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Hunting Trip
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Recently, I have been asked this question many times. When I started hunting, the more common question would have been, “Why don’t you hunt?” This, I think, is an honest answer. At least, it’s the best that I can give. To hunters, I respond by saying that I was brought up in a hunting family. My Parents and aunts and uncles were hunters. All of our friends were hunters. Therefore, I became a hunter. I am sure that my story is not much different then yours. To those people who are shooters and not hunters, and there are a lot of them, I say it’s going to a higher level. Hunting combines all of the skills learned in target shooting, in addition to skills learned in the field from our family of hunters. In my case, I have spent over fifty years learning those skills and feel that I am still at a disadvantage to my quarry. When I try to answer, why I hunt, to someone who is neither a shooter nor hunter, there lies the problem. How do you explain the colors in a sunrise on a crisp autumn morning, to someone who was born blind? Try explaining the sound of a child’s laughter to someone who cannot hear. Do you see the problem? Do I enjoy the actual kill? No, not really. Do I enjoy the taking of game when others fail? Of course, I do. I enjoy the stalk and the clean shot, when the animal has no idea I was there. Yes, the quiet loss of life can be welcome. Do I enjoy the company of others while in the field, people who think as I do? In a word, yes. The memories of past hunts and outings are ever fresh in my mind. Waking to my mom’s hunter’s breakfast. Walking with my dad outdoors. Having him answer all of my childish questions. These are fresh in my mind. Spending over two hours in the hot California sun, pulling Mike’s blacktail deer from a canyon bottom to where we could get it into my jeep. This is fresh in my mind. Seeing the smile on the face of an eight-year-old, while shooting his first air rifle, yes, this will always be fresh in my mind. There is a kinship among hunters. The first civilized people were hunters. I do feel a kinship with them. Someday, the nonhunter may ask, “What have I missed?”
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© Copyright: Ronald Machado - 2002
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