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My grandmother was full blood Cherokee, raised on the reservation. From a very young age, I knew I had to hunt. It was something deep inside my soul, and still is. I would go with her every summer to visit our relatives down in NC. From my great uncles, and others, I learned some early skills. I never had a father that hunted. But the old farmer I worked for since age 12, at the end of our road did! He and his buddies took me under their wing, and got me started deer hunting. I'd already began small game hunting on my own. They were very successful hunters, and killed deer every year, back when deer numbers were nothing like today! I carry with me the traditions and memories from those younger days, each time I hunt. It's what made me who I am today. Now that I've put a half century of deer seasons behind me. I'm most proud of not the deer I've killed myself. But the many young hunters I've mentored, as I passed the torch that was given to me. So that one day they will pass it along as well. The fire from that torch, still burns hot within me. That completes the circle.

Yes, because being it was usually too cold to sit for very long, they were mostly still hunters. I was told many times, "if you think you're going too slow. Go slower!! Keep your head up, and your eyes open! Look for movement, like an ear or tail twitch. You won't usually see a whole deer. Pick the woods apart before you move again!" They wore no camo. Just the clothes they worked in. Mostly overalls with Long John's. Layers of flannel. And always those thin green rubber boots!! There were always folks dropping by to gab and admire the deer hung in an oak or maple tree in their front yards. To this day I prefer a still hunt over sitting in a stand. But do both now depending on conditions. This was mostly done on large farm properties. Corn and hay fields, with many woodlots, sized from a few acres, to perhaps a couple hundred acres. With ridges and creek bottoms and some swamps for topography. Usually the last weekend of the season they would do still-drives. Which was when you walk very slowly, with the wind at your back, to poster's on the other end. The drivers would be staggered. Many times the drivers got deer that were circling back from a forward driver. This all was done with usually only 4 or 5 hunters. Of course there were favorite sitting spots as well. Always in some form of funnel or pinch point. To this day we still hunt some of those spots. And still see deer more often than not from them. One of the farmers had a son about my age. We rode the same school bus together. We have been lifelong friends. And together, own and hunt his family farm. We have around 750 acres available to us. And love to roam some of the same ground those old farmers did. Most of the farms are now gone. But we still have a few beef cattle and assorted other critters to take care of. All the original farmers have long since passed on. We are now the old guy's. And we're proud to have kept, and passed along many of the old traditions and ways. We both have kids, and grandkids who hopefully will carry on from us.

I'll tell you another influence that kept my mind in these kinds of outdoor activities was other kids in school. It's hard to believe but back then there were a lot of kids that ran traplines and hunted and fished and all of that stuff. Is that how it is today? When I went to school, opening day of deer season was an unquestioned excused absence. Imagine that! Also another hard-to-believe fact is that I took my hunter safety course in the bus garage at school. Yes, we even had real guns there and did some shooting. Imagine that today.....A school resourced hunter safety class....lol......With guns! Yes, times were a whole lot different back then. they were a lot more hunter-friendly and made it a lot easier for a kid to become self-motivated to get into hunting.

Took a walk with my Airedale Harleigh to see if we could bag as the old timers would say a "Patridge", a Hare or a Squirrel would make due. Took out one of my favorite shotguns, an LC Smith side by side double. We had a good hunt, Harleigh flushed a Grouse but I only heard it, no chance for a shot. She then made a tree on a Squirrel, she did a good job sticking with it as it timbered through three different trees before I could get a good shot and knock it out to her. We had a great time old Harleigh and I. Al

Spring this year she shot a 21lbs bird. They decided to have it mounted. Man did it come out nice. DJ's Taxidermist in Avoca did the work. I have had a number of deer mounted by him and never disappointed. The bird is just amazing!

I hunt because my family did.In the beginning it was to kill a deer for food. Then it was to kill a big buck. In my 20s and 30s it was to feed my kids . Now its about quiet time in the woods to reflect on my life. When I was young hunters were my heroes.My grandparents were hunters as well as my uncles and aunts. We took pride in the accomplishments of shooting deer. There wasn't as many around and if you were lucky enough to get a party permit you shared the deer. Today most of my heroes have past on. I have one son that goes out once or twice a year and seems he has always got some place else to be . I know my grandsons will never hunt. Now I hunt for me. If I get a deer great I will have some great food. If I don't get a deer great I still spent some time for me. I'm still closest to my heroes when I'm hunting.

I also agree with Grouse regarding the effects of the anti-hunting organizations. While we were laughing at their idiotic antics and ravings and never took them seriously. Their outlandish claims and tugging at people's heart-strings and their well-funded organizations were converting more and more people. Some of the converts were even hunters. I hate to admit it, but they are winning. We are getting beaten by a bunch of crazy wackos. It's probably way past time to admit that, but it is looking like fact. That along with so many cultural impacts is threatening the entire activity of hunting nation-wide.

I'm not much of a fan of civil wars. The outcomes are never guaranteed and the style of govt that results is always in question. We lucked out on our one and only civil war in terms of how the system of government basically was preserved. And that was because the feds won. Who knows what kind of government we would have wound up with if the south had won? Regarding the 10% of population being enough to win a civil war, I have to point out that warfare is a whole different animal since the revolutionary war. We are not dealing with muskets anymore. Can 10% of the population stand up against missiles and such? I don't think our deer rifles would get us through the first day of an uprising.....lol. Seriously though, there may come a time when there is no other choice, but let's not be in too much of a hurry to rush to that end. Sometimes such ambitions can wind up throwing out the baby with the bath-water.

So much of this thing that we all do has to do with heritage and things that pop up in our own history. We all have hunting in our blood if we look back far enough...........All of us.

Didn't you see the standoff between the ranchers and the Feds a few years ago? The Feds backed down and the ranchers won what they were after. It only takes about 10% of the population in revolt to overthrow tyranny. I believe less than 10% fought the British during the Revolutionary war.

Things are heating up and other states are pitching in:

Yes, and whichever way one chooses to go about it it's still called "hunting". The meaning of the word doesn't change. Hunting has been around forever and I'm sure the hunters of 1000 years ago weren't challenging themselves and holding off for the biggest or best. They killed what they could to survive. We obviously don't need to hunt to survive these days but again the concept is the same as it always was.

CNY weather

So many great points! Although the demise of small family farms was mentioned, I think the difficulties that this poses for hunting has to be emphasized. Down here in valley country I have noted that back in the 50's and 60's, before I was old enough to hunt, I used to hike along the ridges of the valley and would go more than 5 miles through the woods without ever seeing a posted sign. These lands were owned by farmers who didn't have the time to be running through the woods tacking up posted signs. Besides, they didn't really care who was hunting up there as long as they stayed away from the buildings and their critters. Then farmers got old. Their kids went off to more lucrative work, and the little 100 and 200 acre farms came on the market as the farmers retired and got busted up into 5 acre lots as the city people began to invade the rural countryside. every little parcel became ringed with posted signs and all the land that used to be great hunting areas became inaccessible. I have watched so many great stand areas that I have lost to development of little farmettes and just plain residences. I have seen houses constructed on top of some of my old favorite stand-sites. Today people have to beg to hunt the few stretches of woods that exist. In many cases, crowded state land is all that is available. Some of the last hunting land can be hunted if you have the money to lease the land at ever growing prices. All this stuff works against hunting and now hunting land scarcity is a factor also.

I can't really think of how I became started on this lifelong need to hunt. Yes my Dad took me squirrel hunting once when I was little, but I don't remember that as being a very pleasant experience. It was cold, and his version of squirrel hunting was to sit still and wait for the squirrels to become active again. Then several years later, I found an old draw-knife up in the shop and fashioned a pretty decent longbow out of hickory. And with some willow arrows, I went up in the hay loft of the barn and started hunting pigeons. I got two and had my mother cook them up. That hooked me on hunting. And then there was the trapline that I ran. While that is not actually hunting, it does kind of result in the same kind of thing. Then too, I enjoyed reading books about the old pioneers and their ways of subsisting, and that put a bit of adventure and even historical culture into the notion of hunting. All these things fashioned an appreciation of the outdoors, that has lasted through the years and among so many other outdoor activities came the need to hunt. So as it turns out, there really was no one who introduced me to hunting. My rural life and so many other outdoor activities promoted my interest in hunting. In fact it was me that introduced my Dad to archery and bowhunting.....ha-ha-ha. But that is a whole other topic.

January 31st

It was my late father who got me hooked on hunting. When I was a young boy my dad would go hunting with his friends and would often bring home a mixed bag of pheasants, rabbits, and squirrels. I couldn't wait for him to get home to see what he had gotten and would watch him clean the game. I begged him to take me with him. My dad started to let me tag along when I was 6 years old and I have been hooked since. We hunted together until he passed away and my fondest memories of my dad were when we hunted together. When my son came along history repeated itself and he became hooked on hunting when he was very young and we are best hunting buddies.