It is not by the sea of camouflage clothing in Walmart, nor are the size of the dog food and beer stacks at the corner jiffy store a true indication. The easiest way to tell hunting season has started is simply by driving the county`s rural roads and noticing the hundreds of empty corn sacks. Often this time of year, the sacks can be seen blowing across the highway, like some sort of seasonal invasion of exotic tumbleweeds. The 107 empty corn sacks shown in the accompanying picture were picked up from only ONE rural road (Levy CR347), but the same can be seen on many of our roads. The hunting season is only three weeks old; only archery hunting is permitted right now. In the days that follow, when archery season turns to gun hunting, not only will the number of empty corn sacks increase, but deer and hog carcasses (head, hooves, hide and body organs) will also be cast out onto the side of the roads. 
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Sportsmen and women, as well as all citizens, should take a little pride and present Levy County in a better manner. Visitors come to the Nature Coast to get away from the city and enjoy the beauty of a part of Florida that has not been ruined. First impressions usually last the longest and our road sides tell a lot about the people that live here. For the past 100 years sportsmen and women have not only set the example of good natural resource stewardship through their actions, but have been responsible for the acquisition and protection of millions of acres of wildlife habitat. Most outdoors people today carry on this fine tradition and present a positive image of hunting to the non-hunting public. In the last twenty years or so, hunting license sales have been declining nationwide. This lack of interest in itself could very well jeopardize the future of this fine sport. We don`t need littering and an overall disrespect for the area to further endanger the future of hunting. I guess we should be thankful that some hunters don`t abide by the State regulation that requires game feeding stations to be continuously maintained with feed throughout the year and at least six months prior to taking of resident game. If they did, we would have corn sacks littering our roads year round, instead of just during hunting season.
Sportsmen and women, do your part to keep Levy County beautiful, secure those empty sacks so they don`t blow out of your truck, and let everyone enjoy the hunting season.
Ken Litzenberger | 