Feature Article November 6, 2002
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeContact Us
The Third Wave of the Colour OrangeOrange certainly is the dominant fall colour. It starts with the trees in early October, and then come Halloween pumpkins and costumes. The most orange of all comes right after Halloween, however. Go to any rural grocery store or gas station this week and you are bound to find one or more men dressed head to toe in fluorescent orange. Deer hunting season is here.
There are those who decry this annual event. It has been called everything from inane to barbaric, but it certainly does have its effect on the local scene these first two weeks of November.
Ill admit Ive been on the fence about hunting for years. City born and bred, I have no personal history with hunting, and unlike some of my neighbours, deer have never done a huge amount of damage to my garden (the groundhogs are worse). And deer are beautiful animals.
Hunting, however, has long been a feature of country life, and when men tell how they wont be available for a few days because they are going into the bush to hunt, they do so with such a glint in their eye that you can tell the enjoyment of the hunting camp is as strong today as ever. So many rural traditions have been lost that it is nice to see one that shows no sign of waning.
Further, it is an event that removes people from their day-to-day existence and gets them out on the land for a few days.
I described deer hunters as men, but I was reminded today of a woman deer hunter who was probably hunting long before any of us were around. Marge Bender died last week at the age of 86, and at her funeral a poem by her late husband Ike was read. Marge never reached 5 feet or 100 pounds, but the poem describes her out hunting deer with her shotgun.
Hunting was a big deal here back then. It still is.
