On a beautiful October afternoon, Hunter and I walk the Mulberry Fork WMA in search of squirrel. Squirrel hunting is a great opportunity to spend time with friends and family, do a little scouting for deer and hone the skills needed to be a woodsman. Hunter is off to a good start and for me it is a chance to return to more simple ways and remember never to underestimate our furry squirrel foe. Although I had seen many squirrel in this area before, Hunter and I returned empty handed. I would say that is what keeps me coming back but I believe if I killed a squirrel each time out, I would still return.

I Smelled the Gun Powder

I Smelled the Gun Powder

Just this week in the blazing heart of summer a gentle breeze began to blow. It was just enough to give you the hint of an early fall day. Just enough to make me think of dove hunting with my friends. I realized although I love the summer, I live for fall. I remembered the excitement of someone calling, "Bird! Bird!" I almost heard someone yell, "Good Shot Rob-bay!" I almost tasted the dust of the field. The great God in heaven has given me a memory. He has given me a field, a bird, and a friend. Maybe that is why that cool breeze made my eyes scan the sky. Maybe it was because I could smell the gun powder.

A Unique Find

Recently while at Indian Creek Youth Camp in Oakman Alabama with the Walker County Wildlife Team, the county agent noticed a unique plant. It is called the Trillium. Only the agent knew what it was at first glance and he was quite pleased to find it. After further research I found out the Trillium is a rather peculiar and beautiful plant. Very habitat specific, it lives under the forest canopy among the understory. It is not widely found in garden shops due to the specific requirement of it's habitat. There are many different varieties of the plant and they all have wonderful flowers in the spring. Thinking about the Trillium, I realized I had not stopped in a long while and looked at the ground. I have not wondered enough about the things around me. I do not know what natural medicines are available. I do not know what this or that plant is. I do not know which plants have what color flowers. Where this unique Trillium resides is just off the main road leading to the camp ball field. No less than 150 people travel by this plant daily and no one even notices. Probably not even when it is in full bloom. If the county agent had not pointed it out, it would have been a weed to me. I don't see a flower. We know where Wal-Greens and CVS are though if we need something. What if.....? What if we had to make do? What if we had to survive? Could we? Not that this plant is used for medicinal purposes but the point is, I don't know what this plant is used for or any other plant for that matter. I didn't stop and say, "Hey look, there is a Trillium." I depend on corporations who depend on money more that anything else, myself and my kids included. I feel a duty and responsibility to look around me and know where I live. I need to know what is available. If I pick it up off the ground is it any less effective than if it comes out of a bottle from the drug store? Is it a liability issue that I trust the drug companies and if for some reason something goes wrong, I can sue them? Why don't I look at this plant and tell my kids, "This plant is a Trillium and it has the most beautiful flower." Would they even care? It would matter to them if it mattered to me. Well, it matters to me. I want to thank this little Trillium for a kick in the pants. It was truely a unique find.

Hunt Game For Me

Genesis 27:3, a very deep verse for me. It was spoken in a time of reflection. A father whom in his failing health wanted his first born to hunt game for him so he could eat of it before he died. The NKJ version of the account reads like this, "Now therefore, please take your weapons and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me" and the KJV also adds to "take me some venison." If you're a hunter and you think hard on this one you might begin to shed a tear. One of the last things Issac wanted to do when he was old and near death was taste wild meat taken by his son Esau. No doubt at least in my mind, they had shared this hunt together many times before, with many good memories. I use a little liberty in my thinking here, it is not recorded, the ways of these two men as outdoorsmen but I see in my mind Issac, and Esau talking in the late nights of the morning hunt. I see them low in the bushes or in a rocky crevace, hearts in their throats as the deer or antelope approach. I see great shots, missed opportunities, Issac with his hand in the sand showing Esau a track. Just a young boy, but with a bow in his hand given to him on his birthday. Arrows sharp and ready. Like me I bet Esau had a favorite arrow or weapon. One he wanted to take game with and did until it was damaged by a floundering deer. No doubt the souvenir put upon his shelf. No longer able to see, Issac new Esau by the smell of the outdoors and he breathed it in. I am sure he listened to every account of Esau's hunting adventures. Obviously Issac could have asked for a sheep in the fold to be prepared and eventually was by Jacob who took away the blessing but there was more to it to him than that. Issac wanted more before he died. He wanted to live again while he ate the savory meat he loved from a place he loved, a place he remembered so well. He even spoke to Jacob whom was decieving him, thinking it was Esau, "How have you found it so quickly my son?" Then he asked the person to come near and he felt of him and smelled him and said, "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed." I could really let my mind go here. I don't know what is due me, how long I will live or how I will die, but I will die. I might hope for a similar if not the same request as Issac. To smell and taste the field once more.

Do You Need a Guide?

Utah Elk, pretty nice. It was shot above 7000 feet. How far above, I don't know. Somewhere in the 9000 range I think. Anyway it is an elk. I am happy with it. I was hoping for a little more competition though. Elk are wary enough but big targets. I have heard of people going out and hunting for long periods of time, never killing an elk. I think mostly their standards and my standards of trophy elk are different. Surely if they had wanted to they could have pulled the trigger. Click, Click, Boom! ya know. I had never been on a guided hunt and likely will never do it again. I liked my guide alright, I just didn't need him. I'm a hunter, there is an elk, where is the mystery. Maybe if I reach out there I am making a little light of the experience. I did walk straight up a mountain for 5 hours. A very steep and grueling mountain. I did spook the whole pile of elk at 400 yards as I was bracing for my shot. After they spooked, I climbed to their position to see the herd a half mile away running into another canyon. As luck would have it however, all of a sudden at 80 yards, I saw this one. He forgot to run and I killed the straggler. I was glad when he fell. With that hunk of meat on the ground, I sat on a rock and let my guide earn his money which included taking the picture at the top of the article and "rendering" the elk. He also packed out the head and the horns while some other people in a six wheeler carried off the meat. I walked out with my rifle on my shoulder. I guess that is what I am talking about. I'm not used to being taken care of. Don't get me wrong, I have recieved a lot of needed help in the woods getting animals out and advice on ways of the woods but I am not yet at least disabled. I have my own ideas and ways. My guide was used to calling the shots for hunter want to be's. Those who care more about the "experiance" and how they can tell a good story than actually doing the dirty work. Southern Whitetail hunters raised in the late 70's and 80's are the best hunters in the world. We don't need guided hunts. After the 80's these young cats might. The "tree sitters" I call them but we do not. For instance, my guide and I got into a cloud somewhere on the mountain. The guide tells me, "Visibility is to bad to kill an elk, we will stop here." Excuse me. I can see clearly out to 40 yards. He sits down and gets out his lunch and begins to eat. I can hear buggling elk withing 100 yards. I did not want to totally offend him so I did take the opportunity to eat a sandwich. After I ate, I said to him, lets get going. He went into this long spill about his experience with these elk, yada, yada, yada. I don't care, get up and let's go hunting. Now he's is mad. He is thinking what kind of idiot am I hunting with today. I tell him what I want to do. He disagrees and promptly spooks three trophy elk that took half the mountains tree tops with them when they busted out of the bed. He appologized fervently and said, "He just didn't get many actual hunters in camp." I forgave the guy and continued up the mountain much more in charge of the situation now. He spoke much after that about southern Whitetail hunters and how well they take to the mountains. Subsequently I killed what I would classify as a nice elk. Bottom line, it was a good experience. Seven inches of snow on the ground at our camp located at seven thousand feet, the first day of October was new to me. Sleeping in a tent with a wood fire, new to me. Taking a cold water shower with 30 mph winds and temperatures in the low teens, new to me. There are many stars over Utah and the silouete of the mountains in the moonlight is not anything I can describe. All new to me, however there is nothing like a mosquito infested, muck filled swamp bottom, in Greene County with the sound of deer sloshing ever closer. To a western guide it would not only be unhuntable, but a nightmare. To me.......Ahhhh. Wonderful.

As my friends walk away from a day of unsuccessful hunting, we laugh, we joke, and we hope that somewhere near this road tommarrow the big one will make a mistake and our aim is true

Enjoy your season

It has been an excellent hunting season for me. Not because I took down a lot of deer although I did take my 100th deer in Illinois this season, a 14 point. I managed a couple deer in Georgia, a nice 4 point included. I also killed a 6 point in Alabama. Its because I have enjoyed each and every day in the field. I hope you enjoy yours. Life is short. Enjoy the sun rise. Watch the sun set. God has made you rich just to be there.