Some believe hunters are made. Still others are certain a person is born into the way of life. The truth likely lies somewhere in between. Most hunters I know could no more live without hunting as they could survive without oxygen. While a hunting season may be marked on a calendar, it never closes in a hunter's heart and mind. To be sure, it is not what we do...it is who we are.
Opening day is a term that evokes memories of hunts past and hope for those yet to come. For me, merely hearing the term takes me to memories of the first hair-raising elk bugles of the season amid the lemon-drop aspens, the flush of adrenaline that follows a covey rise, or the awe of the inaugural flight of mallards parachuting to my decoys as I teeter like a Lab awaiting a greenhead splashdown.
We are part of a tribe of brothers and sisters whose eyes sparkle when we hear the words opening day, for we need no explanation to understand what others are feeling as smiles sweep across their faces at the mere whisper of the words. And we share a secret only known to others of our kind...that we are the luckiest people in the world who know the magic of this way of life and this special day
Chris Dorsey
Host, Sporting Classics with Chris Dorsey
The days leading up to Opening Day of whitetail season, Dad’s excitement was palpable. After many long months after the last season ended and hours of archery practice in preparation, the wait was almost over. It was as if years peeled away and my father was a young man again, filled with anticipation of a new adventure. Though a seasoned and successful hunter by the time I hit the field with him, the thrill of opening day was contagious.
My father enjoyed hunting any day, rain or shine, but Opening Day was by far his favorite. The odds of seeing animal movement and getting a shot before deer became cautious and wary are greatest on the first day of the season. Hunting on a small patch of land in upstate New York, this day held the most potential for us to see deer, bring home the venison, and share stories. Though I enjoyed just a handful of Opening Day hunts with him, as an adult and living hundreds of miles away, I looked forward to hearing about Dad’s experiences each year.
For many years my Opening Days were solo endeavors, that is until my oldest daughter joined me. Over the summer she learned hunter’s safety, how to shoot her rifle, shot placement, and the importance of making a good ethical shot. With so much work and lead-up, the day finally arrived and her first opening day of deer rifle season was an exciting one. Not long after dawn, a nice buck walked in front of our stand presenting a perfect broadside shot. Because of her training, she did everything perfectly. She broke the shot, a hit right behind the shoulder. I will never forget her face when she looked back at me in a squeaky voice exclaiming, “I got him!?”
From my dad teaching me, to my husband and me sharing it with our children, now I know how it felt for my dad to see it all unfold as a parent. Hunting is a part of our family legacy and like many other holidays, opening day is special.
Julie Golob
Champion Shooter, Avid Hunter, Devoted Mom
I haven't missed an opening day of deer season in Michigan with with my boys since I started them hunting when they were legally allowed at 10. And it's something I look forward to every year.
My boys are now 26 They're kind of off on their own. And it's a challenge. But it means that much to them to be there as well.
So, you know, when I started that tradition with my dad many, many, many years ago, it's something that just is ingrained in me. And it's not just me….it’s also a lot of my friends.
There's a lot of opening days. I mean; there's opening day of duck season, bass season, trout season, but to me when you say “Opening Day,” it's it's whitetail firearm season in Michigan, because it's special. I mean, I love to bowhunt. I love it. I love it. I love every outdoor aspect of fishing the salmon, trout, bass, whatever it is. Squirrel hunting, turkey season, I love all of it.
But there's one opening day, that is not negotiable. And that's the opener of whitetail firearms. We do a deer camp the day before, at my house, with a lot of my friends and family. And then you know, it just rolls into that first day of the season. And it's just so special to me. And I mean, we just look forward to it.
Kevin VanDam
Member, Bass Fishing Hall of Fame
At home in Maryland for most people, Labor Day weekend signals the end of summer. A last long hurrah at the Atlantic beaches, the traffic backing up to come home across the Chesapeake Bay bridge, and a melancholy feeling that the chill of autumn and cold of winter isn’t too far off.
For us as hunters, it signals the start of another hunting season and the anticipation is already building. While still darn hot on the Eastern Shore, that opening day of dove season is the ritualistic beginning of what promises to be another magical fall and winter. Six glorious months for me, my buddies and our dogs to once again begin that odyssey back into nature that only hunters can truly appreciate.
My 28 GA that hasn’t been out of the safe since the end of rabbit season last February, gets slipped into the case, the dove bucket that has been hiding in the corner of my man cave gets filled with all the stuff I need for an afternoon in a sunflower patch, and the dog sticks closer to me than my own shadow to make sure his crate gets loaded into the truck.
We gather round the tailgates of trucks telling fish stories from the summer, lace up our boots, draw our spots, hoping we don’t end up facing into that late summer sun, and make that dusty trek to a familiar tree. Before long those little gray rockets make their fateful flight back across our field, the gun rises to the shoulder, the first bird of the season folds up and my four-legged hunting buddy joyfully bounds out to collect it and drops it gently into my hand. Opening day has finally arrived with so much to look forward to as the days get shorter, the leaves begin to fall, the waterfowl return and the bucks start to roam.
Labor Day Saturday can’t get here soon enough!
Jeff Crane
President & CEO, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation
Opening Day of hunting season to me has many similarities of Christmas Morning back when we were too small to know what Christmas really meant – except Opening Day is much MORE. Christmas morning was a day even a small child did not need to mark on the calendar, or try to remember, it was within us and anticipation would build each day until the day was upon us. Opening Day was the same.
Opening Day is “more” than that, mostly because we get to participate in developing, kinda like we get to help Santa make our own toys, and the preparation for the start of the season can be as much fun and excitement as the hunt itself. Hunts where we do all the upfront work are much more rewarding than hunts we may go on where others have done it.
Opening Day of season is the time when we not only get to use all the hard work in preparation, but also the start of learning if what we did was the correct time. It is a day of great anticipation.
Terry Denmon
President & CEO, MOJO Outdoors
While many hunters, some for the first time and a few for their last, will take to the field this year after bucks, bulls, and bears, chances are the common bond amongst us all is the hope that can only come from Opening Day.
The start of hunting season doesn't mean the same to me as it does to many. I'm not thinking about the biggest buck. What I'm thinking about is nothing, and it's something I look forward to annually. Things weren't always this way.
You see, a few years ago, I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Part of the side effects of PTSD, at least for me, was the constant mental noise from anxiety, fear, and distrust, sometimes in others, other times myself. It got so bad that by the spring of 2020 I stopped eating, socializing, or thinking tomorrow would be better. Then, after a good friend encouraged me to get help, I began to heal. During my healing, I realized that my time in the woods was more about my sanctuary than my pursuit of wild game.
Today, my mind stays relaxed. The noise in my head is gone, and my trips to the woods are more about recreation than recovery. Opening Day is my annual reminder of how far I've come in saving my own life. It's as much a day of reverence as a celebration because it reminds me that I won a battle so many veterans don't.
On Opening Day, I won't need to take a big buck, or any buck for that matter, to succeed because being here, alive, safe, and thriving on Opening Day is what matters most. Going to the deer stand on Opening Day means I'll go home to a family who loves me, and I'll get to love them. So, if I don't take that big buck on Opening Day, that's okay; there's always tomorrow.
Jay Pinsky
Editor, The Hunting Wire & The Archery Wire