What you shot at as a kid

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Quad82

Quad82

Member
Jan 23, 2017
860
139
Michigan, United States
Didn’t want to hi-jack another thread here. So I thought I would start this one. While reading “what got you hooked”, I read about some of the things you/we shot at as a kid. While most targets and animals were fine to shoot. There were a few I now regret shooting as a kid. The lightning rod globes on the barn roof is on top of my list. I only did it once and the Old Man seen to it it never happened again! Some of the birds that fell from the Mulberry tree would have definitely got me a licking if Mom ever found out. Growing up on the family farm, there were targets everywhere. Sitting on the tin bridge shooting Dragon Flies, frogs, woodchucks, and anything from Walnuts, corn cobs, and cans floating down the creek. Then there were the grasshoppers and locus in the lane that blended in with the brown dirt which always tested your accuracy. Sitting in the barn shooting pigeons, mice and rats. And the best, shooting binder-twine off the fence with the Red Rider. What were your favorite targets?
 
Growing up on a farm in Southern Idaho there where always things to shoot at. Just steps out of my backdoor. And a few fields away nothing but sagebrush for as far as you could see. My three brother and a couple of friends where a terror the area. All critters where fair game. We hardly would leave the house without a firearm. Fishing pole or pellet rifle.
 
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Growing up on a farm in Southern Idaho there where always things to shoot at. Just steps out of my backdoor. And a few fields away nothing but sagebrush for as far as you could see. My three brother and a couple of friends where a terror the area. All critters where fair game. We hardly would leave the house without a firearm. Fishing pole or pellet rifle.
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I feel sorry for the kids now just glued to ipads and what not. I had so much fun as a kid!
 
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Growing up on a farm in Southern Idaho there where always things to shoot at. Just steps out of my backdoor. And a few fields away nothing but sagebrush for as far as you could see. My three brother and a couple of friends where a terror the area. All critters where fair game. We hardly would leave the house without a firearm. Fishing pole or pellet rifle.
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I feel sorry for the kids now just glued to ipads and what not. I had so much fun as a kid!
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Lucky my kids also enjoy the outdoors and the things I did. We do them together and it makes us tight. Yes growing up in the 60s and 70s in a very unpopulated part of the country was awesome. 
 
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Twigs, rocks, leaves, pine cones (I still love to smack those hanging in the tree), insects, birds, frogs, empty cans, trash.... basically whatever presented itself. I didn’t like shooting live targets so much though. Different times for sure though back in those days. We could walk down the middle of the neighborhood with our BB guns and it was no big deal.
 
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My dad started me by shooting quarters. The ones i shot i kept. After that he gave me space and let me take my rifle into the woods. I used it to kill everything that was smaller than a softball. This includes frogs, mice, dragonflys, spiders, junebugs, and anything..... Anything that moved in front of me was destroyed. I think I killed a bluegill once or twice as well. 
 
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Little green Army Men. I use to pretend they were Viet Kong. I was a Army sniper with my 760 pumpaster M14. Lol. My one Uncle was a Warrant Officer, Gunsmith & shot on ANT at Camp Perry. Dad has his accurized Llama Especial and it’s got about a 1/8” 1st stage then clean break at must be 2lbs at most. Believe 1/4 scale 1911. Uncle Ted taught Dad & Dad taught me respect & safety that stuck. I’m grateful for it.


Poor Army guys took a beating but they were cheap & “the bad guys.”
 
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Being in suburbia in NW Oregon we shot the little green army men as well as any outdated toy or model we had. Shot pinecones off of the trees on our 1/4 acre lot, bees, ants, and of course mom's flowers and trees when they were budding or blooming. The lowly slug was one of our favorite targets though and we would hunt them late on the warm summer nights for hours cuz they turned inside out when you hit them just right. I remember shooting my moms glass wind chimes as they hung there swinging slowly in the breeze flashing in the sunlight. I also remember getting into trouble for that one. Shot a few birds but wounded one and felt bad about it so stopped that practice. Since there were no Airsoft or Nerf guns we shot each other as well lots of airgun wars we had and we played BB gun tag as well. The person with the gun was"it" and had to shoot you before you became "it". There was not much we would not do to not be "it" as we ran up and down the steep hill and jumped from crazy heights off of rock cliffs into the brush and trees in one of the large heavily wooded parks we frequented, on our bikes, a few miles down the road. One of the guys had some single shot Daisy break barrel that really hurt when it hit you. My best friend had some I think it was Daisy Winchester that you had to pull back the hammer on after cocking with the lever it hit pretty hard as well. Me I had some cheap low powered Red Ryder like gun with the plastic stock we were dirt poor I am lucky I had one at all. I took the trigger spring off of my gun so it would discharge as soon as it was cocked then I could shoot really fast like the Rifleman. ;^) Even though we were just kids there were strict rules in our wars and tag games all shots had to be below the shoulders. Still after several years of these games my best friend got his glasses shot, and a piece of glass cut him just under his eye. We told some lie to his parents and were more careful afterwards. Although we ended the wars and tag shortly after his glasses got shot as we were old enough to see the consequences and how close he came to loosing an eye. Those were the days for sure. Got to go through the airgun thing again when my daughters were old enough although with better guns Benjamin and Sheridan pumpers. We drove a few miles to the river and shot the endless corn curl armies that were coming over the hills of sand all kinds of insects and balloons floating on the lake but lets not forget about the slugs although they splattered when hit with the pellet guns .;^)
 
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My friends played that game. My dad saw what was going on and told thier parents. He let me know in no uncertain terms that if i played that game he would burn all of my rifles air or powderburner 22s and spank me until I turned 18.I never played that game but when I was 20 years old airsoft became popular and we used to shoot eachother in the toenails or below the belt when someone welched on a beer run. I bought a spring powered airsoft and shimmed the spring for 400fps. No one and I mean no one welched on beer around me. I wish i still had that gun. I am glad I never shot bbs at my friends tho. 
 
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Gum balls. They were everywhere. Yellow jackets out in the field were always great practice as well. I sure wish my eyes were still that good! Leaves also print a nice POI with sky light behind them. I took out some jays back then as well. My grandpa would always take them out with his 12ga any chance he got. I took a few squirrels as well. They taste pretty good if cooked right.

I'd find all sorts of random small toys as well. Anything that would otherwise be discarded. Cars, action figures, ect. Bottlecaps, and of course tin cans. My pop and I used to traipse thru the woods as well. Sometimes we'd find a trash dump and pull out old bottles/cans to shoot at. Good times.
 
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My friends played that game. My dad saw what was going on and told thier parents. He let me know in no uncertain terms that if i played that game he would burn all of my rifles air or powderburner 22s and spank me until I turned 18.I never played that game but when I was 20 years old airsoft became popular and we used to shoot eachother in the toenails or below the belt when someone welched on a beer run. I bought a spring powered airsoft and shimmed the spring for 400fps. No one and I mean no one welched on beer around me. I wish i still had that gun. I am glad I never shot bbs at my friends tho.
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We would most often wear heavier clothing when we knew we were going to war. But sometimes wars broke out spontaneously and that hurt. We kind of had free run of the area out to several miles from the house. So long as we were home before the streetlights came on we were good. Told the mom if we were going to the river some four miles away. I don't think my parents ever had any idea how far we actually traveled day to day. There were apple trees, pear trees and berry bushes to eat from and bottles and cans to pick up for goodies from the stores spent many a day out morning till dusk. We had way to much freedom lucky no blessed we lived through it.
 
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