A Different Perspective

The air is getting colder, the crops are out of the fields, the leaves are falling, and it is one of my favorite times of year. For me, these signs mean that it is deer season. I have been hunting with my family and friends since I was big enough to walk out to the stand with my dad. From that point to now I have accumulated countless memories and experienced many different situations through hunting. Today I am going to share some of my favorite memories.

Two years ago, I went out on the second day of the season. I woke up earlier than I normally would on a weekend to give myself time to dress appropriately, grab my supplies, drive to the field, walk to my stand, and do all of this before the sun  even shows signs of coming up over the horizon.  In a short time I started to see the outlines of the trees in the woods, hear the birds start singing, see the distinction between the harvested corn and alfalfa fields, hear a mouse scurry across the floor, and finally see those first rays of light come out from their deep slumber. After it hit that magical time of legal shooting hours, I waited under thirty minutes before I heard some crashing in the woods and three does stepped out into the field.

Doesn’t this sound like the perfect situation? Well it pretty much was. However, things rarely ever went that well when hunting.  For example, a year earlier, we decided to take a 40 minute drive to go hunt with our cousins, something we try to find the time to do every year. Again, I woke up early, got dressed in the appropriate clothing, loaded the truck with our lunches, snacks, binoculars, tags, knives, ammo, and ourselves, and hit the road. I was lucky enough to be able to sleep on the way there. After the 40 minutes had passed, we arrived, got out, and began getting everything ready. It was at this moment that we realized that we forgot to bring our guns. So back into the truck and to home and back it was. Eventually we did hunt for the rest of the day. We walked a lot, stood in the cold even more, and I saw zero deer that day.

Jump back to the first story, this time I was in the perfect situation. That is, until the three does turned and slowly began walking away from me. Knowing that there wasn’t much I could do at this point, I sat and watched as they meandered along. I now found myself in the position that I often did, sitting in a stand with no deer in sight. It is at these times where there wasn't much more to do than to sit and think and admire the nature surrounding me.

It is times like these that I am able to see the bigger picture when the troubles often grabbing my attention are gone. I think back to that day when it seemed that everything that could go wrong was. Was that really such a bad day? In the morning I was able to spend more time with my family as we drove home to get what we forgot. Throughout the day, I was able to fully experience new places and spend time with my cousins. At the end of the day, I didn’t have any extra cleaning or processing to do. Looking back to the day that started so perfectly in that deer stand, I saw how the little things during a day can get us down and hide the great things that are happening.

As we begin to near Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, it seems that we dread those last days or weeks before we are able to have that free time, or perhaps that hunting time. I encourage you to join me while I try to recognize the times I am stuck on the little things and instead, let's take a step back and admire the great things that are out in front of us. This could be a field from a deer stand, a whiteboard from a desk, or a finish line in a race. 

Wherever you are, appreciate the good things in life.

Stationed at the emblem of Washington,