Hunting Isn't Just About Killing

There aren’t many other places I’d rather be than sitting in a corn field with my 12-gauge, hiding in the tall grass of a canal bank, and UC Merced off in the distance waiting for the next dove to fly near enough for me to attempt to shoot it.  For me hunting is a way to get away from it all, as cliché as that sounds, but it’s true.  Even if I’m sitting out in the chilled morning fog, warm afternoon sun, or crisp evening air and I don’t see a single bird it’s still the one place I’m never disappointed.  As a new hunter I just love to shoot, I don’t care if I come back with 10 birds or none.  Squeezing the trigger and having a shotgun kick into my shoulder is one of the best feelings there is.

Hunting is more than killing an animal or shooting guns.  It is a family event that brings people together.  After an afternoon of hunting we'll relax with ice cold beers and blooming almond orchards all around.  Friends and family who don't hunt will come out to enjoy the outside with us and sit and watch us miss bird after bird.  As the day progresses and we finish hunting everyone will hang around and just enjoy the calm farm atmosphere.  A University to one side and mountain ranges on the other.  The few doves that we have been luckily enough to hit are field dressed -- cleaning and removing the meat -- and preserved for cooking.  

Towards the end of the hunting season we'll all get together and cook all the doves we've collected.  Family and friends all join in and we make an evening out of it.  Dove breast wrapped in a bacon strip with a jalapeno and marinated in a zesty Italian dressing is my favorite way prepare them.  Hunting is about many different things to different people, but for me its about being with friends and family either during the hunt or after.