From my 12/17/15 News Journal Column.
Although the winter holidays are a time for sharing and for visiting with family and friends, hunters don’t have to trade their firearms and bows for eggnog and gingerbread. Instead of forcing themselves to stay awake at Aunt Sally’s house while the rest of the bored family members watch some obscure college football bowl game on a brand-new flat screen, hunters should spice up their family gatherings by relocating them to the woods (or field or blind or boat or whatever).
Before the question is asked, let me answer it: Yes, Delaware hunting seasons include holidays (unless the holidays fall on Sundays because Delaware’s bizarre, outdated, and discriminatory laws still outlaw Sunday hunting). Since many people are off from work on holidays, these make for superb hunting days during which family members and friends can come together, catch up on the year’s happenings, share a laugh or two, and hopefully harvest some wild game.
Thank about it: hunting on holidays—or on holiday breaks or vacation days—makes perfect sense.
In many cases, students are off from school or are home from college, so family hunts provide opportunities for parents and children to spend quality time together. Short conversations that take place while sitting in the duck blind or goose pit or while walking the rabbit hedgerows, woodcock thickets, or pheasant fields can be among the best low-pressure ways for parents and children to interact. Even the drives to and from holiday hunting locations facilitate communication between parents and children who may be hesitant to converse otherwise.
Hunting during the holidays can also bring siblings and extended family members together in ways that don’t necessarily involve the continuous eating of unhealthy snacks and the obligatory drinking of holiday spirits. Family holiday hunting excursions are actually annual traditions in some families because geographically dispersed family members come together at single locations for extended periods. Some families hunt on family farms or on leased hunting properties, while others schedule hunts with local waterfowl guides or at local upland hunting preserves. Some families try their hunting luck on Delaware public lands, and others travel to other states to hunt. Regardless of hunting location, family-oriented holiday hunts enable family members to commune with the past, share experiences, pass on knowledge, and escape holiday-season mania.
Friends who find it difficult to get together at other times of year due to residence locations, work schedules, school schedules, and family obligations, can also leverage holiday travel and time off from work to hunt during the holidays. Even if holiday schedules are tight, friends can find a few hours (usually in the morning before over-indulgent family members muster enough energy to get out of bed) to hunt.
Even if little or no game is harvested, the stress relief that results from a few hours spent afield with family members or friends is enough to help hunters combat the frantic hustle and bustle that oftentimes accompany the holidays. The walking, talking, joking, bragging, ribbing, and shooting are just good for the hunters’ souls.