From the desk of Grace,
Anyone else go deer hunting?
Well as many of you know it is that time of the year that many people dress up in their bright orange clothes, or like pumpkins as we say, to trek out into the woods to harvest their deer for the year.
Now I grew up hunting, and it has been an interesting ride for me…
I was recently thinking about all of the life lessons hunting can teach you.
Each of my hunting experiences has taught me something different, but boy oh boy do they come with some laughs too!
My First Deer
The story of my first deer is one I’ll never forget, because it was my first time hunting by myself in my own deer stand.
My sister and I were both forced to hunt, because my dad doesn’t have any boys, so of course Hannah and I get thrown into things…
Which has also taught me many things, but that’s a story for another time.
Anyways…
The morning of my first hunt I walked by myself in the dark to my stand. It was about a ⅕ mile walk…
Every little noise scared the living daylights out of me and at one point I thought I was being chased by coyotes – I was 15 and emotional so you can imagine how that went.
Finally I make it to my deer stand and patiently wait for the sun to rise.
Now there was something in the distance that caught my eye. I whispered to myself…
THAT HAS TO BE A DEER!!
I told myself that IT 100% WAS A DEER. NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS. So I continued to stare at the same spot for around 30 minutes.
While I was waiting and staring I got a call from my sister, and she told me how her deer stand was infested with mice and she had peed her pants from being so scared and laughing… LOL
So it was safe to say my hunt was still off to a better start than hers!
Well as the sun rose and I started to see clearly, I was in complete and utter disappointment.
It was in fact not a deer and a perfectly round bush. A BUSH!
After getting through the rest of my hunt, I ended up shooting a 5 point deer… but this day taught me much more than you’d think.
Lesson Number 1
The number one lesson I learned on this hunt is that your mind is very powerful.
You can make yourself believe anything.
You can make yourself believe that a bush is a live animal or you can make yourself beleive that you are sad when there is no reason to be…
Or you can make yourself believe that someone doesn’t like you or has an issue with you when they really don’t…
Or you can make yourself believe that the mice in your deer stand will kill you….
So focus on the things that are true and right and real, and then you will believe it.
Focus on hope. Focus on love. And focus on the beauty of life, because those are the things that are real and good and true.
And that bush will never be a deer and mice will never kill you!
My Second Deer
The second story I am going to tell you comes with a lot of embarrassment and hurts my pride a bit…. But I will tell you anyway.
It was the second Saturday evening of the season, and my dad, Hannah, and I all sat and patiently waited for the right prize buck to walk by our stands…
All of a sudden I hear an extremely loud “KAPOW!!!”
Deer down.
Hannah had just shot a monster buck and my dad had also shot a monster buck that morning.
EVERYONE HAD GOTTEN A DEER EXCEPT ME.
As much as I wanted to be happy for Hannah and my dad, I was so upset and embarrassed, because in my mind this meant I absolutely sucked at hunting. (I may have left out the part where I missed like 3 other deer already that weekend, but that is irrelevant information)
So through my anger, I decided to stay in my stand a little longer and see if I had any last luck…
And then all of a sudden, there it is.
A deer standing in the distance. PERFECT.
I got my gun up and got ready to shoot. “KAPOW… KAPOW…. KAPOW…. KAPOW.”
Four shots later and I finally got him.
I walked up to my deer to only realize that the deer I just shot was the tiniest thing I’ve ever seen.
Because of my pride and embarrassment of being the “only one” to not get a deer, I had just shot a Bambie.
Lesson Number 2
Don’t let your pride and comparison make you do things you’ll later regret. Take time to think things through and understand where your anger is coming from.
Our egos play a huge part in most decisions we make…
So focus on doing the things you’ll be proud of and not comparing yourself to others and doing things “just because”.
Lastly, if you are headed out to the stand this year, stay safe, have fun, and good luck!