I went out and got the paper this morning and the air was smelling and feeling a bit like Fall.  This is the time of year that makes me start to think about the hunting seasons that are rapidly approaching.  After all, this Saturday starts the Utah bow hunting season for deer and elk (for those who have drawn those tags).

On the hunting forums that I visit the talk is almost all centered around the bow hunt and that always gets me excited, even though I’m not a bow hunter.  What it does mean is that the muzz hunt is coming up fast.

Only 6 more Wednesdays until the big day!  Which also means that between now and that date we will be getting together for our annual BS meeting to discuss who is going, who is staying in who’s camper, what we are going to be eating etc. etc. etc. etc. and drinking a few adult beverages while we are together.  That annual tradition is something I really look forward to, probably as much as the hunt itself.  Why?  Because we are all excited with one thing in mind…getting up into the mountains and drinking more adult beverages.

I have always enjoyed the hunting camp and can remember like it was yesterday the first hunt I was allowed to go on.  Of course mother kept me close by her side, but we still managed to get into the woods and I watched as she and dad both shot at a big buck and then got to watch the entire process of gutting it and dragging it out.  I got to balance dads rifle while he did the dirty work and then I got to carry the liver and heart out while he dragged the buck down the mountain and back to camp.  Mom had to carry both rifles.  I was on top of the world at that time!

So, that memory has kept me going ever since and I hope those things are being instilled in my grandkids as well, but I’m not seeing their parents pushing to get the kids excited like it was done when I was their age.  Too many other activities going on in their young lives I suppose.  When I was their age we didn’t have all of the things that they have today and for sure we couldn’t just pack up, jump in the car and head off to a swimming lesson or piano or whatever like they do today.  If we were going swimming it had to be planned several days in advance.  Of course we could always jump on the bikes and head down to the local pond and dive in.  We didn’t do that many times as it was clear down below Perry and so we had to settle for the creek, which wasn’t bad, just not swimming.

The hunting was done more out of necessity than pleasure back then, but still there was always a lot of fun in camp.  We hunted as a family and you could shoot does or bucks in the day, you could also fill others tags but you had to make sure you didn’t shoot more deer than there were tags in the camp or else trouble was on the horizon.  I watched a guy from another camp come into ours and ask if someone wanted to tag an “extra” deer he had taken, luckily for him there was a guy in camp that was willing to do it.

I suppose for me today, the camping is more of the event than the hunting.  Heckling and cutting up and all meant in good fun.  The food is great and everyone pitches in to get the camp set up and taken down when the time comes.  The hunting is fun too, but it’s more of a ride in the woods with an occasional buck being a bonus when it shows itself.  The mad scramble for caps and to get that first shot off.  I have to grin when I think about it.

Let the thoughts of the hunt begin!

Bears Butt

August 14, 2013