Traditions—those long-established customs handed down from generation to generation—have special meaning to each of us. Thanksgiving meals with family come to mind. Turkey and dressing, with other favorite dishes, all prepared with love and care following cherished recipes, bring family members from near and far to fondly share in an annual ritual. This yearly gathering provides an anchor for one and all in a turbulent sea of busy lives, consumed by work and school and other responsibilities.
The Thanksgiving tradition brings loved ones together in a special place at a special time year after year. In like fashion, hunting traditions bring us together.
Opening day hunts, often with customary camphouse gatherings on the evening prior to opening day, are part of the rich tradition many hunters share. But very often, the opening day ritual just involves family and friends getting together to enjoy quality time together in the outdoors. This social aspect of hunting is as important as any element of the whole hunting experience.
Hunting traditions provide an anchor point. In the same way an archer seeks a consistent anchor point for the shooting hand so necessary to consistently hit the mark, we all need an anchor point.
Similarly, just as a wing-shooter must anchor his cheek to the stock of the shotgun in order to consistently and cleanly bring down fast-flying birds, we all need an anchor point.
Without something to anchor us, we are simply pushed this way and that by whatever forces are around us. Tradition is a big part of what anchors us in this turbulent world.
Occasionally, the cry of whiney, self-proclaimed visionaries, bless their heart, is heard, urging us as hunters to discard tradition. Their argument usually follows the general line of, “You old fuddy-duddies are standing in the way of progress, keeping the rest of us from being able to (fill in the blank) which is going to allow us to (whatever).”
More often than not, this break with tradition involves the latest gadget or gimmick, with a price tag attached. When this is pointed out, the whiney response is generally something like, “You want to make us hunt like the pilgrims did.”
None of us want to hunt with a blunderbuss. But neither do we want to hunt with a grenade launcher.
However, the traditional aspects of hunting, even down to the level of what we hunt with, are more important than we often realize. Hunting methods are a product of decades, if not centuries, of public sentiment. Sometimes, this body of cumulative public sentiment is expressed in laws and regulations; sometimes not.
This public sentiment, capturing how people feel about things, includes the feelings of both hunters and the much-larger percentage of people who do not hunt, but who support lawful, ethical hunting. Since society decides for us what our rights and privileges are, it is critically important for us as hunters to pay attention to such things. Put another way, the 93% of the people who do not hunt will ultimately decide what the 7% of us who do hunt can do. Like it or not, this is how it works in the real world.
But it’s not an us-versus-them situation. Remember, 87% of the people support hunting, so long as fair chase is maintained. Also bear in mind that hunters have historically driven public policy on hunting-related issues, especially methods. It was hunters who outlawed bait, deadfalls, explosives, and poison as methods of hunting. Hunters supported the banning of punt-guns, used to take whole rafts of resting waterfowl with one shot. In more recent times, hunter sentiment has resulted in laws against canned hunts, in which the hunter is guaranteed a specific animal or the animal is tame, or hobbled, tied, staked or otherwise unable to evade the hunter. The mainstream hunting community in Alabama has also consistently weighed in against legalization of hunting over bait, and this stance will continue to be important for the future in order for hunting to maintain a high level of public support.
Tradition is also important in terms of perpetuating hunting participation. The traditional gatherings of family and friends to enjoy hunting together provide the absolute best settings for passing the hunting heritage along to younger people. Research has clearly shown that young people who grow up in a hunting culture are far more likely to become hunters than not. Not surprising; but the research also shows that people who grow up in a hunting culture are far more apt to continue hunting as a lifelong pursuit once they are introduced to hunting.
Why is all this important? Two big reasons: First, sustaining a high level of participation in hunting is necessary to continue to pay for management and protection of wildlife resources we all enjoy. Secondly, maintaining relevancy in a positive way with a broad enough base of people is critical to ensure sound public policy now and in the future on hunting-related issues.
But the primary benefits of hunting traditions are the ones you and I know so well—the incredible and memorable experiences with family and friends over the years. The experiences shaped and molded who we are as hunters, and the richness of the memories is what we value so highly.
So don’t be fooled by those who try to bash tradition. They usually have a self-serving agenda.