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Will B. Hunting

Going into my second year of deer season, I have to say I have been looking forward to this since deer season ended last year.

As I ran here and there last weekend buying all my necessary gear for the upcoming season, I didn’t have to much time to reflect on what it is that makes hunting so dear to my heart after only a year of hunting. Since the weekends shopping spree to prepare I have had time to reflect on the subject.

It’s a mixture of physical, mental and emotional reasons I have found. The physical part is the solitude--just me, my coffee, nature and my thoughts, no distractions. It’s probably the closest I will get to meditation as I sit quietly waiting for that warm ball of light to creep over the horizon, I have plenty of time to reflect about everything that has been going on in the past year and since moving to Olney I have found those thoughts in memories to be happy ones--I would have to say the happiest memories I have had thus far.

The emotional is harder to explain unless you have been hunting. As thoughts and memories wash over me like the ocean breaking upon the beach and the expectations of a good buck cross my mind, there is a slow build up as the time gets closer to when you know when the deer are mostly to come for a quick breakfast before bedding down for the morning. I am thinking will one show, if it shows will it be one I can harvest, will my shot be true, if my shot is true will it be a good shot so the deer doesn’t suffer and as I’m thinking all of this, a deer will silently and stealthily glide out of the brush without so much as a snap of a twig or noise of any kind and everything melts away suddenly and its just you and the deer. Man, as he is supposed to be in his purest form--hunter, provider and caretaker of the land.

Lastly, the mental. Because you must start very early in the morning--generally, an hour or two before dawn. Sometimes depending on the week, it is quite difficult to keep eyes from slowly, very slowly from creeping lower and lower till it becomes at time impossible to hold them open any longer and then in that instant it’s a blissful nap without a care in the world. Upon waking I instantly think to myself, did I miss my moment? Another mental aspect is sometimes there is just a lot going on with events and it is difficult to justify taking four hours out of your morning and four hours out of your evening to go hunting. But for me, I say it is a must--everyone needs that one thing to look forward to each year that will allow them to decompress and let go of all your worries.

This is Will B. saying for me, it will forever be hunting from now on.