Ritual of the hunting calendar is part of the fun
As a baseball player and coach of many seasons I found myself consumed with a bevy of rituals to help make it through the day’s practice, the month and sometimes the season. Not only was it helpful in staying organized in my pursuits but I found comfort in those same rituals.
Same goes for my hunting rituals. It used to begin with the purchase of my yearly hunting license. I was talking with students in my last hunter safety class when I mentioned my yearly ritual of sitting down with my new license, my calendar, my favorite pen, and setting the schedule for much of the season. They looked at me as if I had just landed from Mars. I can’t be the only individual who still organizes his or her life via a calendar/planner, albeit an old-fashioned paper one. I like the 30-day versions given out at school from the Kurtz School Supply Company. This reminds me that I need to stop by school and pick up my new calendar that begins in August in the teacher world. Though I have been retired for more than a year, I’ll always be a teacher of sorts. Some rites die harder than others.
My yearly hunting calendar ceremony began by accessing my little hunting manual. Remember the little 4x 4″ pocket versions? Then came the gazette magazine versions that came before online access. As much as it pained me to do, I would leaf through the manual in search of important changes to laws, regulations, season dates, limits, etc. At times this was a painful process because I have never been particularly fond of technical reading. Give me a good hunting story, sure. But poring over mindless details contrived by the Game Commission has never been my idea of fun. Once I had familiarized with the updates and changes, I would begin setting the opening days for each season into my calendar – first and last day of dove, season opener of archery, pheasant, grouse, woodcock, rabbit seasons, duck season, bear, rifle deer, muzzle loading, etc.
This would lead into sending in goose blind applications for Pymatuning, filling out the old red envelopes for doe tags, renewing sportsman permits for hunting with my pistol, setting harvest cards in a place where I wouldn’t forget to send in (but sometimes still forgot) after taking a deer or turkey and many more mundane details that still needed doing.
Once every detail of the coming seasons had been allotted to their part and parcel on my calendar, I would finalize my hunting plans for over the road trips. Taking days off in advance, booking flights, renting cabins, securing a guide if necessary, solidifying dates with friends were all best accomplished in advance.
Then, and only then, would I allow myself the pleasure of picking the best days to be in the woods. Predicting the rut, scheduling around Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays, our anniversary (Who gets married on November 2nd, right in the heart of archery season?) In fairness, that was before I was a bow hunter. Once I had all the details filled in, I would introduce my plan to the board of directors, which was to include my wife and daughter and a non-voting German Shorthaired Pointer. After minimal changes out of necessity, a motion to adopt was made by me, rarely seconded and eventually, the process was abandoned because the schedule was too intricate for a non-sportsman to understand. My girls just figured that I would be in the woods any time I could possibly hunt something and they made other plans for the fall. Looking back it wasn’t a bad way to operate. We did many family activities around the game being hunted and family life never seemed to suffer as a result. The girls got in a little more girl time during autumn and they knew I was ultimately better company in my semi-relaxed sportsman’s state.
These days, with AI and every imaginable detail available at the click of a finger tip, advanced paperwork that used to take hours and even days can be accomplished in minutes, not to mention harnessing platforms like OnX Hunting for scouting and reconnaissance which contain more information than an individual can scarcely take in.
So if you haven’t immersed yourself in the waters of the sportsman’s calendar ritual, I would strongly make a case for doing so. Many fires may be extinguished in advance with a little advanced planning. It’s also a great way to begin looking forward to the many exciting days afield that lie ahead. And after all, isn’t the real fun in the preparation? Don’t you believe it.
Dave Bates writes a weekly outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter. He can be reached at alphaomegashootingsolutions@gmail.com