by Jennifer Zhan, senior editor

At 4:30 in the morning, sophomore Megan Shurtleff slips out of bed, bundles up in several layers, and heads out the door. She’s one of several Consol students who finds time to hunt during the year.

“You get out there, you set up, and you’re really quiet,” Shurtleff said. “Then you just wait for [an animal] to come, and you shoot. That’s basically what hunting is.”

Shurtleff, who began hunting with her dad at age 10, says she appreciates the activity’s calming nature.  

“Hunting gives you time to think,” Shurtleff said. “It’s fun if you want to be somewhere quiet by yourself.”

Junior Tobias Doerr-Garcia, who started hunting with his grandpa at age 9, said he wishes others knew that hunting isn’t always as intense as many believe.

“It’s not always fun. You can end up sitting [at a deer blind] for hours and hours, just looking,” Doerr-Garcia said. “When I was younger, I used to just fall asleep.”

Sophomore McKenna Calliham adds that even when something’s spotted, it still might not be time to take aim.

“You can’t just shoot any deer you see,” Calliham said. “They have to be a certain size. You don’t want to shoot a doe that could be pregnant or have a fawn. Ideally, you’re looking for bucks that have 6 or more points, or cull bucks, which have abnormal horns.”

Deer hunting is notoriously tedious, but there’s plenty of other game for less patient hunters to choose from. From hog to dove to duck, each type of hunting requires a slightly different approach. Most hunters have a favorite.

“I prefer dove. With dove hunting, you don’t wait. You walk or drive around until you see a flock start flying off, and then you start shooting,” Doerr-Garcia said. “Plus, they’re much easier to deal with after they’re dead and they taste better.”

But no matter what type of game is the target, hunting typically takes a long time.

From start to finish, it can involve hours upon hours of walking or waiting. If the hunters are successful, animals often need to be field dressed, or have their internal organs removed, and be hauled to a place where they can be processed.

The lengthy process means that opportunities to hunt are limited.

“It’s a 6 hour drive to our land in South Texas,” Doerr-Garcia said. “With school and extracurriculars, we can’t really go on the weekends. And the season isn’t open all year.”

All three students said they typically only go hunting during winter break. But the small timeframe doesn’t mean that the experience is valued any less. 

“It’s a family tradition. I go with my dad. He’s the one who taught me, when I was 10,” Calliham said. “I enjoy the memories of spending quality time hunting with him.”

And of course, aside from being a tradition, hunting is also a chance to stock up on meat for the year.

“We make steaks, ground meat, and my favorite, deer jerky,” Calliham said. “Live game meat is some of the healthy meat you could eat. It’s organic and low in fat, not to mention its taste is amazing.”

Many people feel that hunting is wrong for moral reasons, but Doerr-Garcia said that he feels there’s a distinct difference depending on the hunter’s purpose.

“If you just hunt for sport, then I think it’s fair to consider it to be wrong,” Doerr-Garcia said. “But as long as you eat what you kill, which we do, I would say that it’s no different than buying food from a grocery store.”

Calliham adds that hunting can actually be beneficial for animals.

“For example, if people didn’t hunt deer and hogs, the population would get out of hand. That would lead to problems for the animals by starving,” Calliham said. “Everyone has their own point of view, but as long as you’re not being cruel, I don’t see anything wrong with [hunting].”

Shurtleff said that she hopes more people can overcome their qualms about hunting.

“You do need to go over safety first, but it’s actually not hard to learn,” Shurtleff said. “I think people should try hunting if they haven’t before. If you give it a chance, it can be a really, really fun experience.”