A Bit More on Pursuing the Whitetail Deer

As I wrote last, I really enjoy the Deer hunting season from 15 Oct- 31 Jan each fall.  Over the years I have had some great hunting buddies:

• Bobby
• Ronnie
• Mark
• Matt
• Eric
• Paul
• Hugh
• Charles
• Newt

I am amazed at some of the details of some of the memories from long ago.  I remember my fist good buck on the Oakmulgee Wildlife Management Area, and still have those horns in my office.  I recall the mule deer I killed in Montana, and a whitetail there.

I remember killing a doe with my bow in NY, and I remember the great buck I missed twice there.  Of course I recall with great clarity the best buck of my life, 3 years back.

Besides hours and hours of enjoyment, I have also enjoyed pounds of delicious venison.  Surprisingly to me, it has also become a source of income.

Although I didn’t get into this hobby for the dough, it has helped pay, or maybe even paid for all my deer hunting.  I sell between 1 and 7 Deer hunting articles each year to a big hunting magazine.  I have made as much as $800 for many of these.  This came about almost accidentally when I was asked to write one little article on the physiology of suspension trauma.

Speaking of which, that led to my work as a special consultant for tree stand and safety harness accidents.  This is quite a bit more lucrative than writing, but also involves mostly writing.  I enjoy this work too, and learn a lot in the process.

That sounds like I have wandered pretty far afield from deer hunting (pun intended).  But these things kind of reinforce each other.  And that’s what I want to happen spiritually too.  I want everything in my life to link to glorifying G^d and enjoying Him forever.  I want each part to reinforce the other.  It turns out, that this is really all that matters.  Not deer hunting, or work, or success, or happiness, or even family matters.  Each of these can be a means to an end, but none of them are the end.

Now if I can just keep that in mind.