Finals are only a few weeks away, which not only brings me one semester closer to graduating, it also signifies my favorite season of the year – deer-hunting season.

Some people may argue that hunting is not a sport, but you do get a great workout when you are out walking around looking for your prey and carrying your kill back so that you can clean it and eat it. You don’t know how strong you are until you haul a dead 12-point buck uphill a mile through a forest during the cold weather.

Hunting is a way of life and gives a young boy a chance to prove he is a man and can provide for his family. It’s a time for father and son to bond where there are no distractions and pass on a timeless tradition. My father and I did not spend a lot of time together unless we were working together or hunting. And my brother and I live miles apart, but we still get together to go hunting or will call each other to brag about how we did. (Trust me, he called last week to brag about a buck he got even though he knew I won’t get to hunt for two weeks). My grandfather took my dad out hunting and my other grandfather took his sons out. Like farming, hunting is a family tradition that will live on.

Like many other skills passed from generation to generation, the skills of stalking an animal, making a clean kill and fabricating the meat for use is repeated year after year. When I was too young to hunt I still helped skin and process the meat of the deer Dad would bring home every year.

We do have beef, but it’s cheaper to buy a deer license and hunt than to process a steer. Plus, venison is a welcome change to having hamburger every day of the week.

I also learned respect for firearms when I started hunting. I knew if I went near Dad’s shotgun when I was not supposed to, I would be punished. I was taught that you don’t point a loaded gun at something unless you mean to kill it. And never point a gun at a person. I was taught that a true sportsman kills only to eat and does not cut off a trophy head and leave the rest of the carcass to rot.

Even if you do not hunt you should appreciate those who do. Because of the hunters who go out and bag deer, there are less deer crossing busy highways causing accidents. I remember when Iowa City had a problem with overpopulation of deer and needed more hunters to take care of the problem.

Deer hunters provide the material to make deerskin gloves, which a lot of people pay a pretty penny for. The revenue from licenses, tags and stamps all go back into the government. Thousands of dollars are circulated through the economy because of hunting.

Hunting also keeps animals from becoming pests. Raccoons cause trouble for people in towns when they upset trash cans and try to get in houses for food. Rabbits can reduce shrubs and small plants in people’s yards or on university campuses. Squirrels are also a pest because no matter how cute they look, they also cause problems.

But hunters have the chance to go out and keep the pest population down.

You may think this mode of hunting goes against what I said earlier, that people do not eat what they kill. Well, some people do eat rabbit and squirrel. And I am one of them.

I learned about squirrel hunting from my grandfather who grew up in the Depression era and eating squirrels became part of life. So I kill squirrels, both to get rid of pests and to fill my freezer.

Hunting is an important part of my life, as it is for other people. There is nothing like watching the sun come up over a wooded area with the light bouncing off the snow on the ground.

There’s nothing like pending a few hours enjoying a pastime while admiring all of nature’s beauty and following the path my forefathers have made for me.

Wesley Griffin is a senior in agricultural education from Grand River.