As we know fall is upon us and that means hunting season is here as well. I bring this up, because our streets will be filled with muddy pickup trucks and out of town folks coming back to visit or visiting with the hopes in snagging a trophy buck or their limit on geese!

I love hunting season. It truly came out in me, when I moved away. I did not necessarily grow up hunting. Yes, we were all forced by our parents to take hunter safety. (Which of course, led to some healthy competition of who would score the best!) Hunter safety is the best thing a child or even adult can take. Do you own a gun in the house? Everyone in the house then should be comfortable with them versus the opposite.

Hunting (or even trap shooting) gives you a hobby to take part in for life. Nowadays kids’ minds are being drained by smartphones and all the technology that goes with them. It’s an election year, so of course we are hearing about guns and gun violence-as they make headlines across the pages. It’s easy to focus on the guns themselves with so much killing around the world. However, if we are focused on the guns then we are not pinpointing the real culprit. The world has lost retrospect, humanity, ethics-you name it, it’s getting out of hand and it’s not funny.

I remember getting my first Henry. I received it as an adult as a gift; my siblings had received theirs well before me. I thought the world of it. I would go out with a friend when I could to target practice with the hopes that one day I’d have the “BIG” story of the year. I imagine a few of you will gasp at me, but this is North Dakota and the majority of us lived off of sausage and other goodies. Now we have grown up to be successful and, more importantly, respect guns as our freedom allows. Yes, that freedom was granted to protect us from an oppressed government, but aren’t we almost there?

As always, I’m looking forward to sighting in a weekend of memories and delicious sausage! Good luck hunters. Stay safe and wear your orange proud! Cheers!