with my Mom and Pop.

My Mom drove through a snow storm to our hunting camp to cook venison liver and onions from my first deer. She always supported our hunting. My wife doesn't care to hunt,( she calls it deer waiting), but helps with butchering, and helps me hang and take down stands!

Lots of mom's made Cub Scouts real.

Shade, you described my Mom to a T. She never hunted, but you wouldn't want her shooting at you, she liked to shoot a rifle. I always enjoyed telling her my hunting, fishing and trapping tales, she'd hang on to every word and you could see the excitement in her eyes. Good thread, thanks.

all I can say is, glad I was Blessed with my Mom

Got my first deer at 10 years old with a bow -my idea but it was her that got it together so I could realize it

a 25# all fiberglass recurve with an arrow that she tiped with a stone head found in a field

sharpened on a crank grinder - we discussed plans , and I went and did it in a creek bottom behind the house

she was the one that processed him on the picnic table on the back porch

Yep ! was blessed

My mother could shoot her single shot .22 with precision and often shot barren does for us to eat when she was riding the range land. She could butcher anything killed for meat and was great at skinning muskrat, mink, and even coyote. Comes from hard scrabble living on the prairie in Kansas in the tough days. She and my fathers work ethic made it natural for my brother and me to do any work we could to earn money at a very early age. We always earned enough money to pay for our school clothes, even in the first grade, from trapping and riding for cattle for ranchers in our area.

Mom and Dad bow hunted together in the late 50's and early 60's. I still have moms double shelf Alaskan. I remember Grandma coming over to babysit when they went out. What I wouldn't give for a picture of the two of them all dressed up in there wool holding their bows. Priceless memories and what started a life long passion for me.

Larry, that's a great story. Thanks.

Andy Man, that is really a neat story about your first deer.

First generation hunter in my family but when I quit football my mom totally supported me in picking up bow hunting. She took me to hunter safety and archery proficiency testing and back and forth to archery shops to get gear and every trip meant going over on a ferry and even having to spend some nights off because it was a long drive to archery shop and we couldn't make last ferry home. She was not a hunter but she new there was a place for all gods creatures even on the dinner table. Thanks mom love you.

My wife a mother of five is an avid target shooter she is a crack shot with a pistol and owns a few auto's and revolvers and a 22 rifle.

I rarely shoot anymore simply because I am more interested in bowhunting.

But it makes me smile to see her lined up with my 3 boys on the deck letting the brass fly. She's soft and sweet....but she carries a big stick.. lol

She does shoot bow occasionally and has a Mint bear tartar she's had since a young girl.

She took my 5 kids to hunters ed classes, hauled them around to hunt when I was busy ect...just like my mother did for me. Taught them how to can venison, and she also knows how to butcher a deer, came from an avid hunting family. And has sat through many of a hunting discussion around the supper table.

I had her drop me off early one morning a couple miles from home. It was during the Jan late season. My plan was to still hunt my way home. Told her I'd be home by dark. I ended up killing a small buck right away in the morning. Didn't want to drag him the whole way home, so I stashed him under a log. I figured if I didn't show up at home she'd eventually come looking for me.

I wanted to explore the area so spent the day scouting and exploring. Around 4:30 PM I was standing on top of a ridge looking down into the valley. I saw a vehicle parked along the road, I looked through my bino's and THERE SHE WAS! Whoa! what are the odds! what a woman! I beat feet out the ridge got that buck and hauled butt down over., not knowing how long she'd sit there waiting, and even if she would be able to see me once I hit the fields. I was thinking I might drag him down only to watch her drive off!

But she saw me pop out of the woods on the bottom across the fields and sat there waiting till I got him out to the road. You would have to see to understand, but it was a long way across those fields to the woods. Would have been VERY easy to miss me. And she had NO! idea where I might even be!

When I got to the road the first words out of my mouth were..."you are a gem!"

A wife, a mother, a grandmother. A very special "hunting mother"

On my wall, I have a big 13 point whitetail mount that Dad shot in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1957, the year of my birth. Mom never forgave him for going on that trip and leaving her home with an eight month old baby boy!

My mother did not hunt and did not shoot. However, she did create and run several large camps in Ohio and Tennessee during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. She also taught woodcraft and camping throughout the USA back then. The last camp she created in South Eastern Ohio ran for 18 years, was over 2,000 acres, and was based upon the 'decentralized system'; meaning each group was 10 campers + 2 councilors, living in teepees, covered wagons, tents, tree- houses, open-faced shanties, and hogans. NO CABINS, no electricity, "no phones...no lights...no motorcars". It was my mother who taught me woods skills, to love sleeping under the stars at night, to appreciate the whole outdoors. And she provided all the land I could possible need to roam on! NOTE: Although she did not shoot, she did buy me my first bow, my first .22 rifle, my first shotgun, etc.

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