Living Another Opening Day in the Big Woods

I have lived through 56 years of opening days. I still get sick, don't sleep and dream of fleeing bucks the night before. I still check my gear endlessly the days leading up to deer hunting's “first pitch”. At my age, I feel a need to share these gut wrenching feelings, while teaching others to “keep your head up”.

When a local sheriff (my cousin) caught me tracking bucks well out of deer season (Christmas day) 45 years ago, he encouraged me to put my deer hunting skills to a positive manner. I got my guide license after this one sided conversation. Since, I have shared this nerve racking lifestyle with my sons and clients. I feel it's my mission to keep the tradition alive. There is more to the “game” than loading a high powered rifle, then crawling through the woods. Scouting hot spots in the big woods, sighting in our rifles, telling tales of hunts gone by, all lead up to breakfast at 4am on Opening Day. These events are not mundane, but part of the tradition.

Teaching folks the art of tracking and killing deer can only be partly taught over coffee and two eggs over easy..... with bacon..... homefries....toast with a side of Jiffy peanut butter.. The real lessons lie in the big woods. I didn't come from a hunting family. My Dad didn't hunt and my uncles took me along to drive deer when I was a teen. I didn't care for this, but there were  lessons to be learned. A few of the tips taught to me back then, still come into play today. Old crusty uncle Harold taught me patience, while another whiskey breathed old-timer taught me how to hit running deer. I never forgot those lessons. I know, many bucks have died because of them. A good young hunter, listens more and talks less. Then comes the hours of time in the big woods. When you kill your first buck on a snowy day, miles from the truck, it is now that the lessons have evolved. It is now, you will feel a need to protect our lifestyle. You are now a teacher.   

This long lived lifestyle has become threatened by non-hunting groups. It will not be taken from my family or yours....ever. Anti-hunting fraternities, will always be around. We have learn to live with their fruitless attempts to end our great tradition. They are clueless, of the bonding, camaraderie, and brotherhood that lives in every home, camp and tent within the deer woods. Dumb to the wonders of hunting that go so far beyond the killing. Truth is, these people are mindlessly mislead by others. Meanwhile, our heroes are little known gurus, like Gene Letourneau, Larry Benoit, Jim Shockey and Hal Blood. Real Americans, who's great accomplishments in the big woods have lead to books, films and campfire talk shared by an endless audience until the end of time. We are a proud group, with little tolerance for the ignorant and mislead.

Always, keep your nose to the wind, your powder dry, and eyes on the horizon. I promise, good things will come to you that have nothing to do with killing.