In our family room next to the fireplace hangs an object that represents the most magnificent piece of art combined with technological brilliance. It embodies not only who I am, but who we all are at our deepest core. It symbolizes raw speed, power, beauty, precision, accuracy, and most of all my spiritual connection with nature. It hangs there as a visual reminder of great memories of the past and hope for the future. At a glance, it brings feelings of awe. Like a teenager in love, I cannot help but stare as it hangs perfectly balanced from a small hook in the ceiling, glistening from the glow of the fireplace, calling out to me. It invokes images of my father and grandfather when they were young and strong, and it links my soul to the souls of my loin-clothed ancestors. It embodies man"™s place in nature, at the top of the food chain, and it reminds me that even today, man is, as he has been since the beginning, a hunter.
It is my bow. But to me it is much more. It is a precision instrument finely tuned to infinite detail by my own hands so that it maintains its awe inspiring accuracy, speed, and power. It is capable of launching speeding arrows at 316 feet per second that can pass completely through a cement cinder block without slowing down. After work during the cold winter months, when the rest of the world sleeps, she and I are together for the entire midnight hour in the basement, diligently practicing so that in 7 months when the most magical of times, known as deer season, arrives my quarry can be taken in the most humane way possible. You see THAT is the entire purpose of this obsession. It is not about the rush of being able to stack an arrow literally inside another arrow from 100 feet away. It is about being able to impart the mystical flight of the arrow with such precision during the moment of truth, when God"™s most beautiful creature is standing in front of you, and the tens of thousands of practice arrows are nothing compared to the gravity of the situation at hand. As my heart races, and I struggle to breathe, and my hands and knees shake, I remind myself that I"™ve done this 20,000 times before on the practice range. This creature, God"™s creature, deserves my very best, and He himself is helping to steady my hand, so that I may take this life quickly, painlessly, and humanely, the way that I hope to go when my time on Earth is through. After, as I kneel at my fallen prey, I take a moment to honor the beast and thank our creator for providing my family with not only sustenance, but the blessing of being in total unity with nature, in a way that only a hunter could truly understand.
We hear about the "Circle of Life" and what that all entails; but what you have just described can only be appreciated and understood from the perspective of a hunter...nicely done.
This was actually done for an assignment. I'm in an online class with people from all over the world as part of my MBA program. The assignment was to describe an object in your home that defines you as a person and your culture. The intent was for people from other parts of the world to better understand my culture through my description of that object.
It took me all of two seconds to pick a topic LOL.
There are alot of people from India, England, and other countries that don't necessarily understand hunting. I hope I didn't scare them too bad!
Wow man that was awesome. Hope you don't mind, I actually copied/pasted it into Word and saved it to my computer. Thanks for posting that.
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R.I.P- Max Sawlaw - (Uncle Buddy)
Cause in the wind he's still alive. We got his spirit We got his soul. He will guide our steps, he will guide our arrows home. The restless spirit still roams.
Soul
