Deer hunting started with the Indians the Indians taught the pilgrims and it was passed down from generation to generation for centuries. My grandpa passed it on to my dad and uncle my dad passed it on to me but even before that my great grandparents were hunting in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s and passed it onto my grandpa and was able to teach my dad some since the last time she was able to hunt was in her 70’s and still able to read the land and sign to tell my dad were the buck would be laying at mid-day and she had never been on that land before. They put meat on the table every year they passed on the traditions and heritage of deer hunting.
My dad has passed everything he knows about deer hunting. He has taught me how to read the land, sign, weather, and moon. He has taught me why deer do what they do and every year I learn something new. Weather I shoot a doe, small buck, or a monster it means a ton to me and I’m proud of every deer I shoot because it means that I have carried on the tradition of hunting one more year. The deer I shoot means more to me when I have put in the work scouting, learned, and predicted a deer’s pattern. Everything I have learned that has been passed down was put to use and paid off. When I use what has been passed on and shot a deer I know that my great grandparents, grandparents, and dad are proud of me. My grandma bought me my first deer rifle shortly before she passed away because she knew how much deer hunting mint to my grandpa and out family.
My goal is to pass on to brie everything I know about deer and deer hunting. I want to carry on the tradition that my family has for so long so that she can do the same to her kids. Hopefully with me being such a young dad I will be able to touch my grandkids as well. I’m taking it a step further I’m doing this with my website. I have made the website to teach others about deer hunting I can’t take everyone in the woods with me but I can write about it and pass it on that way.
On top of all of that my grandpa died in November 1992 opening weekend of deer season of carbon monoxide poisoning in a camper parked in the same place I camp now during deer season. He hunted the same ridges and bottoms I hunt today I’m following his footsteps every time I walk through the woods. When I stop and decide to hunt an area that I normally would have over looked, follow a trail I normally would have passed, or looked a direction and saw a deer or some sign at just the right time. I feel that it is my grandpa and great grandparents telling me to do something. As I’m hunting it’s like I have my grandparents and great grandparents with me, guiding me on my hunt.
Not only am I providing meat for my family, caring on traditions of my family, and following in the footsteps of our forefathers. I feel a connection with my family that’s no longer here. These are the reasons deer hunting means so much to me. Deer hunting is something I love and will pass on to my daughter and as many people as I can to keep the traditions alive. It’s not about the size of the deer you shoot it’s about learning what this country was funded on and pass it on.
The Hillbilly