It seems like there’s nothing but bad news right now. Inflation’s up, campaign ads are downright aggravating, and there’s lots of talk of a recession. But there’s one thing that’s nothing but good news – hunting season.
And it’s just around the corner. In about half the areas around the state, antelope season opens in less than two weeks. The archery antelope season kicks off on August 15th in quite a few of the hunting areas. Some areas don’t open until September 1st, but even that date will get here before you know it.
If your area’s one of the ones that opens on the 15th of this month, be ready for it. Make sure you’re dialed in with your bow, and double-check to make sure you have all the gear you’ll need for a hunt. You don’t want to be scrambing at the last minute to get new arrows, find your sagebrush camo clothes or sharpen your knife the night before you plan to go hunting.
If you hunt walk-in areas, double-check the walk-in area atlas on the Game and Fish website, too. Quite a few of the walk-in areas don’t open until later in the season, even if the hunting season is already open. Those landowners are letting you hunt on their land, so be sure to respect their wishes as to when you’re allowed to go out there. Some of them are still running livestock or harvesting fields, and they’d rather not have a bunch of hunters out there running their animals around or tromping through their crops.
With all the headaches in the news, I’m ready to spend a few days out on the prairie with a bow in my hand. I don’t even care if I get an antelope. I just want to get outside and breathe some fresh air, where there are no news stories to get me down.