Pennsylvania Game News - May 2009 - 49

wich and maybe a small piece of fruit. Hunters in their prime and teenagers load up. One, two, three, four sandwiches; maybe more. True, they may eat one sandwich during the morning drive to the hunting spot, after breakfast, and one sandwich on the return trip, before supper, but they still require the sustenance of several sandwiches to get them through the hours they spend outdoors. Some hunters eat their lunches during the course of the hunt, stopping just briefly to feed a growling stomach, and then continue on. Others have a set time of day they take their meal, perhaps waiting until 12 o’clock on the dot, just like at work, to consume their hunting lunch. Still others pause at multiple intervals to have part of their sandwich or to snack. I confess to being one of the latter types, and the sort of lunch I pack shows this. I take something to munch mid-morning, midday and mid-afternoon. My sandwich is cut in half, so I can eat the pieces separately. I like the brand of granola bars that have two bars in each package, so I can spread out my snacks. I don’t like to feel too hungry when I’m active, and I don’t like to feel too full, so I make my hunting lunch last all day. “Are you going hunting or going on a picnic?” I’ve been good-naturedly asked. “Both,” I answer. And why not? If eating in the woods is an enjoyable part of my hunting day, why should I gulp down lunch all at once? I like the relaxation of these outdoor meal times, but I keep my firearm or bow ready at hand and am watchful for game. I try to chew quietly and move my sandwich-holding hand slowly. Some hunters I know are unabashedly out for a picnic. Those with large treestands sometimes take hunting lunches to the extreme, cooking stew or soup on a small stove. I have occasionally carried widemouth vacuum bottles for hot dishes, but I don’t cook during a hunt. A friend of mine takes a small camp stove in his day pack and heats up baked beans or soup. Lunch preparation adds to his hunting day, he says, and the aroma of the simmering food, out there in the open air, is heavenly. Maybe he isn’t as alert on stand when he’s got the chili simmering, but don’t tell him he’s not having a good time. What sets our hunting days apart from the rest of our days has never been measured by the amount of the game we shoot or the score of deer antlers or the length of a turkey beard. Sometimes when we look back, what made a particular hunting day was where and with whom we ate our lunch. Books in Brief (Not available from the Game Commission.) The F-Troop Camp Chronicles: A Life in the Pennsylvania Outdoors, by Don Feigert, Shenango River Books, P. O. Box 1381, Hermitage, PA 16148, 216 pp., softbound, $16.75; limited edition signed and numbered hardbound copies, $36.75. Share the experiences Don has enjoyed at his camp in the Allegheny National Forest and along the Allegheny River over the past 22 years. All the hunting, hiking, canoeing and other outdoor experiences are blended with the stories and antics of the many friends and family members of Don’s who have joined him at his camp over the years. Reading about Don’s experiences here is sure to rekindle fond personal memories in all of us who have enjoyed Pennsylvania outdoors over the years. MAY 2009 49

Pennsylvania Game News - May 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - May 2009