My father used to take me hunting. Some families went bowling every Tuesday, or had a weekend Picnic in the park. We would go out into a field looking for pheasant. Sometimes it was Mule deer or Antelope and on occasion we even went for Elk. He taught me great lessons that have come Saint Hubert Medals in handy in so many walks of life and in ways beyond measure. I will always remember those lessons. I believe he entrusted me with a Moral Code that I feel obligated to pass on to my son. I’m sure that the families who went to the park or bowling worked in the same manner, and who am I to say they were wrong. I will say “Any man who has the opportunity to hunt has felt true freedom, he has sampled the same freedom that was intended for him by our nations founding fathers. He has accepted a gift from God, from nature and his country and has come closer in tune with his ancestors and his heritage.”
There is evidence of mans propensity to hunt in the history of virtually every Race and Culture.
Only in recent times have sports Saint Hubert Medals like hunting taken on an undue negativity. Influences from media that negatively portray the hunter as an uneducated bloodthirsty killer bias the non-hunter into believing that this is the norm for all hunters. We as hunters have the challenge of overcoming this stereotype by showing that we are caring, responsible and highly educated as well. The media speaks to kids as well through cartoon characters that have been given human characteristics. They walk on two feet, dress, live and talk like humans and children react to this presentation with a belief that this is the way nature truly works. It is very difficult to combat the feelings that these characters create in our children. The responsible hunter must carefully present the facts to his/her children about the difference between the cartoon character and nature and they are indeed not related.
Society has changed greatly in the last 50 Saint Hubert Medals years and the average family has become removed from the farm. Farm lifestyle required the raising and routine slaughtering of animals with the assistance of all family members in the process. Our lifestyles today are based on a supermarket or grocery where we can buy these meats without any direct tie to the harvesting of the animal. Being removed from the entire process changes the thinking of many people to a more anti-hunting sentiment. Ask most kids where green beans come from and most will answer “the grocery store”. This is not likely to change, and by educating people how their t-bone was slaughtered to produce the beautiful meal on their plate is not likely to impress them into becoming hunters.
Society has grown so far from the farm and so far removed from the field that they are not aware of the fact that Hunters contribute the money necessary for Saint Hubert Medals Wildlife Management. Our permit fees and a percentage of the purchase price of all equipment used for hunting go to funds, which support wildlife management. Without these funds there would not be wildlife management, as we know it today. Due to this type of management, populations of game animals have soured from the dismal populations of just 50 years ago. . Hunters must learn to convey factual information to the non-hunter about how we fit into the wildlife management programs. We must learn the facts and be able to relate them in simple and understandable terms.
It only takes the actions or remarks of one careless hunter to destroy the good image that responsible hunters have worked so hard on. People remember the bad and forget the good. Irresponsible actions of hunters are the most significant problems we face as a group. Through education and self-control we can overcome these problems and return the good face to our beloved pastime. We must pass on this heritage to our children and we must do so with the mindset that our actions affect the whole.
My dad used to take me hunting. Now I take my children into the field and I am proud to share this heritage with my children. They may not live on a farm, but they know where meat comes from. They know that cartoons are for entertainment and not real. They know that as hunters they are part of the forests they enter and they know that this is a gift as well as a responsibility. I know that I am sharing values that have lasted many lifetimes and have proven valuable to me throughout my life, and that I have prolonged the memory of my forefathers by sharing these values with them. I know that I have shared a gift with them that was given to me freely and that this gift is theirs to share as well.