Don't know much about hunting season? Here's your primer.

Bright orange gear is a safety must in the woods.
(Photo by Donna Kallner, The Daily Yonder)

In many rural areas, hunters anxiously await the start of each new season. But for people unfamiliar with tree stands, deer tacos and harvest tags, the entire operation can be bewildering. Below is a condensed primer from Donna Kallner of The Daily Yonder on all things hunting.

It's tradition. If you're a soon-to-be spouse or in-law, don't even think of planning the wedding during the 9-day season in late November called Gun Deer. Many of your guests, as well as the wedding party and possibly the parson, will have standing plans to go to Deer Camp. Deer Camp may be off in the woods, based on an actual structure like a cabin or camper. Or it can be centered at the same kitchen table we use the rest of the year. . . . It's less a place than a state of mind. . . . In many families, this 9-day period is sacrosanct.

There's more. There are seasons for hunting migratory waterfowl, wild turkeys and other game birds, small game like rabbits, large game like bears, and more.

Dress accordingly. When and where it's firearm deer season, it's prudent to have at least 50% percent of your outer clothing above the waist be solid blaze orange or fluorescent pink (or camo-blaze, which is legal but not as visible). You definitely want your hat or other head covering to be at least 50 percent blaze orange or fluorescent pink.

Hunting for food. It may be hard for some to imagine how much rural families rely on hunting for food. That might be easier if they imagine living where incomes are generally lower, and a family's food budget also has to cover fuel to travel more miles to and from a grocery store.

There's a plan. Some hunters will field-dress a deer and take it to a processor to make the transformation from carcass to neatly wrapped and labeled frozen meat. But for people hunting to feed a family, that gets pricey. Instead, many hunters do their own butchering. Often, that's a family affair. One friend's deer camp includes not only hunters but also a team that butchers, preps, and pressure cans the meat, which is then divided among the group. 

Community. Hunters – even solitary, curmudgeonly ones – cherish community. Before it became possible to register harvests online, Deer/Turkey Registration Stations were the place to meet and greet other hunters. . . . Sure, everyone wanted to see the trophy bucks. But the pictures they took also documented many kids' first hunts and their hunts over the years.

Hunter's Ed. Many of the kids pictured in those albums knew our neighbor not just from the gas station but also as their Hunter Safety instructor. . . . A few times, I helped serve lunch on the last day of the course and got to watch as kids tested at some of the stations. Those kids were expected to know everything from the correct type of ammunition for different firearms to the maximum projectile range for different calibers of rifles and shotguns.

Memories. I did not grow up in a hunting household. So when I moved to rural northern Wisconsin, I had much to learn (and still do). But it became clear early on that hunting was about much more than shooting. . . . .I appreciate how hunting connects us to the land we share with this wildlife and with the community of hunters.