Annual traditions

Gellar

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Hunting and fishing are full of annual family traditions, what is yours, What was it, or what do you hope it becomes?

Three traditions I remember as a kid are:

1. We went camping in a small pop up camper almost every weekend from Memorial Day to October. we would go to a campground in SW Wisconsin that would let us camp and keep the boat in the water right outside our camper. The first camping trip of the year though was always during turkey season in April or May and mom stayed home. It was just dad and 3 boys for 2 nights. We called the weekend “roughing it” because we brought a tent and didn’t stay at a campground. We had to build or own fire pit and cooked with the cast iron skillet right on the coals.

2. When I was 6 or 7 we started going to Voyaguers National park with our family and grandma and grandpa would come too. Every year over the 4th of July we would stay in a cabin there. My dad knew a guy and we would have a big shore lunch with him and his family at least once. There would be 20-25 people at shore lunch.

3. Started out as opening weekend of pheasant season but then the population become non existent and we switched to deer hunting. we would all stay at my aunt and uncles and hunt all day everyday of opening weekend.

Now that I have my own kids I am hoping to be able to start traditions with my 2 kids. I would like to start doing a traditional trip/weekend with each of them. As a family we already go to Canada each year fishing and staying at a cabin.
 
We dont really have one anymore. Unfortunately, times change. Used to always be pheasant hunting Thanksgiving morning, there gone now. Used to be all family for southern il. for shotgun season too, I admittedly stopped going as I've only got a week to take off and I prefer to make a trek west. I feel guilty about it every year when november rolls around. I too am looking forward to starting some new ones with my young boys.
 
When I was growing up : Deer hunting at deer camp, brook trout fishing at deer camp, snowmobiling at deer camp. The camp was located an hours drive from our home, deep in the Green Mountains. That is all gone due to family and friends passing and the camp being sold. Over the past 40 years, trips to Saskatchewan for waterfowl, walleye fishing in northern Quebec, and at least one big game hunt west of the Mississippi River or north of the border have become annual traditions with family and friends.
 
camping Memorial day weekend and Fourth of July weekend. We'd spend it at a camp ground but in tents. A lot of fishing, crabbing, swimming. etc. Now I'm the only guy in a house of women so the camping has become VRBO style, less fishing, but way cooler destinations.
 
Not since I stopped working all those holidays as a Park Ranger.
Did have 2 family reunions @ our cabin the week after the 4th for 2 years. Fishing/hiking with family.
Used to go backpacking solo during Thanksgiving week for many years,then bird hunting with my bro @ same time.
Pre-T-day elk hunts have been the thing in recent years with friends.
 
Agreed as stated above. These things evolve and currently on a 7 year stretch with the same group for archery elk. Fond memories of family gatherings as a youngster for Christmas. My grandparents made it unforgettable. Although I could pass on that lutefisk smell...
 
Used to be many traditions before the family aged and moved all over hell and gone...opening day of fishing season in April, huge family camp outs for Memorial Day, opening days of deer and duck season. Now retired and with the family spread I’m only concerned about the openers when I want to be and look more for midweeks with less people around.
 
Dad worked shifts at the dam so it was difficult to schedule outings. But once a year we would drive several hundred miles to the Missouri Breaks near Roy and hunt deer for a four day weekend. Those were frenetic trips but memorable. We really roughed it either camping in a canvas umbrella tent or a tiny Shasta travel trailer. My brother and I try to keep the tradition alive hunting deer and birds a few every fall on the Hi Line. We stay in our 1988 19' Terry trailer which seems like the Ritz compared to that 1960s Shasta! But it's certainly primitive compared to what most hunters are dragging behind their trucks these days. I still have my folks' canvas pop-up tent. If restrictions relax enough this year, I'll take it camping with my daughter and grandkids when they go on their annual fishing trip up north in their fancy 31' pull-out. I should try harder to be a part of the grandkids' outdoors memories. But the family needs to build their own too.
 
Yukon Quest

Quviasukvik

and the one you Friday music guys might like is Innu Nikamu, music for hunters. Asking the hunting gods and spirits for hunting success. Originally it was basically home made drum's and song, asking specifically for Caribou to sacrifice themselves to sustain us, but it has in modern times become of a carnival gathering
 
Biggest tradition to me was opening weekend of deer season!

Next was a huge family reunion. It lasted 2 days and was attended by 200 to 300 people. As the oldtimers died off and families spread, it faded to a "once every 2 years" to no reunion at all.
Actually, there were three family reunions. Mom's maternal side and paternal side and pop's paternal side. They have all pretty much faded into oblivion.

Then the July 4th bbq at the ranch! Lasted until David passed away. It just wasn't the same without him.

Me and grandpa had a "tradition" of one spring (May 1st) squirrel hunt. Last hurrah until Sept dove season.
 
We do thanksgiving at the cabin in Arkansas. That's prime whitetail season so we hunt and we shoot skeet Thursday after lunch. Been doing it for years; everyone brings their new shotgun and get outshot by my now 13 year old girl. Thought I was going to even the playing field last year and swapped her choke for a super full. She just ended up dusting them instead of breaking them.
 
So many of them, as through the years our interest changed, but somewhere near the top would be car events, music festivals, medieval time festivals, and Rodeos. ( and I will take this opportunity to praise the great state of Arizona for having the oldest and still operating rodeo in the world )

But at the very top of my list would be the round ups. Rounding up the cattle via horseback and bringing them in from the open range , and then brand, castration, and separate them. On the last day, we had a huge barbecue and somebody would always bring a guitar and fiddle and we would square dance and waltz or try to, as we were dancing on the grass. I know, dirty, hard work, and not very exciting, but I miss it.
 
So many of them, as through the years our interest changed, but somewhere near the top would be car events, music festivals, medieval time festivals, and Rodeos. ( and I will take this opportunity to praise the great state of Arizona for having the oldest and still operating rodeo in the world )

But at the very top of my list would be the round ups. Rounding up the cattle via horseback and bringing them in from the open range , and then brand, castration, and separate them. On the last day, we had a huge barbecue and somebody would always bring a guitar and fiddle and we would square dance and waltz or try to, as we were dancing on the grass. I know, dirty, hard work, and not very exciting, but I miss it.
Barbecue? It sounds like you should have had a testicle festival! We have a tradition with our calves as well, the first saturday in November they all get shots and castrated and the 2nd Saturday in December they get their final round of shots. Both days usually end up to be late evenings. My favorite though is bringing the cows and calves home. We dont have open range, but there is a really big pasture and we have to bring them about 2 miles to where they spend the Winter.
 
I take one to three weeks off around our peak rut, which is right around Christmas. My son hunts with me. This has gone on for 30+ years.
 

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