In Southern Missouri, we celebrate a few seasons this time of year. The usual ones are Thanksgiving and Christmas; the other is Deer Season.
Yes, and what a wonderful time of the year it is.
I’ve never been one that others would describe as a hunter. When asked, “Do you hunt?” The answer is yes.
But I’m not consistent with it. I am all for hunting, but I’m not obsessed. It’s necessary, and if we depended on it to survive, I would do it every chance I had. We have public land to hunt, but I’m not a fan of uncontrolled situations. I have no desire to be sitting against the trunk of a tree and have a drunk redneck hillbilly running through the woods shooting up the landscape. Yes, that’s a bit of an exaggeration.
Private land has less chances of someone walking across your hunting area. I have access to privately owned land, but my neighbors might not appreciate my hunting in such proximity to their front doors.
A couple of years ago, Dad and I went to public land and walked to some trees on a ridge we had picked out.
We reached our spot, and before we sat down, there was a gunshot. I’ve never been so close to a shot that I didn’t know where it was coming from or who was shooting.
As soon as I heard it, I dropped to the ground. Granted, if the shot had been in my direction, I would’ve been hit. But I’ve never hit the forest floor so hard and fast. I hoped I could dodge it if it was coming toward me.
A doe ran over the ridge and dropped nearby. A few minutes later, a man arrived at the deer’s location and then proceeded to make it more conducive to carrying. He never looked in our direction. I watched him, and he never saw two grown men in bright orange through the sparse tree population.
It was at that point that I decided I wanted to watch my kids grow up.
But with Son #1 getting older, I believe it is important to introduce him to the heritage of hunting, which includes the respect involved, the importance, the duty, and the history of hunting in Southern Missouri.
But it probably won’t be next to pre-dawn Shootin’ Dan over in the neighboring county. Bless his heart.
to the heritage,
– Caleb
caneymountainblog.com 