Traditional Season
Since starting my first deer season hunting with a recurve this year I’ve been trying to write a short story about what “traditional archery” means to me. After a slow start I decided to refer to my handy Webster’s Dictionary and see what it had to say. “Traditional…adjective of the noun Tradition….1. Transmittal of elements of a culture from one generation to another, esp. by oral communication. 2. A set of customs and usages transmitted from one generation to another and viewed as a coherent body of precedents influencing the present : heritage. 3. A time-honored practice or set of such practices. WOW! That really gave me some food for thought and within seconds I knew what it meant to me.
At the beginning of this season my best hunting buddy Tom Jenkins and I decided add a little challenge and spice to our deer hunting by laying down the compounds and hunting strictly with stick and string. I had no idea of the success we could muster in one season! Having shot six arrows between the two us we have two bucks and four does to show for it. Myself taking a nice 9-point and one of the does and Tom downing an 8-point and three does so far. The last of which was a huge old nanny on my farm last night that fell to an arrow from his newly purchased Black Widow. After taking the shot and a short wait he came to draft some help in the trailing and dragging and ended up with myself and my six year old son Jared. We quickly dressed and grabbed the lantern and my headlamp and headed to a cedar thicket on the far side of the farm. After quickly picking up the generous bloodtrail, Tom and I backed off and let Jared lead the way. He picked up the trail using the headlamp and slowly made his way down through the bramble. “There’s blood…there’s blood…and there’s some blood on this stick….and on this leaf….there’s blood.” He became snagged on every green briar branch that stuck upward, but he didn’t give up and he took that final 30 yards of trail to within 3 steps of that doe before finally looking up and seeing her piled up before him. “Found her for you Tom” he said. Tom and I trying not to laugh while we thanked and congratulated him for the great job he did, since we surely would have never found her. He then proceeded to hold one of her rear legs open during the dirty work process and never complained more than one or two “yucks!”.
What does this have to do with “traditional archery”? It really has nothing to do with the gear we choose to hunt with, but it pertains to everything else when you read Webster’s Dictionary! It has nothing to do with leather, wood, or wool. It has nothing to do with mechanical or fixed sharp steel. It has nothing to do with pulleys, releases or a stave that has been hand formed. Last night was about a culture of woodsmanship and respect for the animals we harvest. It was about passing the torch on to our children so that our bowhunting heritage carries on and doesn’t fizzle and die. It was about building a fire that more can sit around and feel the warmth and comfort. It was about the true meaning of "traditional".
Topic: Traditional Season 2004 (Read 286 times)
