By Keith Warren, Television Host, “The High Road” and “Deer & Wildlife Stories”
Most hunters defend their decision to hunt by using the word "conservation", and it is certainly the best way that I’ve found that helps explain why hunting is so important. This explanation is how we, as hunters, defend our actions to those that oppose it. It is both a true and logical explanation. Those that oppose hunting and what we love to do each year, are doing so out of emotion, and nothing we can say or do will change their emotion towards hunting. Emotion is a powerful thing.
Why do you hunt? Why do any of us hunt? For me, the reason I hunt today is the same reason I hunted for the very first time years ago and it was not about conservation. It was and is and will always be for FUN.
As a lifelong deer hunter, I never tire of sitting in the woods soaking up everything God has placed before me. It’s like going to a theatrical play every day for me as I sit in the stand. Before daylight, while it’s still dark I sit there waiting for the curtain of this great play to rise and the sun begins to reveal the stage. Slowly I start to notice and recognize things on the stage in front of me. Darkness does play tricks on the eyes and imagination. I catch movement and trying to identify what actor has shown up for this play. Then I recognize a raccoon as it heads home to take a nap for the day. Then more movement and another actor shows up. This time it’s a deer! My senses are getting aroused and the play is starting to unfold. This great play we call hunting happens each and every time I go to the woods.
Whether or not the theater that day is cold or wet or even uncomfortably windy, I get totally immersed in the play and try to soak up every bit of it that I can. All the while hoping that the main actor will show up for the play. The main actor is “my buck”. “My buck” would be the one buck that I decide turns me on. One that for whatever reason, if just for a moment causes me to gasp and think, WOW! That’s “my buck”.
Each deer hunter secretly knows that feeling that happens the second they see “their buck”. This feeling for me is instant and once I feel it, game on. I’m not second guessing myself. I’m over that as I’ve second guessed myself too many times and eaten a tag at the end of the season. So, I take aim and fire.
As I admire “my buck” all kinds of thoughts run through my head. I sit by the downed animal, admiring it from one end to the other and I inspect it at the same time, looking for clues that can tell me more about “my buck”. Mud in the hooves tell me he may have just been getting a drink. The area on his rump where a large patch of hair is missing tells me he likely was in a big fight. The cloudy eye makes me think that perhaps he lost vision in it early in life in a fight or maybe, just maybe, it was signs of a cataract meaning this would be an old buck. Fresh shavings deep inside the burrs of his antlers indicate he probably was one of those bucks that would angrily rub his antlers out of frustration in the rut.
You can learn a lot about a deer when you start to look at it this way. It does make things more fun for me every time I retrieve “my buck”.
Each deer hunter knows what it takes to make it “your buck”. What’s the criteria for you? What is the reason you pull the trigger? I encourage you to think about finding the answer to that question and once you do, it will make hunting more fun!
For me, fun is what the hunt is all about. It’s is like the fountain of youth because each and every time I experience that play, I’m reminded of how excited I was to attend my first play years ago. That memory is etched deep in my heart and it is brought to life again each time I hunt. I am a hunter and I am proud to know that as a hunter, we all share feelings both good and bad during the play. It’s those memories and emotion that drive us, motivate us and cause us to cherish each and every moment when we are in the theater we call “the deer woods”.
Although hunting season has ended for most, remember deer season starts now. If you want to see more monster bucks this fall, grab some Record Rack Big Antler Mineral and start their growing season off right.
Keith Warren is host of two outdoor programs broadcasting online and on television. For more information log on to www.highroadhunting.com.