By Kimmy Czekus
8th grade, RESA

Have you ever really put thought into why you hunt or want to hunt? During this term I have been thinking about hunting while studying deer hunter behavior in our sociology unit at the Rhinelander Environmental Stewardship Academy (RESA).

Although I don’t hunt, I know quite a bit about deer and deer hunting from our studies. After studying deer and learning about stewardship, I’m considering becoming a hunter. However, I still have to give serious thought into whether I’m really ready to take the life of a deer.

One reason I want to hunt is because I enjoy nature and enjoy shooting a bow. I don’t live anywhere near the woods so when I go into the woods I really connect to it.

Another reason I want to hunt is so that I can feed my family. Like many families, sometimes we need help putting food on the table. I also just want to enjoy myself while hunting. I can think about my day and just have fun in the woods connecting to the rhymes of nature.

I was unfamiliar to hunting until I came to RESA. I guess the transformation occurred when I learned how to shoot a recurve in a RESA physical education unit on traditional archery.

One day when we were shooting our bows, two deer walked into the football field. Something clicked inside of me and that is when I really thought about hunting.

Another thing that introduced me to hunting was reading the Bucks Camp Log. I found it interesting to compare hunting today to what it was like in the 1900s.

The other thing that got me interested in hunting was reading On The Hunt by local wildlife biologist and friend of RESA, Bob Willging. What interested me in this book was how hunters have been enjoying the recreational value of wildlife and the landscape for over a century.

Further, from this book I learned that deer hunting is a deeply rooted tradition in the Wisconsin for as long as it has been a state! And before then, the Ojibwe deer hunted for subsistence and to trade deer hides for useful things like pots, pans, guns, ammunition, traps, and blankets.

I guess I feel like I want to be a part of this tradition that has been around for hundreds of years.

If I were to hunt in the future, I would try to convince my family to hunt. I think I am the only one in my family who wants to hunt in the future. If I hunted in the future I would use a bow and really cherish the animal when it’s killed. I would never do anything to disrespect the spirit of the deer; I will cherish it and the food it will provide for my family.

It is clear to me that I really need to go hunting. Even if I just try it once and I don’t like it, than I would still get a chance to do it. As hunter, I think it is very important to cherish the deer. I hope to one day know what it feels like to be a hunter and to become an outdoors girl that truly honors the animal and the land.