by Sherry Wheet

Created on: August 01, 2008   Last Updated: August 25, 2008

If it seems like deer hunting is a dying sport in your area, consider the ways you are raising your kids. Just like other things, a sport will endure when it is embedded in your children. It's a fact, kids are, what they are taught. So, if a child is around something, so much, that it becomes apart of their daily lives; the odds are great that, that child will continue on in his adult life. Not only, his; but will pass it on in his children, also. This is the only way anything lives, including, deer hunting.

When I was young, we did not have video games, internet and such. We spent our time outdoors. Hunting was the high-light of the fall season. It was looked forward to, just like, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and any other holiday. August and early September were spent sighting in bows, fletching arrows, and target practice. We would scout out area after area to find that "perfect " spot to hang tree stands. We couldn't wait until opening day. Then when it, finally, came, we would gather with our friends/ hunting buddies and spend the whole day hunting and enjoying the great outdoors. After returning home, we would spend the rest of the night listening and telling stories about what all had occurred on our trip.

Now, that I'm older it is still the same. Though we have video games, internet, and such, we do not let our children stay on these types of things more than an hour a day. We take great effort in making sure our kids are involved with the outdoors. We take them hunting on a regular basis. We also, supply them with the correct knowledge, equipment, and skills they need to excel in the sport. We try not to, just, talk about the sport; but stay involved in the sport ourselves. Trying our best to be role models for them. In doing this, our children have grown up to love deer hunting, as much as, my generation and the generations before me has.

They, now, are waiting all summer for deer season to begin. They spend August and early September sighting in their bows, fletching their arrows, and participating in target practice. They march around area after area scouting trying to find that "perfect' spot for a tree stand. They, now, look forward to opening day, as if, it was Thanksgiving or Christmas. Then when the day, finally, arrives; they spend the whole day in the field or woods and the whole night telling of their adventures.

So, a dying sport, I think not. I believe, that there are ,still, those out there that that have the passion for the sport burning within them. Those, who like me, live for it each year. Who will bring deer hunting to the minds of all the children that they are in contact with. Making every opportunity to let them participate, when ever possible. Letting them witness and enjoy the sport, first hand, starting at an early age. Stopping at nothing to see it passed on to future generations.

In conclusion, deer hunting is a big part of the past; but it is, also, an exciting part of the future. If, we make it a point to keep it that way.

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