There is a lot of value hunting the same area for a number of years. It gives new experiences there more context and adds to the history and richness of that area. Today everyone seems to want to hunt a new area every year and kids look at you like a crazy person if you suggest they hunt an area for at least ten years before they will fully appreciate it. *chuckle*
Before Pops passed away we had some heart to heart talks about life and the things that he was thankful for. He hunted, traveled and fished everything that had been dreamed of as a kid and felt it was a life well lived. That always stuck with me and one day decades later it hit me I had hit that same point, just a little sooner than pops did. It’s sobering to have peaked and have more in the rear view than what’s to come. It felt a little like a part of me died, a part of me won the lottery, and a part had to make sense out of what time is left. With statins I’ll be the oldest male our family has ever known, but arthritis comes on stronger than ever every year so eventually I’ll be forced to hunt and shoot vicariously through the kids in the family. They will prop me up against a tree with a rifle and fetch me at the end of the day, with no chance of filling a tag unless the animal dies of laughter at the sight of me. I get credit for helping kids with gear, ammo, and guns, but it’s quite self serving to get as much out of it as the kids do.
Generations to come will hunt the same mountains I always have, but it’s selfish to want them to. Hopefully they find their own path that fits their personalities. Probably shooting little missiles from infrared drones, or something equally dumb. Every generation feels they invented the outdoors. Their forum will make fun of the short range of shoulder fired firearms, and when they are old will look back at all the game they’ve blasted from a video screen. lol
