My father hunted a little when I was young. He was definitely interested in guns and sporterized several rifles based on Springfield '06 military rifles. Very nicely done and accurate rifles I will add -- one a .30-06 the other a .25-06 with medium weight barrel. I hunted pheasant once with him and one of my older cousins. Normally, however, I hunted pheasant on my own on our farm. I also hunted deer one time as a senior in high school, hanging out where he placed me, but I didn't know what I was doing and he didn't really teach me either, maybe because he didn't know himself. This was about 1973 in Illinois, and years ago there were not enough deer to have deer hunting seasons where we lived. I think this might have been about the first season deer licenses were generally available.
I took up hunting seriously when my father passed away in 2002, and I inherited his guns. Now I hunt deer annually and also hunt ducks pretty regularly about three or four weekends per year. I have made one trip to Wyoming for a pronghorn antelope hunt, where I took my son. I made one trip to Colorado to hunt Elk, which I did on my own. I have taken my son to Hunter Safety course. I took my son deer hunting a couple of years, but he didn't get any shots on deer and has lost interest. Too little activity for a teenager. In retrospect I should have sat with him rather than doing my own hunt, which would have made the hunt perhaps a little more interesting for him. I need to take my youngest daughter. I've taken my youngest daughter out with me to observe me deer hunting. She may want to go deer hunting herself in the future, can't tell yet.
I would say that I learned most of my hunting on my own. Nevertheless, I did learn some valuable and key information from my niece's husband. He showed me how to skin and quarter a deer. I am a cook and am comfortable cutting up meat and around bones, so I just needed a basic overview on how the deer is put together to take it from there. I have always butchered all of my big game meat. Additionally, my niece's husband has taken me out many times duck hunting. I think I may have learned a bit more about how to duck hunt than I did about deer hunting. I remember feeling much more clueless about duck hunting at the start, but now I feel like I understand it much better, so I probably learned more lore in that case from this guy.