When the nights start to cool, the days grow short and that smell of Autumn is in the air. Two things occur to me, the second is here comes Winter, my least favorite season. The first, however is way more uplifting, time to hunt.
Whatever part of this great United States hunters live in, it is a glorious time of year. It brings back memories of my past with my Grampa's and my Dad. We were not a family known for hunting, but back when I was about ten, I wanted to hunt. The closest of my two Grampa's told me that if I wanted to hunt, first I would have to take a hunters safety course. Then he would take me hunting.
I did and true to his word, Grampa let me use his 410 shotgun, he used his favorite gun, a J.C Higgins Side by Side, Double Barrel 12 gauge Scattergun ( A real working man's gun, double barrels to my Grampa's generation* where an everything gun, a tool no different from their other tools. They used them for hunting sometimes to put the only meat they could get on the table and for home, farm and land protection.) {* Americas greatest generation, as you probably know, were the Americans who went through The Great Depression & WW2 and came out victorious }.
Our first hunting expedition was squirrel hunting. Grampa loved to eat squirrel. He taught me everything I needed to know, the kindest way to ALWAYS ASK to hunt someones land, how to safely check if an electric fence was on, how to move and/or wait quietly and even when to make noise to spook an animal on purpose. That trip to some may have only been just a squirrel hunt, but to me, it was as good as an African Safari. I loved it.
Probably millions of American boys across the this great country started out like this and it is a grand tradition. One generation passing onto another a right of passage, a sport enjoyed by so many for so long, it is probably very hard to know when it began.
You may see pictures of this gun in many of my blogs, it isn't even the one Grampa owned, but I got all the info on the one that my Grampa owned from my cousin who rightfully has it now, and I went on a hunt of my own to find the exact same model. It wasn't easy, being a 1959-1960 model, but I finally found one and this gun still means more to me than all my others.
Our first hunting expedition was squirrel hunting. Grampa loved to eat squirrel. He taught me everything I needed to know, the kindest way to ALWAYS ASK to hunt someones land, how to safely check if an electric fence was on, how to move and/or wait quietly and even when to make noise to spook an animal on purpose. That trip to some may have only been just a squirrel hunt, but to me, it was as good as an African Safari. I loved it.
Probably millions of American boys across the this great country started out like this and it is a grand tradition. One generation passing onto another a right of passage, a sport enjoyed by so many for so long, it is probably very hard to know when it began.
You may see pictures of this gun in many of my blogs, it isn't even the one Grampa owned, but I got all the info on the one that my Grampa owned from my cousin who rightfully has it now, and I went on a hunt of my own to find the exact same model. It wasn't easy, being a 1959-1960 model, but I finally found one and this gun still means more to me than all my others.
1959 - 1960 J.C. Higgins Model 101.540 side by side double barrel 12 gauge Shotgun, made
by Steven's, basically a Steven's 311, for Sears, Roebuck and Company.
Wisconsin is one of the greatest deer hunting states and that was my goal, to deer hunt some day. In Wisconsin during deer season when I was a kid, schools, factories, offices and even some towns were almost devoid of men and boys. The term Deer Widow applied for roughly 7 days. Now, it is even better, because a lot of the woman and young ladies go too. It's great.
Hunting and fishing can be a fantastic way for fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives or any mix of family to spend time together. In today's world where families are spending less time at the dinner table together and more time separated by electronics, Quality time spent together outdoors in the wilderness is priceless for a child. Like the sign above says, kids are not going to remember the first time that they watch television, but they most surely will remember the first time they went hunting or fishing with their dad or their mom, Grampa or Gramma. That's the kind of thing that makes a lifelong memories and teaches lifelong skills to your children. Skills that they will go on to pass on to their children. After all, the example we set as parents, is probably the way our kids are going to parent their children.
In today's world, in so many places where crime, drugs, peer pressure and other bad influences seem to have such a big influence on young people, it's just as important, if not more important than ever for us as parents to set a good example. And the best way to set an example is to spend time with kids. I believe that kids learn by what they see their parents doing and the time their parents spend with them.
Love him or hate him, Ted Nugent's saying about if we spend time hunting with our kids, will spend less time hunting for them, Just makes good sense. If they're spending time with us and learning things from us, then that's less time they're going to spend learning things from undesirable people.
God's beautiful nature is awesome. I love to spend time in in the woods, fields or by a body of water just soaking in the sights, sounds and smells of the wild. That time is refreshing for the soul, energizing and great at putting things back into perspective. I also believe that those things are just as important, maybe more important, than the hunt. Those sights and sounds are what keep many people spending more and more time hunting, fishing, hiking, etc.
This is not a real deer, but a man can dream. Most hunters dream of a deer like this.
My favorite deer rifle, my Remington 700 CDL Classic Deluxe 30-06.
Fall after fall, men, women, sons, daughters and Granchildren hit the woods with dreams of that trophy buck (be it deer, elk, moose, stag or antelope), huge pheasant, beautiful ducks, wild boar, bear or whatever there favorites are becoming a reality. Armed with rifle, bow, handgun or muzzleloader, they go out to provide food for their families and maybe a trophy for the wall.
Some people go hunting with the bare essentials, some with all the high tech, expensive equipment they can haul. However, regardless of what they take to the fields, woods, prairies, mountains or swamps, the good ones go with a gladness in their heart to get back to nature. To experience that great, God engraved feeling of the hunter, gatherer instinct. That man vs nature adventure that appeals to all hunters.
Statistic show that in the last 10 years there has been a dramatic rise in the sale of hunting licenses, firearms, ammunition, and hunting supplies. Believe it or not, studies also show that a vast majority of the people causing that rise are women, who in the past considered hunting to be a man's world. Well it's not just for men anymore and I say " Welcome to the woods and waters ladies".
This could be for many reasons. Some of which are that people are tired of buying meat in the grocery store that is injected with steroids, growth hormones and who knows what else. All of which are extremely unhealthy for all of us. The only way we can be pretty much guarantee to get fresh meat, is to hunt or fish for our own.
It's a get back to nature viewpoint that can't be denied. The hunting license sales throughout the country show that is true. The amount of Young women seen in gunshops and hunting, fishing and camping supply stores proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The manufacturing of ladies pink or purple camo items such as hunting clothing and supplies made in women's sizes and to fit women's bodies also prove it. If these companies weren't selling these items, they wouldn't be making them. Plus, just about anywhere you go, you can see women actually wearing these items. Pink and purple camo isn't just a fashion statement you can actually wear it hunting. There are some animals that will pick the pink or purple out in an instant, But there are also other animals that can't see it at all, because they see pink or purple as the color gray.
Here is an example of the type of very popular Pink Camo being put out by Mossy Oak and Realtree.
There is also a type a camouflage made by a company called Muddy Girl, that incorporates pink and purple with their camouflage pattern. This causes an even larger break up in the color pattern which makes it harder for animals to see the person wearing it. Not only is this type a camo being used for clothing and hunting accessories but also on the rifles and shotguns themselves.
This is a Remington 870 shotgun in pink camouflage.
Here is a picture of a young lady with a rifle coated with a Muddy Girl camouflage and she is completely clothed in the pink and purple camouflage made by Muddy Girl.
It's a great thing to see the sport of hunting spreading throughout a vast majority of people from different lifestyles. Starting already this year, and continuing throughout the rest of the hunting season, hunters will be setting up their tree stands, ground blinds, duck blinds and and walking through the woods, fields, marshes and all over the hunting territory. Depending on where they're from, these these hunters will face extreme cold, mosquitoes, in some places heat, in others frost biting temps and love every minute of it because they love the great outdoors, God's beautiful nature, and the thrill of the hunt.
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