While we may all have a complaint or two about how the hunting laws are set up for the state, there is one thing that the Department of Natural Resources has developed that I think is brilliant! That’s the opening weekend for kids a week before all of the serious hunters hit the woods.
Being the father of four kids, I took advantage of this great opportunity to take my youngest daughter for a Sunday hunt at our hunting club. I had forgotten how good it feels to be back out in the woods, especially with one of my kids. What a blast to creep through the woods to a shooting house and sit over a green field waiting on deer.
Once we got settled into the stand, we had a chance to settle in. This took about 10 minutes considering we were in full blown combat with about a dozen wasps that had made our stand their mailing address. This was a chance to sit and teach my daughter about how you should hunt. How you should scan an area before it gets dark so you know all of the branches that look like deer are and when deer usually like to feed. That was just a few things. We laughed, talked about school and even sent a text or two to her brother who was hunting in a different spot. I wouldn’t trade that 3 hours for the world.
As we started to wrap up our hunt, it was time to make sure we had everything together, including the vital flashlight to see on the way out. ALWAYS have a light when hunting! But, it was as we walked out that really added to the experience which reflected my days as a young hunter, the smells and sounds. If you’ve ever been in the woods during the fall, the sounds of thrasher birds at sunset and the smell of the foliage on the ground is something that you can’t mistake anywhere. Occasionally, you’ll get a whiff of someone burning leaves that reminds us all of our campfires as youth.
While those may seem simple to us as adults now, there’s no doubt, they are memories being made by our children. They too will have the chance to enjoy this wonderful resource we have here in Alabama. I had forgotten how much fun it was to be out in search of the “athletic goat” (deer) and I was able to share that with a child that means the world to me. Creating memories, sounds and smells for a lifetime!
