For hunters a new year is dawning. It started with Thursday’s opening of dove season and concludes in the spring with turkey season.
For some on the outside it seems like a long time, longer than football season or just about any other activity. For hunters it cannot last long enough.
At this time of year, seasons openings come in rapid fire succession with dove season leading into the early teal season starting Sept. 10 and then archery deer season on Oct. 1, quail season Oct. 29 and the regular deer and turkey season on Nov. 5. And that is just part of the list.
The interesting thing about hunting is the perceived notion by some non-hunters about what hunting is, and the reality of it. I realize some of those non-hunters have what a friend calls an illogical bias against hunting. Their mind is made up and all the facts in the world are not going to change it.
I admit there are different stages of hunting that every hunter goes through starting with just wanting to pull the trigger to wanting to limit out to just being able to go and enjoy the outdoors and friends.
I began hunting mid-way through the last century. To say times were different is an understatement. Air-conditioned homes and cars in Texas were still a luxury. So was color television and stereo sound. Options in hunting and fishing gear were extremely limited, but at the same time there did not seem to be any objections to anyone doing either.
It was because Texas was still ruled by farming and ranching. More people probably still lived in the country or small towns, and if you did not you had family or friends who did.
Hunting had become more about sport than subsistence, but it was easy to find a place to hunt. It usually just took a knock on the door and a promise to close the gate when you left.
Today hunting is more social oriented, or in the case of deer hunting goal oriented in the form of management. That does not mean that the animals go to waste. On the contrary hunters through the years have become gourmets when it comes to wild game, and those that need to harvest extra for management quotas have no problem donating to programs that provide the meat to the needy. One other point is that it is against the law to waste the meat.
While there are the actual hunting seasons for a lot of hunters it has become a year-round activity as they watch hunting programs, study technics and gear, gather pictures from game cameras and work on food plots and fill feeders.
It is an unseen factor, but hunting is an important economic factor in Texas. Hunters spend somewhere north of $4.5 billion at sporting goods stores, grocery stores, gas stations, motels, to landowners for access, licenses and more. A lot of that money stays in local communities, but associated taxes and participation in hunting organizations also go to fund wildlife conservation enjoyed by all in the state.
Most importantly those dollars give wildlife economic value, and while some my not realize it without that value habitat for game and non-game species could disappear as landowners look at other options to make their land profitable.
On the downside there is a major landowner shift under way in Texas. Agricultural land is being gobbled up by new owners as recreational properties. While ultimately good for most wildlife it could leave hunters standing at the gate with no place to hunt.
Also, as those landholdings are shifting toward large game like deer, it could negatively impact other species like dove as farms become pasture.
Another big misconception by those on the outside looking in is that the only thing fun about hunting is the killing. What they do not understand is if you take all the killing shots a hunter takes during a season you are not taking up five minutes of their life.
On the other hand, if you factor in the off-season time, the times around the campfire, in the kitchen or riding back and forth to the field, the stories told and the memories created it would be in the hundreds of hours or a lifetime. And that is what hunting is all about, time spent with family and friends. The time reconnecting with nature and understanding the importance of timely rain, bitter cold and summer’s heat.
Another thing about hunting is it is something anyone can participate in, from young observers who just spend time with their parents, to younger hunters joining their mother and father actually bringing home supper.
Enjoy the time, and keep it safe.
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