Opening day. For many it’s a lifetime recollection marked expressly by the first of September.
My memories of opening day aren’t quite as crisp as that. As a young hunter, growing up in central New Jersey and hunting on my family’s farm, I don’t think my young mind grasped on to the very distinct notion of an opening day except for the annual week-long early December buck season. I vividly remember all the excitement and activities during deer season with the hunters who took part in my grandfather’s Happy Acres Gun Club—including hanging everyone’s deer from a meat pole in the garage at the old farmhouse. On those opening days, I would sit in a box with my dad, but although I hunted waterfowl, rabbits, and squirrels, I never had a tag in that annual deer hunting tradition.
After nearly two decades of not hunting at all (but working closely with the hunting conservation community) it was a new bird dog puppy and my then-six-year-old daughter that led me afield again. In the dozen years since, opening day has morphed for me. I still have only dove hunted a couple times, but grouse seasons open on September 1 in Colorado where I live now as well as in nearby Nebraska where we like to hunt. We don’t necessarily hunt the first day, but we always target a weekend in September for an upland hunt.
The bird dog that got me back in the field is now 13 and not able to hunt anymore. Our daughter, and constant hunting companion, just moved away to college in Montana (a choice made in part because of their hunting opportunities). But we have a 10-month-old Brittany that holds significant promise. I suspect we will be chasing many more opening days in the years ahead.
Jodi Stemler
Jodi Stemler Consulting
There’s nothing like another hunting season with Bourbon. Hear me out. Bourbon is my nine-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever. He’s not a titled dog. We don’t dote on ribbons. Opening Day, though, is a different story.
We look forward to what should be a national holiday for months. It’s still pretty warm where I live, but the Opening Day means early mornings are calling. Temperatures will ease soon enough and the two of us will slip into the fields. It’s when we both feel generations younger than our actual age and one more turn at the perfect flush, the perfect rise, the perfect shot and the perfect retrieve.
He does his part. Me, I do mine – most of the time. With Bourbon, it’s okay when it doesn’t work out. He has a way of letting me know when I miss. There’s look back at me wondering what went wrong. Any honest bird hunter with a great four-legged partner knows the look.
We’ll get that one on the next go-around. There’s no rush when enjoying a day in the field with Bourbon. Good Bourbon days are sipped. They’re meant to last. This year will be another great year for Bourbon.
The thing is, I know we’ve only got so many more seasons with him. We’re both getting a little gray on the chin. At nine, he’s still doing great. He’s still spry and his excitement hasn’t waned. But I know these days with Bourbon are numbered. Too many missed field outings that slipped by haunt me. This year – this Opening Day – is a chance to make it right. It’s another chance for us to chase our limit, go home just a little tired and know that a day soaking up Bourbon will feed my soul – and his – for months and years to come.
The freezer is getting low, a sign of shared meals that bring memories to mind along with food that sustains our bodies. As good as the meals are, it runs second to the scent of a wet dog and spent shotgun shells. Opening Day is always better with Bourbon.
Mark Oliva
Managing Director, Public Affairs for NSSF
Opening day signifies more than the actual start for any season. Whether I am chasing early season upland, waterfowl, or big game hunt, the same anticipation leading up to the minute I step in the field is thrilling.
I am a gear junkie, I not only spend the off months checking old gear over or purchasing new gear for the adventures of the fall, I geek out over it. Working for the world’s largest ammunition company, I often get tapped to test out new products. Waterfowl beware, as I and many other waterfowlers head afield this season.
Stepping into the field with family and friends is something I look forward to each year. The thrill of seeing everyone smile after the first flush, or a first-time hunter losing their breath after a shot at their first big game animal, are memories that I engrain in my mind to keep the passion turning. As my kids approach the age of hunting, I can’t help but imagine the feelings I will have the first time we step into the field together and look forward to their enthusiasm. I, like many other people, get lost in the moment when ducks are decoying, or turkeys are strutting. Hunting has become more of an experience for me than the harvest and every day in the wild provides me with the feeling of opening day.
As you head afield to enjoy your opening days, please be sure to not only be safe and ethical but think of what you can do to continue our outdoor heritage and introduce someone new to your passions.
Jon Zinnel
Sr. Manager for Conservation Programs at Federal
It was opening day, 1971 – I was 6. I had a Stevens, single shot .410. I remember getting checked by a conservation officer on my first dove hunt. He wanted to check my gun’s plug. I just looked at daddy saying, “I don’t know what that is.” Everyone laughed.
Opening day of squirrel season was my favorite. My grandfather Cummins had small squirrel dog named Big Boy. My favorite place on our farm was called the swamp. It was covered in huge white oak, cypress, cane thickets, and creek runs. My .410 didn’t have enough umph to take out a squirrel in the top of a 120’ tall cypress, but I still tried. Even when my father was 80, we still would hunt opening day for squirrel on our farm – which has been in our family continuously since 1833.
But now, opening day to me is more of a reflection about how far we have come in wildlife conservation by being able to sustainably harvest game. These early leaders – mostly Boone and Crockett Club members - developed the cornerstones of conservation and a system of ethical hunting to manage wildlife; it did not happen by accident. Our nation is unique in that all of us equally own wildlife as they are held in the public trust. As hunters, we must always remember that and recognize that hunting is a privilege. How people view hunting will determine its future.
As we all start preparing for opening day, respect the animals you hunt and act in a way that will allow society to respect you, as a hunter. There are many smart people today that think hunting should end. Don’t give them a reason to act.
Opening day is a lot about giving your children and grandchildren the same experiences my father and grandfathers gave me. If we all abide by what the former Congressman of Oklahoma, J.C. Watts, said - “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking” – I am confident opening day will last for many years to come.
James L. Cummins
President, Boone and Crockett Club
There is nothing like opening day of hunting season in the fall. The anticipation and build up all summer long, makes it better than Christmas morning when I was a kid. All the planning and preparation that goes along with-it, whether it’s the first day of dove season, bow season or gun season. It’s especially true when I get to share it with my boys. All of us getting our gear together, sighting in the guns all with the anticipation of that first morning of the season. We spend a lot of time on the farm getting things mowed, putting in food plots, checking our stands to make sure everything is intact and safe, checking our stealth cam cameras to see what type of critters are roaming about this season. Every year it’s different depending on what crop rotation we are on and try to pattern them out for the first days of the bow season and then everything is different again when all the crops are harvested, and new travel patterns emerge. Trying to game plan for all the variables is what helps lead up to that anticipation. Once the first morning comes and everyone is in their stands waiting for first light, then Bang! That first shot you hear gets the blood flowing.
For me growing up in Pennsylvania, it always made it even more special and exciting because deer season always opened up the Monday right after Thanksgiving. So we had days off for the Holiday right into the weekend and in Pennsylvania we got the first two days of the season off from school. So, we had the Holiday then that Saturday was the last day of small game season, then right into deer season. For me it didn’t get any better than that. The adrenalin was going for days on end.
That is a big reason what drew me to competitive shooting. It gave me that adrenalin bump at every match, which back then was almost every weekend. I used to tell people I shot competitively because hunting season was only a few months long, and I need to do something with that energy. We didn’t have all the things, distractions that young people have today. I only had two channels on the TV and other than the Three Stooges which was on Sunday mornings, there wasn’t much else on. I was always outside.
I still get the same feelings and excitement getting ready for this upcoming first day. The boys and I have been shooting our bows, and we have the farm ready to go. Can’t wait!
Doug Koenig
World Champion Professional Shooter, Hunter and Family Man
What Opening Day Means To Me – Monday, Aug. 28
What Opening Day Means To Me – Tuesday, Aug. 29