ORIGINAL: UPHunter89
Why I Love to Hunt
by: Slavko Bekovic
The sun was just beginning to ascend of the horizon and the morning air was crisp in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. There I was, sitting in full camouflage attempting to be as quiet as possible. Armed with only my hopes, dreams, and a .270 Winchester, I was ready like never before. Slowly, I pull out the rattle bag and start my sequence. As I begin to smack the bag, I hear the rustling of leaves and the breaking of twigs and branches in the distance.
I finish off my rattling sequence and wait silently for the buck I had dreamed about the night before to arrive and present itself. With the safety on and my hopes high, the sounds begin to get louder and louder. Could that be it? Could it be coming to inspect out the situation? Any buck would, right?
I slowly look to my left. Nothing. I then look to my right. Nothing. I look into the opening in the pines only 30 yards ahead. Nothing. Suddenly, more crunching. It was coming closer. My heart is now racing endlessly and my breathing was becoming harder to maintain. As silently as possible, I lean forward and look to my right and catch a quick glimpse of golden brown fur.
I look again quickly and see the brown fur behind the pines and suddenly, out comes…a squirrel. A measly squirrel! The meeting between my father and I in front of the stand after the morning’s hunt was like no other. Considering the way I was telling him what had happened, he must have thought I killed a monster 12 pointer with heavy-massed brow tines. I wish!
The disappointment was uncanny. My hopes were dashed. My dreams were shattered. Not many in this world can get that riled up over a squirrel. Not even of your hunting for them! All I know is that hunting is not only a sport, but a tradition. That is why I love to hunt.
Thoughts?
Yeah, you need to do a lot of editing and revising before it's ready to be submitted.
You switch tenses often. You're talking about an event that has already happened, you need to pick a tense and stick with it. Are you recounting it to the readers as if it were just happening or are you simply telling them what happened?
The sun was just beginning to ascend of the horizon and the morning air was crisp in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The sun 'was' is past tense.
Slowly, I pull out the rattle bag and start my sequence.
'Slowly, I pull' is present tense. You're doing the action as we read along.
You've got a lot of gramatical errors that need fixing as well.
Finally, you talk about an event that already happened, you describe a situation in which you got excited about the possibility of a buck coming out of the brush, yet it turns out to be a squirell. Good. This is fine.
However, you end with;
All I know is that hunting is not only a sport, but a tradition.
No where in your essay did you talk about hunting being a sport or a tradition. You talked about the excitement of the hunt and the dissapointment of something other than what you anticipated happening. You
can not end an essay this way and expect it to be published. If you end your essay this way it
will not be published. You need to pick a topic and stick with it. Whether it's the first sentence that let's us know what your topic is or the last, you need to make sure your essay reflects your main idea.
I realize that they're asking for younger hunters to sumbit their essays, but that does not mean that you shouldn't write a
quality paper. If they've got an essay that will need a lot of revision and has a load of noticable errors and one that's been written, revised, and rewritten, which do you think they're going to consider for publication?
With some work, your essay will be ready. As it stands, I wouldn't submit this
draft.
Remember, you asked for our thoughts.
Below is an essay that I submitted last fall to BowHunter Magazine for it's annual Youth Hunter Essay Contest.
While it wasn't printed in their magazine (only the first place essay was printed) I did place in the Top 10 and received certificate for placing and a gift certificate for a $60 Winn Archery Free Flight Release. The point is, only a quality essay is what's going to be accepted/printed.
“What does it mean to be a bowhunter?”
“Patience is the key to any successful archery hunt.” I had heard or read those words dozens of times before in magazines, on TV, or on one of the many online hunting forums that I visit regularly. Never had I taken them completely to heart though, until my first archery season that is.
I had seen her on several occasions from the same stand overlooking a lush green alfalfa field. I had watched her use the same trail to come out into the alfalfa field for three days. I had watched her hop the same rusted barbwire fence on three separate occasions, each time stopping at an apple tree some 80 yards away taking time to nibble on the fruit that had fallen in the course of the day. Each time she hopped the fence my adrenaline rose. Each time I attached my release to a carefully tied string-loop my hands would shake. Each time she took a trail just out of range I learned a little more about our sport.
I had visited numerous websites, talked to a countless number of people online, and read everything I could in books and magazines on shot placement on whitetail deer. The answers were all the same, right behind the front shoulders, in the lungs.
When she finally presented me with a good broadside shot, I was more than ready. My bow at full draw, my 20-yard pin behind her shoulder, I mentally told myself I was ready. Even as I squeezed the trigger of my release, I knew she was mine. As I climbed down out of my stand a half-hour later, I silently thanked God for the animal he had allowed me to harvest.
Hunting
patiently,
ethically, and
with a positive attitude is what it means to be a
bowhunter.