Pass the Buck!

By Kathleen Chute

Our pasts are peopled with those who have taught long-held skills of highly-valued traditions to the next generation. Once upon a time, hunting was necessary for survival. Hunters know this and continue to pass on their skills yet today.

In 1972, when I was but seven years old, a neighbor brought my family some venison stew. As I grew up, I never forgot its delicious flavor, but it wasn’t until 2000 that I would eat venison again. And, though I had eaten its meat, I never knew what a deer was. From our roots in Virginia, my family moved to Massachusetts. The most wildlife I saw there was a squirrel running across the power lines. Almost unbelievably, I never saw a deer until I moved to Tennessee in 1999.

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