WOW! How blessed are we to live in America? Why else would people from all over the world be dying to get here? I could talk about how obviously God’s hand has been on America since her early days but since this isn’t a religious column I will count how many blessings we have to enjoy in our outdoor world.
We’d have to start with the 2nd Amendment. Even though the 2nd Amendment wasn’t birthed to ensure our hunting rights, it was birthed to ensure we can resist a tyrannical government and to be able to protect ourselves.
But no doubt, a big side benefit of the 2nd amendment is that we can own as many guns as we want to and hunt. I was reminded of this once from a business deal that I had. I wrote a column for an Airgun magazine in the UK. Until the last 10 years or so, the UK was light-years ahead of America in the airgun world. You know why? To my understanding, it is because they are so restricted on real guns that they had to heavily invest in airguns.
I know that Robin Hood is a myth, but back in the day, no one could hunt on large swaths of land in England except for the King and his cronies. Not so in America. Paupers here in Idaho can hunt on thousands of acres of BLM land, forest service land and wilderness areas not to mention all of the private land that gets hunted.
We are especially blessed here in Idaho. States like Texas are mostly private land, so to be able to hunt, it costs a bit. Here? Not so. Like I say, even a pauper has a chance to shoot a trophy animal in Idaho.
Of course, anytime that the government gets involved, they always tend to overregulate and suck the fun out of everything they touch, but really, in the beginning, it was sportsmen who came up with seasons, bag limits, etc. They are the true conservancies that preserve wildlife in America.
Now game wardens and biologist try the best they can to determine how to manage our wildlife. For instance, if a deer herd is growing too large, they give out more doe tags. In lean years, they reduce the number of doe tags.
Even with more people moving into Idaho and land development, we still have great hunting opportunities.
Then what about fishing in America? From coast to coast, there are many and unique opportunities to catch numerous species of fish. I had a guy who worked for me from Iraq. I took him fishing once. It was obvious that he loved fishing here. Then I’ve had thousands of Hispanics work for me or go to the same Church. I’ve taken a bunch of their kids fishing. They’d never gotten to go before.
In the 80’s, I had a lot of boat people work for me (Laotians, Vietnamese, etc.). They’d go nuts when I’d take them fishing or hunting, and then their wives would cook big meals for us. They’d never had these experiences in their native countries. We had some great times.
Even though I’m critical of how they’re managing our wilderness areas right now, all we have to do is find someone decent to run for office to change things.
Then what about the hiking, exploring and backpacking opportunities we have? They are limitless. Yes, there are cool backpacking opportunities elsewhere. My daughter guided backpacking trips in Ecuador up to the volcanoes and backpacked into Peru into some of the Miyan ruins (Or whoever it was that years ago dwelt there). But I’m still satisfied with my opportunities here in America. I’ll never get to experience all of them.
As we come to a close, I’m sure if you look long enough that you can find something to complain about, but we as Americans are the most blessed people in the world. Numerous times, companies that I’ve worked at have been the biggest hirers of refugees. I’ve gotten to know hundreds of them personally. Believe me, their native countries would die to have the opportunities that we have here in America.
So this 4th, pop a few extra fireworks and get out and enjoy God’s creation!
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