Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Why we Live the Outdoor Life

I got up at 0400 this AM to go out into the windy cold to sit in the woods by myself for about 3.5 hours.  I have done this every day for the last 4 days.  Please note that I do have a college degree.

Why do I do this?  Why travel two days up to Lake Nipigon (Ontario) and two days back and spend about $700 to catch and clean about $50 worth of fish?

I, along with abut 11 million colleagues, live the outdoor life because of what we see, hear and experience.

Here's a few things we enjoy:
  • We see the sunrise.
  • We see buck fight.
  • We see bucks chasing does.
  • We see bluebirds, pileated woodpeckers, ruby-crowned kinglets, and lots more.
  • We see fox, coyotes, bobcats and flocks of wild turkeys in their NATURAL environment.
  • We hear turkeys call, owls hoot, hawks scream.
  • We hear the wind blow.
  • We hear the quiet of the woods without cell phones, faxes, or computers.
  • We feel the warm sun massaging our cold bodies.
  • We feel the joy of solitude.
  • We taste the freshest possible sugar berry, the muscadine, the smilax tips, the venison, trout, pike.
  • We feel a sense of accomplishment.
  • We sense a brotherhood with the hunter-gatherers who formed our history.
  • We feel the camaraderie of our hunting companions and the kinship of fellow outdoorsmen.

There's more, but you may be getting tired of this, if you don't share these with us.  But what's stopping you?

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."  Romans 1:20.

3 comments:

  1. I see all that stuff outside my bay window in my kitchen while eating breakfast...there's a lot to be said for living in the woods. Plus, I ain't freezing.

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  2. Ahh, so you don't have any computers, cell phones or fax machines, eh? Must be nice living in the woods. ;)

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  3. I emailed you an article called "Why I Hunt" that was in The Week magazine a few weeks ago. I only read it because it made me think of you. :-)

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