I came to hunitng on my own.
My dad used to hunt, but we moved when I was about 2, and he lost all his hunting buddies. SO he stopped hunting.
I had no mentors at all.
But I *had* to hunt.
I killed grouse with rocks and sticks and slingshots on hikes, griled them on the fire and ate them.
Our family woudl go out sailing, and I was more interested in fishing. We woudl go out for weeks at a time, and I would catch salmon, ling cod, halibut, rockfish, prawns and crab. My mom had to tell me to STOP catching fresh seafood, since they were sick of it. :shock: (We had crab every breakfast for 3 weeks solid!) :wink:
My mom didn't allow me even a BB gun, so I took up archery. (YOu could put an eye out wiht a BB. A broadhead can kill, but that was okay :roll: )
I tried a 45# longbow I got from a garage sae when I was 10. I couldn't pull it back. My dad got me a 25# recurve. By the time I was 14, I could use the longbow.
I killed my first deer with it when I was 14-15, in the Queen Charlotte Islands. No idea I needed a liscence, I was on a Boy Scout 30 day kayak trip. We ate that deer pretty quick as we hadn't had fresh meat in 2 weeks.
Took about 10 years away form hunitng, form 15-25. Drank beer and chased girls. Then I built my house, and went hunting.
Still no mentor to help, I muddled through it the first few years.It's been about 12 years now I have been fairly sucessful, as I have managed to get many of BC's big game animals withthe exception of sheep (hopefully this year!) and elk (injured myself on an elk hunt last year.)

I have never hunted carbou either, buit that is on my list for next year, maybe...
I will never forget the first year I had a hunting liscence. I was 25, and I took my 20 guage Remington Sportsman 48 out after grouse. After a full day of hiking up and down the hills, I was heading back to the truck. I saw the truck in the distance. I was feeling low.
A grouse flushed in front of me, and I shot it, on the wing, at abotu 35 yards. It went down, I ran up to it, and I felt like I had returned home. I was a hunter again.
I gues syou could say that hunting is important to me... :wink: