Patience - it's a word that most people who enjoy the outdoors are very familiar with, but often don't give much thought to. I had this thought as I was sitting in a ground blind on Saturday waiting for deer that never showed up, and watching soybeans blowing in the wind. I wondered why, in this age of instant gratification and on-demand entertainment, that something that required as much patience as waiting on a deer to come by or a fish to bite is my preferred form of recreation.
As I sat there Saturday afternoon, I thought about the morning's hunt on a different farm. Walking in before daylight, I was greeted by the owls calling to each other just as they have for the last several years that I have hunted here. Once the sun began to rise, the turkeys woke up and added their voice to the forest conversation. Several flocks of geese flew over and contributed their honking to the sounds around me.
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| Saw this on the way to the blind |
Later on, I was greeted by the sight of three hens feeding their way through the woods and clucking to each other. I didn't see a deer, even though I was in an area that I know the deer have been traveling through frequently. However, I didn't mind one bit. I just sat there taking in everything around me, and thinking about how blessed I was to be able to be right there at that moment.
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| Cabbage in the Garden |
I often think about the life lessons that hunting and fishing have taught me. Patience is one of the biggest lessons that I feel like I have learned from my outdoor experiences. If I hadn't learned the patience to just sit still, I feel like I would have missed a lot in life. It takes patience to plant a garden and watch it grow all summer, to finally reap the rewards of the harvest, or to sit on the bank of the pond watching a bobber until finally a scrappy bream bites, or to sit in the woods and just take in everything around me. I wouldn't trade any of these experiences and memories, and I'm thankful every day for the people who introduced me to hunting and fishing when I was young, and through that taught me a valuable lesson about the importance of being patient.
Thanks for stopping by!
- Joseph
I shared a single hunt with my father even though he was still very troubled from combat (1970’s). I remembered every detail of this hunt and naturally took up hunting as a freshly independent adult.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad is also the person who first got me interested in hunting, taking me squirrel and dove hunting when I was young. He has never been a deer hunter, because when he was young there weren't any deer around this area, but he still occasionally goes on a dove hunt. I agree with you, I can still remember the details of those trips just like they happened yesterday.
DeleteJosheph- There is nothing like hearing and seeing the woods wake up in the morning. I am sure that I will think of this post when out in the woods this hunting season.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter! It is one of my absolute favorite times of the day to be in the woods.
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