In an effort to keep from hijacking any threads on more important matters, I thought I'd start one here at the Campfire of "old" pictures. Doesn't have to be a picture of "you", but that'd be nice. Pictures of relatives are welcome. Pictures that have a gun or fishing rod in hand are great, but anything is fine...
 
Here's my first entry: I'm now 58 and I was 15 when the picture was taken, so it's more than 'half a lifetime'.
 
For those interested, the rifle is a Winchester Model 70 chambered in .270 Win. I bought it with money I earned bagging groceries (tips) and baby-sitting at 25-cents-an-hour. (Yeah some boys actually babysat 'back in the day'). If I remember correctly, the rifle cost me $187, but I could be 'off' on that figure. Even though the picture was taken in '66, I'm pretty sure it was a pre-64 Model. Hunterbug is a "pre-64 Win fascist", maybe he can tell from the picture.
 
This picture was taken in Bavaria, and I got the rifle at the Murnau Rod & Gun Club. That's why I think it was a pre-64. Most of the stuff available there was fairly old stock. I killed some critters in Germany with it, and maybe half a dozen moose. It is among the rifles that have shot the best among all I have owned, and I started my reloading 'career' loading for this rifle using the old Lee Loader. It was stolen from me some years later.
 
For all the potential "sentimental value" this rifle could have, it has surprisingly little. I wouldn't even work very hard to find it if I knew where it was. I can't explain that, but it is so. I think part of the lack of sentiment is that I have swung 180 degrees regarding the person who is single-handledly the reason the .270 Winchester round is as "famous" as it is: Jack O'Conner. As a youngster, I practically worshipped him. When I got older, I realized he was just another gunwriter (ptooey) whose integrity was for sale. Furthermore, I have read that he wasn't exactly the "poster boy" for good fathers. Since he was the primary reason I bought a .270 Winchester, when reality reared it's ugly head, it took a lot of the 'shine' off that rifle.
 
Hurry up and post, 'cause I've got more...
 
I know Alboy's got at least ONE, 'cause I've seen it. So does RecoilJunky, 'cause I've seen them too.
 
Paul

Hurry up...
 
I've got another one...
 
Here is a picture of the very first fish I ever caught in my life.
 
I don't remember exactly where it was, but it was somewhere in Southern California at a "trout farm". We were traveling from Oklahoma to California, (my Dad was headed to Japan for an 18 mo. unaccompanied tour), and we drove by this 'trout farm' advertising that you could "stop in a catch a trout". I wanted to (I think I was born a predator), and I think it was a good place for a rest-stop, so we stopped. What I recall, is tossing the line in - i don't even think it was baited - and in the 'feeeding frenzy' that ensued, I hooked a fish. I was so exited that I dropped the pole, ran around the 'pond', picked the pole back up and when I felt the fish, I dropped the pole and ran around the pond the other way. Then I landed the fish.
 
The guy in the picture is the "farmer". While he looks like a "grandfather" (and I suppose he probably was), he is no relation. The other thing I remember is that the fish cost 10 cents and inch. That wasn't cheap in '54, but it was certainly worth it. I've been squeezin' fish for 55 years.
 
Paul

I just left another site doing this same thing and the same thing prompted it. this should be fun and I will glut the start.
 
this is about 1966 just before a game. I date it by the 43 number as I was a running back by then. Any earlier and I would have 67 an offensive guard, I forgot to grow with the rest of the line men. About 5'8" and 135 lbs.

It's not "old" if you're 58, but it's half of her lifetime ago.
 
My youngest with her first ice-fishing fish. Might be her first fish now that I think if it.
 
"We" skipped school one spring day to go fishin'. (It was too nice a day to go to school when the fishin' was good.) Her mother was pretty PO'd (she's a teacher), when she found out, but hey, if you don't tick somebody off when you skip school, what fun is it?
 
Paul

This is my little sister in 1968 as a member of the COLLEENS dance group for Smiley High school. She made Major the next year, number 2 in charge to her best freind.
 
that is a super 90 honda she is sitting on. Belonged to my cousin Mike and we flat wore it out.
 
You can see a tail light from my moms Olds a '64 I think. dads welding rig is in the other side of the garage, is that old enough for you people still parked vehicles in garages

I am guessing I was ten and Sharon was eight on this one. I know it was before the grandparents house was moved from behind the shop to another lot in Trinity. Thayt would put this about 1959
 
Quite the gentleman in my off white suit.

This is Dad and I am pretty sure it was before I came along. He worked for Gulf Oil for a while right after the service; They have been gone a long time. This hould date sometime between 1945 and 1950

Great pics Al! Your sister was a 'babe'. Very cool pic of your Dad. Hey! that's a Kodak Brownie he's holding. I've still got one of those!
 
Just to give her sister 'equal time', here's my eldest's and her first grayling. (WHo, by hte way got engaged this past weekend.) My how quickly they grow.
 
Even though they're related to me, notice the difference in "handling" techniques between the "x chromosome" and the "y chromosome".
 
Paul

Y'know Al, you look a lot like your Dad in that football pic.
 
Paul

Awright, no sense in letting you two have all the fun!
 
Here's my brother and I with our first javalinas.  The picture was taken about1979-1980.  I called one bunch of javalinas in the morning, and got mine from those, and called in two more javalinas that same evening and my brother got one of them.  Neither of us had ever seen a javalina before that day, although we'd shot a fair number of coyotes by then.
 
Incidentally, this is the only picture I have of my first centerfire rifle; a Rem 600 (Mohawk) chambered in .243.  I eventually shot out the barrel on that rifle, sold it for the action, and bought a Rem 700 BDL in .270.
 
I don't think it really holds much sentimental value, even though I hunted an awful lot with it.  It wasn't as accurate as most rifles I have now, but it definitely got the job done.
 
Daryl
 

Since y'all are showing fish too, here's one I caught many years ago while out fishing/camping with my grandfather.  I think we spent about a week at Patagonia Lake in southern Arizona on that trip, and the fish were hitting pretty good.  This was my best on that trip, and I think it weighed something like 5 1/2 lbs.
 

 
And here's a picture of my grandfather, on the job running a jack-leg drill.  This picture was taken when the Copper Queen Mine was still open in Bisbee, and both he and my father were hard rock miners at the time.
 
This is the same grandfather that I inherited a few treasured firearms from, and I still hunt with them....just the way he'd want it.
 

Now we're cookin'! Great pics!
 
Paul

Well, why not a few more.
 
Here's the vehicle I drove in high school, and it also kept me from getting stuck when I was out calling coyotes (which was just about anytime I wasn't in school).  An 8000 lb Warn winch on the front was added insureance.
 

 
and my grandfather again with a coues deer he most likely shot with the same rifle I have now.  Looks to have been taken in the mid-1960's (judging from other pictures I've seen from the same era), and that particular rifle was made in 1956.
 

Oh, and since it's "The Christmas Season", and I'm pretty sure I can get over any embarasment I might cause myself, how many of you have a picture of yourself sitting on Santa's lap?
 
Hey, I don't remember now, but I'm pretty sure I was too young to know any better, and too small to resist such things. Judging by the look on my face, I'm pretty sure it wasn't my idea...
 
He probably told me, "You're gonna shoot your eye out!" LOL
 

That's a NICE Coue's of your grandfather's!
 
Here's a couple taken about 20 years apart...
 



 
Paul