Embers of the stirred coals of a dying campfire drifted skyward as offerings to the great beyond. In the distance coyotes serenaded the thin sliver of moon about to disappear below the western horizon. Closer, I could hear the gentle saw-snoring of my tent mate. He had crawled into his sleeping bag an hour or two earlier. After we finished the last of our conversation, I seemed to loose track of time.

Save for the crackling of the fire, the occasional yapping of a coyote and the gentle snoring from the tent behind me, it was quiet. A quiet I truly enjoyed and appreciated.

For days, prior to coming to deer camp, I’d been tied up in meetings, discussions and attending a show where I had spoken to a mixed group of hunters and non-hunters. Topics had covered what we as outdoorsmen and women could to to be better at getting the true message of conservation to the vast majority of people who neither approve or disapprove of hunting. My talk to the group had been set up by a local charity which supports a variety of worthwhile humanitarian efforts. It had been an ideal place to talk about wildlife conservation and explain how hunting was wildlife conservation, and how without hunting there would be far fewer species in both the plant and animal world. There had been numerous approving nods from several I knew from visiting with the attendees before I was asked to speak that evening, who were not hunters.

There had been a handful of questions, mostly queries about individual species and how the taking an individual animal truly helps perpetuate a species and benefits so many others. I explained too, how essentially directly and indirectly all life on earth depends upon the death of another organism. And that if we as an individual are alive today, we were part of of that death and life cycle in terms of food and space. Interestingly with my explanations I saw several people finally “see the light”.

One of the questions I appreciated was, “What role, if indeed there is a role, has the covid epidemic played in wildlife conservation?” I explained with covid and shortages in groceries stores many people finally realized grocery stores are not where food comes from. It may be where people buy it, but food comes from land and water, be it fruit, vegetables, nuts, meats, fish or essentially any other substance we as humans call food. With bare shelves many people finally realized it could come down to if there was no food on the grocers’ shelves, if they and their families were to survive, they had better know something not only about growing their own foods, but also how to hunt and fish.

Many people too, thought they needed a gun to protect their family and themselves. As a result, and, that number is growing daily, 20 million individuals bought guns.

Now, with guns in their homes those same new gun owners are starting to think not only in terms of home protection but also in procuring their own food, by using their guns to hunt. And as such, each of those new gun owner/possible hunters can and do play an integral role in wildlife conservation.

This is opening the door for a tremendous opportunity for education, from gun safety and handling to, the how-to of hunting, to taking care of harvested game and cooking it.

Remembering, I learned all those things the first years of my life, and, have now practiced for the past many years. These days I almost take knowing those things for granted, although all are part of my continuing education.

This past year I was involved in the FTW Ranch’s New Hunter Program, where we essentially took someone who had never held a gun, to learning how to safely use a gun for hunting, basics of animal biology and the how to of hunting, to proper shot placement, to learning to field-dress game, butcher it, all the way to learning how to cook game. This, within a week’s worth of instruction. The program was extremely well received and will continue into the future. Several organizations, such as Texas Wildlife Association have long been involved in similar programs including field-to-table events, youth hunting (where they have introduced over 80,000 individuals to hunting) to more recently adult hunting and mentoring programs. Texas Wildlife Association is an excellent source of information, whether you live in Texas or not!

Stirring the coals of the almost now extinct fire brought back memories of when I was a mere tyke with a BB gun. Pulling on memory banks of a bygone era, I recalled shooting a sparrow, which I plucked, gutted and then cooked over an open fire. Thankfully it was a very small bird with very little meat on its bones! It did not taste all that great, but I had killed it and I had been told, if you shoot something, you eat it! There were several “learnt lessons” in what I had done. I could indeed take a bird, prepare it and eat it, even if it did not taste all that great!

Are you spreading the conservation message? If not, it is indeed time to become involved in helping spread the word. Ideal places and ways are to join the Dallas Safari Club and attend their various chapters scattered across the US and hopefully soon Canada and Mexico.

Now if you will excuse me, there is still a void in my freezer which is craving venison. So, I’m grabbing my Kryptek camo sprayed with Scent Guardian, favorite rifle and Taurus Raging Hunter handgun, topped respectively with a Trijicon AccuPoint scope and SRO sight and a couple boxes of Hornady ammo. It’s time to go harvest some wild meat and make a few more memories!