If Wishes Would Come True

Ever notice how major holidays center around major human needs and desires? At Thanksgiving and Easter we remember to be thankful for all we’ve got. At Christmas we celebrate love and forgiveness. On the eve of a new year we resolve to do better, and on our birthdays we get to wish for something we’d like.

With New Year’s on the horizon, we’re wise to start contemplating those resolutions, big and small. Make lots of small ones because they’re easier to keep. I’m going to resolve to hunt at least one deer with my Dakota Model 10 25-06. And meet up with my brother to resume our annual South Dakota Geriatric Ringneck Roundup so rudely interrupted by Covid in 2020. As for wishes on my birthday, first I wish that I reach that anniversary. If I do, I have a long list of wishes and I’m thinking about more. For instance, don’t you wish…

• Waterproof hunting jackets and boots really were?

• Brand new rifles came with clean bores?

• Every brand of ammo shot to your point of aim in your pet rifle?

• The deer you hit square in the chest fell over, instantly dead?

• Deer hair didn’t fly free and stick to the meat no matter how carefully you skin?

• Fox squirrel hides weren’t tougher than a bears?

• Coyote hides peeled as easily as a banana?

• Whitetail back-fat didn’t have that waxy feel and taste?

• Non-resident big game tags didn’t cost 10 times more than resident tags?

• You didn’t have to apply nine-months in advance for an elk tag?

• You could change your pronghorn hunting unit when you discover the one you picked sucks?

• Moose hunts in AK didn’t cost $20,000 and more?

• Landowners actually lived on or at least near the land they controlled?

• Landowners would smile and happily grant you hunting permission?

• Hunters wouldn’t trespass, litter, leave gates open and otherwise screw up your chances for getting permission to hunt private land?

• Outfitters didn’t lease up 90% or all the best private ranches and farms?

• You had so much land to hunt that you could actually get on the ground and hunt instead of sit in a box or tree and wait for something to come by?

• Your kids and grandkids could talk about hunting rifles and shotguns without getting suspended from school?

• Suppressors were no wider than barrels and only an inch long?

• Suppressors were as easily available in the U.S. as they are in virtually all European countries

• Politicians understood the firearms they try to regulate?

• Muzzle brakes reduced sound as well as recoil?

• Exhibition-Grade walnut rifle stocks cost no more than molded plastic?

• Developers didn’t try converting wild places into housing?

• State highway departments would fence deadly roadways and build wildlife crossing ramps?

• State and Federal land managers would actually enforce the grazing limits they establish?

• The biggest elk, sheep, goats, bears didn’t always live at the top of the mountain?

• Anti-hunters would contribute half their energy and money toward hunter-based habitat improvement programs that actually produce wildlife?

• The news media would actually report on the amazingly successful habitat protection and enhancement programs run by hunting organizations like DU and RMEF?

I could go on and on, but I’m betting you have a few wishes like these, too. Let us know what they are and we’ll spread the word!

Ron Spomer tries to invest at least some of his time making some of his wishes come true. Last year he and his wife planted and hand watered more than 100 oak and aspen trees they planted for wildlife on Dancing Springs Ranch.