WHETHER last hunting season was your first, your 50th or something else, it probably went by faster than imaginable. I know mine did.
It was summer and time to buy licenses, then fall, with one opening day quickly following another, then winter, with its last chances to fill deer tags and bag small game, and finally another spring gobbler season. Twelve months? It felt like it happened in 12 minutes.
We can’t slow the clock. If anything, it seems to pick up speed the older we get.
But we can make the most of what we get.
As hunting seasons unfold this year, you might find yourself in a deer stand with a bow fresh off the shelf or in the pheasant fields with a decades-old shotgun you inherited. Either way, if you’re like me, it won’t be the gear that sticks with you – it’ll be the moments. The sunrises. The stillness. The stories.
And the best part? We can share those moments.
Introduce someone – your child or a neighbor’s, a coworker, a friend from school – to this lifestyle we hold dear. Help teach huntertrapper ed, volunteer at a youth day, talk to your elected officials about conservation issues, clear trash from a state game lands, demonstrate how to shoot safely, thank a landowner for allowing access to their property. It all matters.
But don’t forget to pause. Think about why you love hunting and trapping, why they’re valuable to wildlife management, and what you can do to ensure they remain linked. Then make memories. With each passing season, I cherish just a little more those moments I’ve spent with my sons, sneaking closer to squirrels, calling to gobblers or waiting for a whitetail to turn broadside. I’ve had a front-row seat to their earliest successes and failures, and have seen how their experiences helped shape them, as hunters and people. We all are blessed to have such opportunities. Though we can’t stop time, we can make the most of it.
- Steve Smith