The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Opening day of shotgun season has come to Western NY ..... I consider myself mainly a bowhunter, and would rather bowhunt to chase deer than any other method ....... however, there is a day that supercedes all of bowhunting FOR ME ..... due to the tradition that was started with my Grandfather and continued with my Dad ..... opening day of shotgun season! For the last 25 years, that day has been one of pre-hunt togetherness, talking over strategies, reminiscing of past successful opening day hunts, my Dad allowing me to take off school, as the opener was always on a Monday, Dad letting me drink some of his coffee from an old Stanley thermos .. dented from many trips afield, hearing Dad'sgun go off, walking to his spot,and then seeing him with his coat off and his red and black flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up, and knife in hand. Going to hisground blindto have lunch with him .... next thing we know, here comes a doe ..... I take out her heart and lungs with my hero standing next to me ..... he follows the blood trail and calls me over ... there she is .....

there are so many more, but the internet has only so much space ;)

So when some of you bowhunters say that it is so much more satisfying for you to take a deer with a bow ..... God bless you ......just know that it's ALL personal ....... I love shooting deer with a bow ...... but when I shot the 8 pointer this past Saturday's shotgun opener, I can tell you this ..... there was not one bow kill that could compare to shooting that buck, and ALL the tradition that has led up to it ........

I just wanted to share this with my friends in the bowhunting forum .... do any of you guys have similair thoughts?

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

No I don't, Tony.....but I'll tell you this....

I ENVY your relationship with your dad......and all like yours. Never had that. I'm trying to start my own traditions......and "we're" doing OK (my son and I).

That has to be one of the most special feelings in the world.....and I'm happy for you. I don't have ANY regrets about my upbringing. None. I just never had that. My mom is the strongest, most resilientwoman in the world. I'll tell her that, AGAIN, tonight.

You can throw a lot of stuff out the window.......that means ABSOLUTELY nothing when it comes right down to the MOST important things in life. I'd give $10K to eat supper with my grandpa, tonight......just to show him how I turned out....and to introduce him to my family.

It's a LOT bigger than a hunting trip, Tony. But I guess that would be preaching to the........well, you know;)

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Good post, however I feel slightly different.

While I wouldn’t trade the memories made growing up and rifle hunting with family, I certainly wouldn’t continue with a “tradition” solely based on those memories.
Over the years I’ve come to have a different appreciation of hunting than that from which I started. I don’t think I could return to those past states of mind, and hunt that way in the present day. Although I will hold dear those roots that have made me into the person I am today.
I was fortunate to hunt a lot with my Dad. No other hunting partner will ever compare. He’s older and less inclined to head out these days so we don’t hunt together as much anymore. If/when we do get out together, I still hunt under my own convictions, or sometimes I am not even carrying a weapon, just there for the company and hopefully to be the workhorse during a drag. Traditions and old memories aren’t why I am out there, but sharing the present day moment is.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Yeah I have similiar feelings PT and it's funny I spent this past Saturday shotgun hunting the openerwith my dad on our small farm and had a blast missing an oppurunity on a decent buck and catching a little flack for it. Why would I hunt this little farm with little to no agriculture and onlymoderate #'s of deer(at best) when I could be hunting in the heart of the Eastern Shore in anarea thick with farmland and rutting deer? Because we too have a lot of family tradition and fond memories on that little farm and I wouldn't of missed it. I am so thankful for him and my grandad for introducinghunting into my life and even though I approach hunting a lot differently than they did/do without them layingthe foundation I couldn't have become the hunter I am now.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

I guess I don't take deer hunting as seriously as some of you do ..... I love it, don't get me wrong, but if I had to choose hunting with all those other things previously mentioned, and the standards there in, against all this modern day, gotta get the biggest buck "conviction" that I see in deer hunting today, gimme those old paths ..... but that's me ....... back in the day, a good deer was measured by # of points and body size .... now we have grown our own and manipulate the geneticsso the deer fit into the mold we want them in ....... If that's how some of you like, I am glad that you can hunt that way ...... but there is something missing in all that IMO ...... simplicity ......

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

That's what I'm talkin about NEW ....... I realize that some don't have that and just won't get it ..... there is no other feeling like it

Jeff ....I pray you will establish those traditions ...... I appreciate the fact that even though you never had it, you still want it for those in your life ..... it speaks to the man that you are ..... :)

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

I think tradition, ESPECIALLY family tradition, plays a monstrous role in deer hunting. Opening day of the firearms season is always a time that families get together, and for some, it's the only time during the year they do so.

Family, and friend, deer camps are very much traditional. As has been eluded to, killing deer is only a small part of it. Reminiscing, catching up, planning hunts, sharing stories, talking strategy.......It's all part of the scene, and vital to the future of hunting.

But I think those same traditions can be played out regardless of the weapon used. I personally bow hunt only. I haven't taken a firearm deer hunting in 2 or 3 years. But just because I hunt w/ a bow doesn't mean deer camp isn't the same. The same stories are shared, the same strategy is discussed...And the same catching up w/ family and friends is done. The weapon of choice has nothing to do w/ it.

I can see, though....how for some the weapon would be part of that tradition. To them I say carry on!

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Some put tradition in dates, weapon, or an area. Like Tony posted more about the "hunt" than the weapon, more about family than anything else.
I sit with grandfather atleast once a year during gun season. I do not have a gun, so I sit with him. That is what really matters, we are together in the woods.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

tradition for me is kinda hard when it comes to deer hunting. my dad tried bow hunting 15-20 years ago and was never successful, so he hung up the bow. he tried again about 10 years ago or so with the muzzleloader, but again no success. while he does go hunting every year, it is usually only for a weekend and that is to do deer drives. i dont think that he really likes deer hunting but every year i try to get him out there.

i learned to hunt from my aunt and uncle, which i am very grateful for. if i still lived near them i would be hunting with them all the time. my dad had to move before the rest of the family when it was time for me to start deer hunting. he knew that my aunt and uncle would be great teachers and since he couldnt do it himself, he asked them to teach me everything they knew about hunting. they did a great job to say the least.

i do wish that my dad would go hunting a little bit more. i think that it is a great thing to be able to hunt right along side your father every once in awhile. since my dad hasnt really hunted with me much, i try to get friends and my brother to hunt with me as much as possible. trying to start new traditions i guess.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

PT
You mis-judged my meaning of conviction. While it is true that I wait on a big for my area buck before I will attempt to shoot it, my reference to conviction was more methodical than kill driven.

"HOW" I kill a deer matters to me more than "IF" I kill one. That's the reason I carried a longbow so many hunts this year. Its the reason, I will have a bow instead of a gun on monday. Its the reason I wait on a big buck, rather than just killing any one that comes by for the sake of doing so.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Great post Tony. As I've told before I hunt every weekend with my Dad and brothers. We plan our vacations at the same time and hunt the same land every weekend. Now don't get me wrong by the end of the season I need a little break from them, as they do me;), but I wouldn't trade it for the world and can't wait until my son can spend the whole day with us.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Envy, yes. I have no tradition. First in my family to hunt and I started at 45. My sons not into it so I guess it all starts and ends with me!

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Tony, that is a great post.

But for me, I have no hunting "traditions". I am self taught, raised by a single mother and like GMMAT, one of the strongest women I know. God bless her. I taught myself to bowhunt since I was the age of 15. Never really was taken out rifle hunting and when I was, it was "if you don't shoot, you don't get" and I remember hail mary'n shogun slugs across a field...disgusts me now that I was told to shoot when I had no business shooting.

I think in PA anyway, too many of that happening. I like my bowseason, I've come to loath the rifle season opener but I still like seeing my friends here have success and traditions.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Rybo .... my apologies for misreading your post ..... it happens often on these threads I fear .......


Gutshot .... it's great to hear your son will be adding yet another generation ..... the tradition carries on with my two nephews and my younger brother for me ...... my step son isn't as interested and he is away at college ...

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

I'm a 3rd generation at my shack, and the 4th is hunting too! Our shack all started in 1947! This was the 60th season! The whole crew shows up for gun season, but opening bow season, I'mall alone!Lots of tradition and stories! It all started with a tar paper shack.(wish I had a pic on cpu)
Then to this.



Now this.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

good post Tony, I to have some great memories hunting in firearm season as well, i do like bow better but thats just me. Lots of memories with friends and family in the deer woods to.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

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RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Vikes and Greg .... we are definitely blessed!

Guys, I appreciate your responses ......let me encourage those that don't have those traditions to make some with some young people ..... you will make life long changes in them ....... the feelings run deeper than the deepest ocean .............

I'm getting mushy in my old age ..LOL :D

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Good post Tony. I got 4 daughters that don't want to go to the woods anymore but someday they will relish the times I drug them along. I got me a Grandson yesterday and I hope the lord lets him and I have many many days afield together. That boy will be my shadow just as soon as he can walk on his own thru the woods. I might just carryhim in with a binky in his mouth.:D

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Most of you know, I spend the majority of my time in the woods with my dad. While we don't generally hunt out of the same stand/blind with one another anymore, we're rarely ever not in the same woods. When one of us isn't out there, it just feels weird. I know there's going to come a day when he can no longer be there with me, and I absolutely dread it, but until then I look forward to every chance I get to spend in the woods with him.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

Preacher

I am the only one that hunted in my immediatefamily. I was invited to hunt withmy uncle/cousins in high schoolbut they were big drive hunters and needed more walkers/pusher then anything. Not really atradition as I didn't miss it when I moved on.I am also self taught and enjoyed hunting alone most of my life.

Now myson hunts and so will my youngest daughter. Bow hunting is by far our biggest passion when it comes to hunting. While we will never have a deer camp type tradition... no matter what time off the year, we will have our tradition of shedhunting, summer scouting and bowhunting once the kids leave home and come back to visit or to hunt. Otherwise for the most part, I will be traditionally back to hunting alone. I am not one for crowds. I hunt to hunt !! :D

Tim

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

I too am a self taught deer hunter. My family never was much into hunting of any kind. I started shotgun deer hunting on my dads farm in IL by myself. Then I stayed with some neighbors in an lod log cabin they fixed up for deer camp. That camp was mostly an excuse for beer drinking smoking and card playing.

Then I hunted for a few years with an uncle and a few friends. That too was mostly just to get away and party for a few days.

I then started to bow hunt on my own. That is when I truely found my passion for hunting. Don't get me wrong the times spent with friends were fun. But not really the way I wanted to hunt. Since I have been bowhunting on my own, the quality of animals I have killed has improved and my skills as a self taught hunter has improved too. So while I don't have the tradition of some of your deer camps, I do have the passion for the hunt. To me that passion is outsmarting one of the better bucks in the woods.

Now my deer hunting is a year roundaddiction, and I have a few close friends that I share it with from time to time. But mostly it is me trying to figure out the best way get a trophy buck next time out in the woods.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

I make the statement all the time that I would rather shoot a small buck with my bow than a monster with the rifle this Monday. Doesn't mean that I won't shoot the monster given the chance. I feel exactly the same way you do about gun season though. While I thoroughly enjoy the solitude the bow season, I still get ancy to got to the cabin on Saturday before the first Monday and hang out with Dad, the brother, uncles and countless friends. There is truly nothing that compares to the memories of past first days.

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

It's interesting to see how tradition in hunting doesn't necessarily have to do with family / friends ..... hunting with family is all I have known .... yet for some of you, your self education and annual quest for the trophy your seeking, is in itself, tradition ....

Great stuff guys ......

RE: The Importance of Tradition in hunting
 

I started hunting in 1986 with my dad and my uncle. We still hunt together every year during the shotgun season, and try to squeeze in as many bow hunts together as time allows. This season, we added a new hunting partner. My 11 year old son started hunting last Friday morning with us. Saturday morning, as my son and I hunted in the same tree, my son saw his first deer from the stand. I grunted him into to 35 yards, but my son got what might be the worst case of buck fever known to man.:DHe couldn't get a shot due to some trees and a skittish buck. The buck walked away and paused at 80 yards. I didn't even lift my gun until my son told me to kill him.[8D]I ended up taking my best buck to date, an 8pt that dressed 204 lbs. That is a memory that I will never forget.