There will be partridges at Christmas at the Gauthier’s. Jean-François Gauthier returns from a successful small game hunting trip with his father Clément and his son Francis. Three generations of hunters.
“I went hunting with my son, but I had never been with my grandson,” recounts Clément Gauthier, 76 years old. Just being together is already a lot. It doesn’t happen often that we can take the three men out together. It is almost exclusively for hunting. ”
If Clément Gauthier has been hunting for decades, this is not the case with his son. Jean-François Gauthier didn’t get started until his mid-thirties, 15 years ago.
“I went on an expedition to the Far North,” he says. With the long kilometers on skis, you have time to think. I told myself that I had to replace all the “shoulds” with dates on the calendar. I made the decision to take the whole course so that I could accompany my father and he could pass this on to me. ”
The two were able to share beautiful moose and deer hunting parties.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS GAUTHIER
The father and the son, Jean-François and Francis Gauthier
Three years ago, Francis Gauthier also took a course and did some small game hunting with his father.
“It was Francis who said that it would be fun for papi to be there,” explains Jean-François Gauthier. This year is the first time that the three of us have been here. ”
It was very contemplative to see my father around the fire with my boy next to it. It was just to be there. There were very few words. However, there were a lot of words when we walked in the woods.
Jean-Francois Gauthier
This is one of the advantages of small game hunting, a dynamic hunt where you move around, where you can chat.
For Clément Gauthier, it was the moment to show things to his grandson, now 17 years old.
“He already knows a lot, but there is sure to be a lot more that we can show,” says Clément. We were there for the partridge, but we saw moose tracks: I explained to him that a moose worked in such a way that there were fresh tracks, less fresh ones. I showed him broken branches, where a moose has peeled off the velvet of its plume. ”
Around the fire, Clément Gauthier was less talkative, he was simply happy to be there. “My grandfather is a man from another time,” says Francis Gauthier. He doesn’t express his emotions so much. But sometimes, in the woods, the men, it opens more. ”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS GAUTHIER
Francis Gauthier and Clément, a very proud grandfather
For young people, it may be easier to talk. “Francis, he has no difficulty in speaking, he has a lot less misery than his grandfather, laughs Clément Gauthier. Young people are smarter than the rest of us. He was talking about his plans for the future, he went to college. He seems to be off to a good start. I am very proud of him. ”
During the long trip to Lac-Saint-Jean, where the hunting party took place, and during the long weekend, he also observed the relationship between Francis and his father Jean-François. “They are capable of chatting, they like to get annoyed,” says Clément Gauthier. I think it’s a good sign when you can annoy your son. ”
Jean-François Gauthier also observed the relations between Francis and his grandfather. “It’s funny, I think that for everyone, the pleasure was watching the other two,” exclaims Jean-François.
Two families, three generations
This family adventure, he shared it with his big boyfriend Frédérick Doucet, himself accompanied by his father Denis and his son Igor. Two families, three generations.
For Francis, the pleasure of hunting is precisely this atmosphere, meeting around the fire. But there is also the hunt itself. “We had an interesting moment in particular, we all worked as a team to push the partridge to the right place to have it,” he says.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS GAUTHIER
Hunting is an opportunity to reconnect with old friendships. Jean-François Gauthier, his father Clément and his big boyfriend Frédérick Doucet.
Jean-François Gauthier notes that small game hunting is precisely a great initiation hunt because it is exciting, because it moves a lot. Moose hunting may seem less attractive to a young person. “Waking up at 4 am to go and sit in the dark from 5 am to 8 am or 9 am without moving… I’m not sure! He says.
Never mind, Francis Gauthier would one day like to follow in his father’s footsteps and hunt deer and moose.
He just started going to the turkey. It would be fun to go explore that. Each animal is a different hunting technique. It’s always interesting to learn more, to learn about the animal, its way of life, its habitat.
Francis Gauthier
Francis Gauthier admits that not all of his friends are comfortable with the idea of hunting. “There are a lot of people who react strongly. I explain to them that we do this with respect, we try not to waste meat, we don’t let the animals suffer. ”
Jean-François Gauthier adds that hunters respect the quotas established by biologists, which makes it possible in particular to prevent overpopulation. A week after the small game hunting trip, Jean-François Gauthier joined his father and his friends for a moose hunting trip. “This time, it was me, the youngest of the gang!” ”
But it is the most experienced of the Gauthier, Clément, who succeeded in slaughtering a beast. There is therefore a risk that moose will also be on the menu in the Gauthier family at Christmas.
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