Skip to main content

9 Ways to Maintain Your Hunting Traditions

The time to share your traditions is approaching

9 Ways to Maintain Your Hunting Traditions
9 Ways to Maintain Your Hunting Traditions
9 Ways to Maintain Your Hunting Traditions

From NSSF Blog

At this time of year, millions of Americans feel the tug to participate in what they consider the ultimate interaction with the natural world–hunting. For many hunters, it’s a time for sharing long-established traditions with family members and friends.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and target shooting industry, notes that hunting seasons will be open for small game, big game and bird hunting across the nation over the next several months. Those who are successful in their hunts will stock their freezers with nutritious, locally obtained meat. Many also will share their bounty with food pantries to provide meals to the less fortunate.

With the list below, NSSF offers a reminder of how to maintain your hunting traditions and, for newcomers and inactive hunters, how to establish or re-establish them this hunting season.

  • Go hunting! It’s sounds simple, but the activity itself, whether you successfully take game or not, is a senses-heightening, fulfilling experience.

  • Share your hunting experience with friends and family members–whether afield, in hunting camp or by introducing a newcomer to hunting at, for example, a gamebird preserve, or by being a mentored for an apprentice hunter. (Find a gamebird preserve at www.wingshootingusa.org and learn about Families Afield/mentored hunting at www.familiesafield.org.)

  • Share a game meal at your table. This is one of hunters’ oldest and most favorite traditions, made sumptuous because the harvest and hunt coincide at this time of year. Today many people are making an effort to use sustainable, locally acquired foods–something hunters have practiced for a long, long time.

  • Tell your hunting stories. Write them down. Take photographs and videos. Share your stories on social media or with an online photo album. Such records help keep your traditions alive.

  • Continue to use the ammunition of your choice–traditional (containing lead components) or alternatives that use steel, copper or other metals. Understand that some extreme groups want to ban traditional ammunition but that science does not support such a drastic measure. Also, remind fellow hunters that eating game taken with traditional ammunition does not pose a health risk, as confirmed by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. (Learn more here.)

  • Remind others that wildlife conservation is funded through the sale of hunting licenses and excise taxes paid on firearms and ammunition, a tax that hunters supported and Congress approved in 1937. Through the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (also known as the Pittman-Robertson Act), $6.8 billion has been collected for conservation. Another good post-hunt conversation can be about the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, one tenant of which is that wildlife is held in public trust for the citizenry. (learn more here.)

  • Use the firearm of your choice as long as it meets your state’s hunting regulations. These days more hunters, particularly younger hunters, are using modern sporting rifles–rifles based on the AR platform. If you prefer a wood-stocked, bolt-action rifle, that’s understandable, but NSSF encourages you to support the choice of firearm made by others. Modern sporting rifles may not look like “Old Betsy,” but after many hunting seasons, such firearms will carry the same meaning for someone as the “Old Betsy” that was passed on to you.

  • Set an example for ethical behavior. Before hunting, review your state’s hunting regulations; during your hunt, practice good sportsmanship. The public overwhelmingly supports hunting, but unsportsmanlike behavior by even a few hunters can tarnish the reputation of hunting in general.

  • Practice safety in the field, when traveling with firearms and when storing them at home. Practice the four firearm safety rules: Treat every gun as if it were loaded. Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Keep your finger off the trigger until ready to take your shot. Know your target and what lies beyond it.

You may have other traditions to honor. We hope so.

NSSF offers a number of resources for hunters, including www.wingshootingusa.org and video and literature titles covering firearm safety, hunter ethics and the hunter’s role in conservation that can be viewed at www.nssf.org/hunting and www.nssf.org/safety.




GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Recommended Articles

Recent Videos

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Gear

Lew's Custom Pro Gen 3

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Other

Light up the Salt

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Fishing

Caring for the Catch

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Fishing

Snook on the Hook

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Guns

TriStar Cobra III Field Pump Super Compact .410

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Gear

Federal Premium Freight Train Copper Sabot Slug

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Fishing

Saltwater Setup

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Fishing

Jacks to the Max

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Gear

Beilue's Best from ICAST 2024: Baits & Tackle

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Gear

Beilue's Best from ICAST 2024: Reels

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Gear

Beilue's Best from ICAST 2024: Rods

Saltwater gamefish like sailfish, mahi-mahi and jack crevalle are known for their blistering runs, acrobatic jumps and p...
Fishing

The Fight is On

Game & Fish Magazine Covers Print and Tablet Versions

GET THE MAGAZINE Subscribe & Save

Digital Now Included!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Give a Gift   |   Subscriber Services

PREVIEW THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Buy Digital Single Issues

Magazine App Logo

Don't miss an issue.
Buy single digital issue for your phone or tablet.

Buy Single Digital Issue on the Game & Fish App

Other Magazines

See All Other Magazines

Special Interest Magazines

See All Special Interest Magazines

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Get the top Game & Fish stories delivered right to your inbox every week.

Phone Icon

Get Digital Access.

All Game & Fish subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets.

To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine.

Get Digital Access

Not a Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Enjoying What You're Reading?

Get a Full Year
of Guns & Ammo
& Digital Access.

Offer only for new subscribers.

Subscribe Now

Never Miss a Thing.

Get the Newsletter

Get the top Game & Fish stories delivered right to your inbox every week.

By signing up, I acknowledge that my email address is valid, and have read and accept the Terms of Use