Rising before the sun, her little time in the morning is spent trying to outfit herself with enough camo to make herself invisible, while also throwing on as much hunting orange to do the opposite. The second time she rose that day the sun was up, but couldn’t reach her slumped figure in the corner of a deer blind far away from her home. Her worries and the organized chaos of the early mornings fade. This is opening season. Sophomore Kate Vankeirsbilck looks out at the dew covered curtain of green that surrounds her, where she is joined by her father in the solitude that she has grown accustomed to in nature.

“Our alarm goes off around 4:50. We get up a little later than that for sure, and everyone is up and moving, passing by just grabbing a bunch of camo clothes and bright orange if you can find as much as you can,” Vankeirsbilck said.

In seventh grade, she joined her father on her first active hunting trip. It was a step in the direction of her brothers, and the footsteps of her father, her uncles and her grandpa. A step into a family tradition that she was happy to become a part of. She had been around hunting for the majority of her life, growing up with it, while never participating.

“She was around it, she never shied away from it. It allowed me to spend time with her,” Vankeirsbilck’s father, Mike Vankeirsbilck said.

He’s super excited. I’m super excited, and it is just all of our energy. It is just fun to share it with my Dad because not many people get the opportunity to do that,[/pullquote]From the woods and the aftermath meandering back onto paved roads leads them first to the food kitchen to donate the unused meat and then home, where venison tacos are now on the menu made by her mom Joanne Vankeirsbilck.

Sitting around the table, the seemingly never-ending stream of stories signifies their arrival back home. The conversation starts with new stories, and the rehashing of old ones while never forgetting the ones that got away. Everyone shares stories. Everyone listens. She had heard the stories all her life and wanted to make some memories hunting of her own.

“She always wanted to keep up with her brothers and hang out with her Dad,” Joanne said.

All of her siblings went hunting with their father and thought of it as an opportunity to bond with one another. It seemed natural for her to step into the same traditions as her brothers. Leaving the world behind and taking everything in, the excitement, and the nerves bring Vankeirsbilck and her father closer — closer than they were before they put on their hunting orange.

“It is a cool tradition that we get to have together. Hopefully when I get married and have a husband then they’ll go hunting and it will be a thing we pass down. And the tradition will keep going,” Vankeirsbilck said.

It’s not about the painstakingly early mornings, the countless hours spent practicing her aim, or even the birds counted and grass tied into knots out of boredom. It’s about spending time with her father. Whether it is time dedicated to preparing days in advance, the morning of, and all the time in between, no matter how it is spent, it is time together.

“You’re sitting there experiencing it all together,” Vankeirsbilck said. “He’s super excited. I’m super excited, and it is just all of our energy. It is just fun to share it with my Dad because not many people get the opportunity to do that.”