It’s no secret that the South has a bit of a love affair with deer hunting, particularly in Alabama.

For the faculty and students at Pike Liberal Arts School, it’s also a way for them to improve their school.

This weekend the school is holding their annual deer hunt fundraiser, which began on Friday, Jan. 13 and will continue through Saturday.

The hunt helps to raise money to fund programs drawn from all over Pike Liberal, primarily academic and athletic related.

“The main goal is the money being raised for our school,” Pike Headmaster Ceil Sikes said. “Being a private school our budget is limited but we always find a way to make it work. The hunt is incredible because it helps out so many facets of our program.”

In 2012, it has drawn 61 participants, nearly double from last year, and gets the community involved in a wide variety of ways.

“We all pull together and make the different parts happen,” Sikes said. “It’s always great to see how it pulls together, everyone pitches in.”

The deer hunt takes a bit more effort than just heading into the woods, and the event brings in student, parent, and community volunteers to help with providing land, guiding hunts, cooking meals, and skinning the deer brought in by the hunters.

Those who wish to participate pay for the weekend, around $750 dollars, which buys them the hunting trips, fellowship, meals, raffle entries, and other events.

There’s even a contest to see who can bring in the biggest deer, which as of Friday was an 8-point buck.

“It takes a lot of people to pull the deer hunt off and we get volunteers from everywhere,” athletic director Steven Kilcrease said. “The guides, the skinners, the cooks and the organizers are all a huge part of the process. So far it’s been good we’ve killed a few already and hope to get more tomorrow. The weather’s been good for it and we’ll keep going at it.”

Though the hunt serves as a means of raising money for the school, it also serves the purpose of bringing people together from all over the Southeast and showing them a sport they may not have been familiar with.

“I’m amazed I never knew much about hunting until I got to Pike County,” Sikes said. “But it really is an important part of life for so many people.”