Born in 1949 and schooled during the 50’s and 60’s, the year 2010 seemed a million miles away to me during those formative years. But now that it is here, not only does 2010 denote the passing of the first decade of this century, but for me, it marks another important milestone in my life as a hunter. This is my fiftieth year of hunting gigantic game animals in the wild. Tacking on another seven years or so for tiny game hunting is necessary to complete the document, but it was half a century ago that I shot my first whitetail deer along the edge of a thick, willowed swamp after a long, chilled day of hanging in the limbs of a tiny poplar tree (without a stand of any kind). I still recall it as if it occurred yesterday. What a triumph it was for that twelve year elderly farm boy that was frozen stiff by the time they pulled the trigger of the elderly Stevens 30-30 dropping his first whitetail deer.

Much of the credit for a life dedicated to the chase of wild things rightfully belongs to my beloved father and sister.

Much of the credit for a life dedicated to the chase of wild things and a passionate devotion to the promotion and preservation of our hunting heritage rightfully belongs to my beloved father and sister. Both recognized early on that I not only possessed an abnormal passion for animals of all kinds and the great outside, but they quickly realized that my psyche leaned heavily toward the feral side of nature. However, they took all of my wildness in stride and encouraged, enabled and abetted my need to be the woods in any way they were able...

Read the rest of "Thanks Mom and Dad" by Daniel James Hendricks