Men such as: Erwin Bauer, Havilah Babcock, Fred Bear, Nash Buckingham, John Cartier, Eugene V. Connett, Jim Corbett, Frank Dufresne, Ben East, Charlie Elliott, George Bird Evans, John Taintor Foote, Corey Ford, Arnold Gingrich, Roderick Haig-Brown, John Jobson, Bill Jordan, Elmer Keith, Tom Kelly, Dana Lamb, Arthur Macdougall, Gordon MacQuarrie, John Madson, Jack O'Connor, Larry Ramsell, Robert Ruark, Archibald Rutledge, Jack Samson, Edmund Ware Smith, Robert Traver, Ray Voss, Larry Benoit, and many others who penned their articles in Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, Field & Stream, and Policeman's Gazette.
I didn't have any relatives who hunted, but I got deluged with hunting, fishing, and camping stories whenever I went to the barber shop back in the 50s and 60s. The only magazines they had in the shop, were all outdoor sports related.
I also had a classmate in elementary school, Michael Smaglinski, who hunted with his father. Mike used to tell us his hunting, and trapping stories during recess. I was entranced listening to them. What sealed the deal for me though, was one morning we had a show & tell session, and Mike, who had been out small game hunting before school that morning, brought in a pheasant and rabbit that he had killed that morning. He also had his double barrelled shotgun with him.....How cool was that! I was hooked from that day on.