Enjoy the Little Things

The world that we know today is host to a fast paced, hustle and bustle lifestyle of an environment. Get up early, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, and do it again tomorrow. I believe it is called “The Rat Race.” With the tap of our finger on a little screen, we have access to whatever information that we desire and are served with instant gratification in most cases. No work needed and when work is needed, some of us get frustrated, due to how easily things usually come. Imagine that, your phone didn’t load Instagram fast enough for you.

Sometimes, I find this domino effect thought process bleeding into my hunting. So much so that I actually will stress out about my hunts. Things like, where am I going to hunt today? Should I hunt with my bow or rifle? Should I hunt deer or bear this weekend. Stress and hunting shouldn’t be in the same sentence, I acknowledge this. When you put as much as some of us do into hunting though, it is bound to happen I guess. We want to have good experiences out there and the more that we know, the more critical we become of our actions. People will actually develop target panic like this. Someone that shoots a bow for the first time, doesn’t have target panic do they? It is a learned and undesirable trait that shows up over time with much scrutinizing. Remember how it used to be to just shoot a bow and not worry about 14 different things at once? In that light, I believe sometimes I have “Hunt Panic” and worry about way too many things that don’t deserve the attention I am giving them.

Knowledge and success are the results of quality time in the field

The point of this post is to make you and myself realize that sometimes we just need to slow down and appreciate what is in front of us. Stop worrying about, in my case, what weapon am I going to hunt with and do what I want and what makes me happy. Stop worrying about the billion things going through your mind when you are at full draw in your backyard or at the range. Just pull the string back, aim, and put that arrow where it belongs. Don’t know where to hunt? Cool man. Just go for a walk with your bow or rifle, in the country you are in, and go wherever the wind takes you. You’ll figure out what to do. Have fun and take in what is around you. Knowledge and success are the results of quality time in the field. We are truly blessed to have the opportunities that we have in the U.S., so you should focus on enjoying them.

One of my goals this season is to “Enjoy the Little Things” and slow down. That doesn’t by any means say that I am not going to work my rear end off in the process, like I usually do. This is what I love to do and to not do so, would be doing my craft and myself a disservice in my opinion. I like the work that goes into western hunting. The sweat, soar muscles, heavy packs, emotional roller coaster, and feeling of success after a tough hunt are all appealing to me. It means to focus on why I love hunting. Remember why I love being out there and stop stressing out while I am out there. I cannot control everything during a hunt. If I could, it wouldn’t be a hunt. The Fall season will be here before we know it and I CAN’T WAIT. Get out there, enjoy yourself, and most of all, “Enjoy the Little Things.”