NEW61375

I was reading some old Field and Stream articles and came across a little piece titled" The Measure of Our Lives " by David E. Petzal. I really enjoyed it and felt obliged to share it with the members here.

In the strictest sense, no one needs to hunt: we have farms and ranches to supply us with meat. But if you look beyond the human stomach, you encounter the human spirit, and that part of us needs to hunt as much as it needs to compose music, or write novels, or record history, or worship a higher being. Hunting, as much as anything, made us what we are, and the week or two we spend with a rifle is the pivot on which the rest of the year balances.

To most of us, hunting season means whitetail season. We can dream of the distant and the exotic, but it is the whitetail that draws us to the woodlots and the forests and the swamps. There are two reasons for the whitetail's preeminence. It is abundant and, as a trophy, it is second to nothing. No animal, anywhere, can dance you around the woods with such ease.

Years ago , I asked a master whitetail hunter, a man who had written the best book to date on the subject, how to outsmart the really big ones.

"You can't," he said with a wry smile, "not really. About the best you can do is arrange to be around when an old buck runs out of luck."

Maybe that's what brings us back year after year----the thought that this time, luck will be on our side, and we will see awe and envy in the eyes of our fellow hunters. There is a magic to whitetail hunting that keeps us at it for fifty and sixty seasons, as long as we are able. And it is why hunters who at the end of the trail can still tell you every detail of the day they took their biggest buck.

There is the rest of the year......and there is whitetail season. Whitetail season is the calendar by which we mark our lives.

I enjoy reading the old magazines, it is funny because many of the tactics and technical articles are so outdated and some were just plainwrong.But the heart and soul, the spirit of what hunting was and still can becomes acrossso strongthatit is a great reminderthat manyaspects of our tradition, our passion, are timeless.

NEW61375

maybe not.

GMMAT

Lots of ways to say what he did, NEW.....but the author did a good job. I enjoyed it.

TexasOaks

Thanks for the post. This reminded me of a jok... What's your favorite season? ...... Hunting Season. LOL... gets me every time.

PreacherTony

Good stuff right there, NEW .... it's kind of like golf, it really can't be mastered and there is so much in it, that it keeps you coming back ...

NEW61375

I saw a Mossy Oak ad once that read

"Around here there are two seasons,
Hunting Season and Waiting for Hunting Season!"

Something like that.

bawanajim

It is soooooo wrong to compare golf and hunting ,it should be a sin.

You play golf!!!!!!!!!!!![] Youlive as so you can hunt..

PreacherTony

it was in honor of Jeff actually, I haven't played in a few years .... try it Jimbo, you'll like it

GMMAT

Lotta golfers likely think most die-hard hunters are probably crusty old turds.

It's a viscious dichotomy, really.

bawanajim

I view golf courses as wasted deer habitat. All golf course property should be give to Fish & wildlife agencies for the good of the community.

I hear so much about how relaxing golf is but some how I am confused about how wrapping expensive shafts around trees soothes the soul.[]