Second Week of October

Second Week of October by Joel Aversing

The crisp air, falling leaves, bonfires and football games, a few things that come to mind when you think of early October, but that’s not why the second week of October is my favorite time of year. It’s hunting season, but more importantly it’s a time when all the men in the family get together and forget to act like gentlemen and go camping. Manners go out the window, as we drink beer and whisky around the poker table and curse at the refs when they make a bad call against LSU.

Now I only go hunting once a year, so I can’t tell you I go for the sport, or just to shoot off some rifles and shotguns, that’s a small part of it. Yes all this is primitive and it feels good, but to me what’s more primitive is the gathering of a family or “tribe”. Enjoying each other’s company while I cook breakfast on a makeshift stove while having a MORNING beer, and listening to my brother in-law telling me “you’re burning the bacon, that shit is burnt”, these are good times.

There was a time when my son would come out camping and all he wanted to do was see what he could burn in the campfire. He was such a good fire poker. Now he’s toting an old crack barrel shotgun that’s actually four times older than he is and the pellet gun now gets left in the closet.

The young nephews have grown, have beards, and kids of their own. Pop still says “meet back at 9:30 unless you’re having fun, I got nowhere to be”, and the men secretly still try to out-cook one another. My son still likes to tag along with his Grandpa but is willing to explore the Kisatchie wilderness on his own.

If I’ve learned anything in the last fifteen years hunting with the family it’s that change is constant but a family’s bond is forever, and to bring plenty of toilet paper because you will be sh*tting in the woods.