Preparing for Hunting Season
It may be August to you, but it’s “getting ready month” for thousands of hunters in Colorado. Early upland game and waterfowl seasons are scheduled to open in a few weeks, and some big game seasons open in a matter of days.
My neighbor has been whizzing arrows at a life-size bull elk replica in his bac!yard all summer long, but his practice sessions have intensified considerably these last few weeks. The archery big game season opens this month and he wants to be ready. Apart from the stalking skills required to sneak within a few yards of a deer, elk, or pronghorn, bow hunters must be deadly accurate with their weapons if they hope to fill the freezer with venison steaks. Consequently, they practice shooting year-round, but in August, they get downright fanatical about it.
And bow hunters aren’t the only ones who start getting ready this month. Dove hunters anticipating the opener on September 1 start heading for trap or skeet ranges to sharpen their wing-shooting skills; many duck, grouse, and goose hunters do the same. Black powder enthusiasts and riflemen begin showing up at the shooting ranges to perfect loads, sight in rifles, or tweak scope settings.
Duck hunters usually start rummaging through their gear about now too. After all, the early teal season opens the first week in September with the other duck and goose seasons not far behind. There are decoys to spruce up, waders to patch, and duck calls to clean and tune. The old duck boat probably needs another coat of marsh-brown camo paint, too.
Hunters who own retrievers can be seen tossing decoy dummies for their dogs at nearby ponds in the evening hours. Some take their pooches for long walks to tune up their dogs’ retrieving skills and condition them for the upcoming game bird and waterfowl seasons.
Some of us are shopping for new scopes, binoculars, or hunting boots right now for seasons that open in October or later. Others are patching up tents, checking camping gear, making sure the heater is working in the RV, or clearing out space in the freezer for a new batch of venison.
It may be a while before your favorite hunting season actually opens, but time passes quickly, so the time to prepare begins now.
Dennis Smith is a freelance outdoors writer and photographer whose work appears nationally. He lives in Loveland.
