Smell of hunting success

The season is once again upon us when the roads are bustling with automobiles of all sorts filled with ambitious hunters dressed in bright shades of orange - not a colour most men would be caught dead in except during this time of year.

In years gone, these well-identified hunters tried quietly to navigate the province's bogs, trails and wood roads with high hopes of tracking and eventually bagging their prey.

However, now it seems like more and more people enjoy keeping an eye on the bogs alongside the Trans-Canada Highway. Or some of the paved by-roads, with hopes of getting an easy kill.

While this may be great in the eyes and minds of the hunters, most forget about road safety and endanger the lives of other motorists.

It's not uncommon in the early morning to be driving the highway when all of a sudden brake lights flash before your eyes like fireworks on New Year's Eve.

Then a car is pulled only partially off the road and two people jump out, stumbling around with rifles in hopes of being the one to register the kill.

Not everyone are Lloyd or Bryce of Newfoundland Outdoors fame, but guess what, hunting occurs in the woods away from pavement and yellow lines.

Hunting is getting up early before daylight, having a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs, piling in the truck and getting to the beginning of a woods road just as it's turning light. From there, it's time to keep your eyes open for the outside chance of spotting an animal, and if you're not that lucky, you drive until you spot a nice bog or cutover that seems like a good place for an unsuspecting moose to hang out.

Now, it's time to hunt.

You carefully walk across the bog or cutover, looking for a fresh track or a big brown spot that may be moving along a treeline.

If there's a fresh track, then you follow it in hopes that it will lead you to your glory prize - a big bull moose. And if there's none, well, you return to the truck to find the next suitable place to start the whole procedure over.

Somewhere along the line, the camp stove or fire is prepared for a good ol' Newfoundland boil-up of tea, bologna sandwiches, Vienna sausages and homemade bread and buns. That's the smell of a successful hunt no matter if there's been a kill or not.

Now, doesn't that sound like hunting? Afterall, hunting is supposed to be a sport, and not too many sports come without some form of activity.

And no matter which is right or wrong, the main thing to remember is safety. There's definitely no need for anyone to be injured because of careless mistakes - whether it's in the woods or on the roads.

And here's hoping everyone, no matter where they may be looking, gets their feed.