Hunting to me means waking up at 4 a.m. and rushing to put on three layers of clothes. It’s Dad pulling out of the driveway slowly, trying not to wake up the entire neighborhood. It is rifle season, and that means laughing and talking about the deer we hope we see during the two-hour car ride to our hunting spot.
The mile-long walk to our hunting spot is one of my favorite parts of the hunting trip because it always creates memories. About every twenty steps my dad turns around and puts his finger to his lips. Trying to walk fast and be quiet is not always the easiest. Not only have I fallen down a hill, but also one time my gun strap came loose and my gun fell on the ground. In neither of those situations was I the quiet, either. This is where the memories come in.
Once we get settled into our spot we just sit there in silence. There is nothing more beautiful than setting aside all of your distractions and watching the sunrise while birds chirp and the wind blows through the trees. God’s creations are truly amazing.
Almost every time we start to feel cold, we hear tree branches breaking and get a sense of hope. We look at each other in excitement, thinking that in a couple seconds we are going to see a giant buck. “Nope it was just a squirrel,” my dad whispers after a couple minutes go by. After about six to eight hours of freezing, waiting for a deer to come by, we start to head back to the pickup.
During our walk back to the pickup we hear Velcro-like noises and realize that our clothes are sticking together. We are both covered in burrs! My dad and I both know that if we do not get the burrs off of our clothes before we get into the pickup then we will pick some of the burrs off of our camo inside the pickup and make a mess of it.
Not only that, but we could easily spread these invasive species to our next destination, possibly introducing them to a new area.
This is why we have the Burr Paw. It is a mitt that easily removes stubborn burrs from clothing, gear, and pets in just seconds. The Burr Paw is super easy to use. All we have to do is put it on our hand like a glove and swipe the areas that have burrs. The burrs will then stick to the Burr Paw so we can then dispose of them properly or leave them in their natural habitat.
After becoming “burr-free,” Dad and I drive around the small town for a little bit to warm up, and then we go to the sports bar. As soon as we are done eating our amazing burgers and fries, we head right back to our hunting spot, which is where we will sit for the remainder of daylight, hoping to see a deer worth shooting. After a fun, relaxing, cold, memory-making, and burr-free day, we watch the sunset. Then we head back to the pickup either with a deer or (most of the time) without. Either way it was a day well spent. Hunting is so much more than killing an animal, it is about conservation, making memories with the people you love, and enjoying the beauty of nature.
Written by Lindsey Klingbeil
Lindsey Klingbeil’s father Michael invented the Burr Paw after spending hours picking invasive plants off of his clothes every time he went out hunting. His solution—a mitt that removes burrs from clothing, gear, and pets—is a solution he wanted to share with others. Lindsey graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Bellevue University. When not traveling around the United States to trade shows, she does marketing and sales for Burr Paw from a buffalo ranch in South Dakota.
