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Hey, you -- yes, you, reading this right now. I have a question for you: What do you think is wrong with hunting today?
Although I would love to hear your answer, don't overthink it, and don't waste too much time on it, because I am about to tell you the answer. Unfortunately, it's an answer that is hard to hear, and one that you probably already know.
Hunters have become a problem. More of a problem than anti-hunters, and anything that goes against what we love and adore. In more depth, hunters being incredibly rude, ignorant, lacking in encouragement and compassion for other hunters.
Think for a moment on this analogy.
The term rope team (German: Seilschaft), also roped team or roped party, originally came from mountain sports, especially climbing, where it describes a group of people joined by a mountain or climbing rope and thus secured against falling.
What happens if there is a group of mountain climbers tethered together with rope, and one or more of those climbers falls, gives up, pulls in another direction or even decides to go home?
We -- meaning ALL hunters -- are tethered together. Democrats and Republicans, service men and service women, doctors and surgeons, plumbers and auto mechanics. It doesn't matter what you do for a living or what gear you hang up when you head to the woods -- you are willingly entering into brotherhood/sisterhood that nobody can either deny nor take away from you.
These days there seems to be those who pull away. Those that put themselves above the rest because they do things differently than others, which inevitably leaves those with other opinions and hunting styles feeling blamed, ridiculed and singled out.
We -- again, all hunters -- are a team. Banded together with a metaphorical rope that reminds us that where others go, we too shall go. It's the common thread that brings out the good in hunters, and a love for one another. Each year hundreds, probably thousands of people with disabilities of varying types and degrees are able to enjoy hunting in the outdoors because of the good that hunters are able provide when they join together for a cause.
What better cause than hunting itself? The tradition that ties us to generations of the past, and bonds us to the legacy we leave to the future generation is here with us each time we step into the woods. It's there with us in how we choose to speak with one another, and it's there when we fall short.
When we do fall short, our sisters and brothers of the woods that are tied to us are there extending their hands to pick us back up. When we lose direction, they guide us back to the path. When we forget, they remind us. They are hunters, just like all of us.
So please, remember that we are all of one group. We are all there for each other through the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The next time you head to the woods, think of the past hunters who came before you, acknowledge the impact you have on the future generations, and know that no matter how you choose to do things, or your brother, or Tom, Rich, or Harry choose to do things, we are one group, on purpose, one opportunity.
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Juniata County native and former Sentinel sports reporter John Knouse writes about the outdoors from Front Royal, Va.