Traditions are a constant within a family. We live such busy lives, and things change so rapidly. Traditions allow us to live in the moment and enjoy what our families have created. Family traditions can last forever if you let them.
Traditions give you something to look for. They give us memories to reflect upon and feelings of excitement, much like a child on Christmas morning after Santa has come.
Traditions are nothing without you, your family, laughter, conversation, and reflecting on memories and making new ones. Traditions are a way of keeping families close and bringing them together at least once a year if not more.
I can remember growing up; our family lived within 20 miles tops of each other, so on Saturdays, we would all gather together for a family day. In the warmer months, we would go to the reservoir for a family barbeque, a game of softball, a dip in the swimming hole and Frisbee. I love looking back on these days because as time went on and the elders started passing these days became less and less until one day the only time we all seemed to get together was for funerals. Sad to say but the stitching that keeps the family together had passed and what was left was starting to crumble.
For many years I wondered what family traditions seemed to keep the generations together, so I reached out to friends of all ages to find out what traditions they have that have never loosened their family stitching.
There was a significant response from men and women how hunting was a big part of who and what their families are made up of.
Hunting as a family is by no means a new tradition. But to me, it was foreign as I had never been and don't remember any family that had hunted. I was told that spending time with family on a hunt builds trust, a strong connection, and for children, the support and guidance from their parents leave everlasting memories.
It's a time that you reconnect with nature, no cell phones, no internet, no technology. Just you, your gun and nature a feeling of serenity and an adrenaline rush that only a hunter knows.
I decided I wanted to learn more, so I asked these same friends if they remembered their first hunt, I couldn't believe the responses the stories the memories that they shared. When reading their emails, I felt as if I was standing there next to them watching the events as they unfolded.
One friend tells the story of how amazing it was to go boar hunting. This was his first hunt and was warned that boars can be very unpredictable and he needed to watch for rooting. As they tailed through the mountain terrain, they came across just that. He remembers spotting one then taking his rifle and scoping it out, holding his breath and taking a shot, it dropped. His feelings at this point were exhilarating as he put it "so unreal." A female friend of mine told me she was 12 years old the first time she went hunting. Her memories of this hunting trip was excitement and scary at the same time. She remembers her uncle and all the stories of the past hunts he had been on. Another friend asked his 15-year-old daughter and13-year-old son what they remembered about last year's hunting trip. The memories the kids had were, the smell of the crisp air, the noises they could hear from within the trees as they started to walk in the forest. His daughter said the best part was bringing home a deer she dropped on her own and how dad taught them to field dress it before coming home. His son thought the tradition of having the tail of his favorite flannel cut off for shooting and missing wasn't very cool. Most of the people I communicated with about hunting said family gathers every year at the opening of the season, just to do it all over again but with the new younger generation have come to age.
I can now understand how hunting can keep families together. It's not only about the kill, and it's camping in the wilderness, listening to and exploring nature, telling family stories around a campfire and reconnecting and bonding to each other without interruptions of the modern world. It's a tradition that creates lasting memories that help to carry on the family tradition from one generation to the next.
I will leave you with the words of the legend of St. Hubertus, patron saint of hunters: "Wildlife must not be just hunted, but equally important is the conversation and understanding of the importance of wildlife in nature and based on this the restraint of one's passion."
