Deer Hunting is our kind of sports, not every sport involves a ball. Growing up in a small town there were not always opportunities to play a traditional sport. You had to watch sports in school or places to go view others playing and you might see some on TV. Most of us only had two TV channels when I was growing up. Now days people have more opportunity to play or watch many different sports than when I was growing up.
What A Small Oklahoma Town Offered for Sports
Growing up in a small Oklahoma town (population around 850) for some would be quite boreing and I can say when I was growing up I thought it was the worse place on earth. I always said I was going to leave as soon as I could. Well I did leave after graduation, but within 5 years, I was back home.
Why you may ask would I feel that way. Why did I dream of moving away? It was because I saw all the opportunities offered in other places and thought I was missing out. I am 62 and there hasn’t been much change yet. I have moved back home and I am so happy I did. When you are young you don’t realize just how good you have it at times.
Our Chores We had and Sports
The only sport our School had to offer was Basketball, baseball and softball. I think there maybe were about two girls that ran in track. We didn’t have a track program, but somehow they had a special opportunity. My husband could have been great at just about any sport but like a lot of country boys, he had to work before and after school and especially in the summer. He could throw a base ball far and accurate, but helping on the farm was more important. He always wins at anygame or sport we play. It was the same for my brother he had to help work. There was no time for sports.
Most of the families back in my day needed the children to help them because times were hard. My husband had to milk the cow before and after school and any other choir that needed to be done, because along with having a farm and raising cattle, his dad had a job away from home grading peanuts for the US ag department.
My brother had similar chores to do afterschool… Sometimes we would drive to school in a Truck loaded down with hay because he would leave right after school to feed the cows in the winter and check them to make sure they were not sick. My dad also had a job other than the cattle ranch, He had a construction business burying cable for the telephone company
In the Summertime my brother and husband both had to cut, rake, bale and haul hay. This was back when you had square bales of hay and had to stack it in a hot barn. There was no need to lift weights back then. All the farm boys stayed in good shape. It was hot and hard work, but they were happy to earn a nickle or dime for every bale of hay they hauled. My husband said he hauled hay in the night because it was cooler.
Fall, BasketBall and Deer Hunting
During the fall there were still chores but it seems everyone lived for deer hunting. Deer hunting was our kind of sport after all. Oh, we had our basket ball teams in full swing and that was the main attraction on a Friday night. You would go to the game even if you didn’t care about sports, you just wanted to see all your friends. You could go to the games or the only other thing we had in town was the beer joints or a Hamburger joint since our Movie Theater closed.
One a side note I remember a skunk running in the theater one time and everyone screamed. I ran out of the theater screaming a skunk, a skunk because it ran right by me. It was probably more afraid than I was. The popcorn was about 10 cents and the soda about the same. You could go to the movie for 50 and have your snack too!
A Long Thanksgiving School Break
Because deer hunting was our kind of sport and such a huge thing in our community, our school would offer gun safety classes. You could miss two day of class if you attended. Most of the girls didn’t hunt back then. I think it was good program, I took it with my 3 daughters when they were old enough and they all hunt. So in a matter of 20 years things did change.
Our School also let everyone out for a full week of Thanksgiving Break, because even if they didn’t, the boys would skip school just to go camping and hunting. It looks like Deer hunting was their kind of sports also. I remember it was really cold back then. but that didn’t matter. Men and boys were going camping and hunting even if school was still going on. The ladies and girls would go to deer camp and eat on a night or two sitting around the camp fire trying to stay warm and I mayself wanted to go shopping or we had to prepare for Thanksgiving day with all the cooking. Sometimes someone would kill a deer early and cook that at deer camp.
I remember my dad coming home after camping and everything was covered in camp smoke and smell of smoke. He would bring that huge mess right in the house and guess who had to clean it up! My mom and I, mostly my mom. Everything had to be wiped off and washed. We would hang the clothing and bedding out on the clothes line to help with airing out the smell because it really didn’t help to just wash it. The smell would still linger.
Is Deer Hunting a Sport?
I never thought of deer hunting being a sport growing up it was just something the men always did. My brothers really didn’t shoot guns that much, maybe squirrel or rabbit hunting. Rabbit only if you had a good snow. I did eat squirrel and rabbit . We ate whatever the guys shot. I never ate a raccoon or possum but I know the really poor did.
When I first got married. My husband kept our freezer full of Deer meat, but it really wasn’t my favorite meat. I really don’t care for wild meat. All of my family like it. In the Fall My daughters and Husband will start with shooting dove. They used to shoot quail, but we don’t see as many now days.
I believe we have an over abundance of wild cats, bob cats and mountain lion now. Years ago men use to trap wild animals for the fur to sell. My husband used to hunt raccoon, We paid for Christmas presants and holiday groceries one winter because of the skins he sold. We also paid for Holiday groceries one year for selling all the armadillos he could kill. All those beer holding stuffed Armadillos you find in Texas probably came from Oklahoma armadillos.
Not only is deer hunting our kind of sports , It looks like we hunted many other animals. We ate what we killed except the raccons and armadillos. They were considered pest and distroyed the pastor land and crops and so much more.
Sporting Skills
As I have grown older I realized that hunting is our kind of sport it is really a sport. My husband is a great shot. All three of my daughters are great with guns, my oldest not as much. We have skeet shoots when we are all together. You will notice in the picture to the right my grand-daughter with one of her kills. She was about 10 years old and she is a great shot. It takes skill to hit a moving target and she is great at it. My husband now travels to Colorado to hunt Elk. He loves it and has killed a few really nice Bulls. That is really a lot of hard work. Dragging a huge Elk off of a rugged mountain takes a full day of work, especially if you don’t have any help.
Whatever you sport your equipment can be very expensive. Some of the guns my husband has cost around $2000. It seem just about whatever sport you chose is costly. My husband saved his lunch money for a long time so he could afford to by a bow to hunt with only to have some steel it. It made me feel so bad because of the sacrifice he made to get it. I know he was hungry many days, but I didn’t even know he was doing at the time. He never complained, but I think he held a grudge for a long time even though that is wrong. It was hard for him to forgive.
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Deer hunting may not be your kind of sport but the Best part of all of these activities is that family and friends are spending quality time together and have such a good time doing it. You can see from the pictures, my daughter in one and my 10 year old grand-daughter in another. Sports is for all ages.
Even if you are a by stander and maybe just the camp cook you can still be a part of it all. Just find out what interest you and do it. Dribble that ball, hit a homerun, catch a stringer of fish or shoot that trophy deer, it doesn’t matter just get out and enjoy life.