Our Future?

Jenelle was just in California  visiting her brother and  having a sibling getaway. They do it every year. It's a good thing that they have going! With a brother in California, Jenelle here in the East, and two sisters in the Midwest, the yearly, “just the siblings” happens and helps to keep them close. We have do have those times when all of the whole family trys to get together, but it doesn't always work out. 

Even if it makes our house feel empty while Jenelle's gone, it always makes me happy seeing her happy! I hope they keep it up for years to come.

Anyways, Jenelle needed to head for the airport around seven AM and I wanted to see her off. I also wanted to hunt, but seven o'clock is a little late to be heading towards the turkey woods. So I sat on the porch with my coffee and listened for gobblers until Jenelle got up. The whippoorwill was going strong, but no magical gobbles were to be heard. Occasionally we have turkeys around the house but for the most part they stay gone and this morning was no different. Once Jenelle left, I hopped in my truck and drove down the road. I'm a lucky man in that I have so much state land so close to me. But this morning, or maybe I should say, this year, I wasn't feeling so lucky. There was a truck with out of state tags in the first spot that I wanted to go to. And in the second. Within a mile of my house were five trucks, all with out-of-state tags. For whatever reason this year has been crazy with out of state hunters. I'm starting to think that the ranger station must have put up a sign up that said something like, “best place for out-of-staters is Dry Run Rd”.

Turkey hunting is best one on one. When there are lots of hunters in the woods sometimes it's best just to stay home. Our season is open for two weeks before West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and because of this we get a lot of out-of-state hunters. This year seemed worse than most and I was starting to get grumpy about it.

Last Saturday was the first morning of the MD season. I found a section where no one else was parked and so I hiked into the woods. As the sky started to brighten I heard gobbler music! Awesome! I called and he gobbled, but he didn't come running to my calls. Actually there were three of them gobbling their heads off. After about an hour they started working my way, gobbling like crazy. They got to a spot maybe a hundred or so yards below me. All they needed to do next was to walk up the bank and pop their heads over the bank and I'd have me a turkey dinner. 

But instead, the chipmunks started chirping loudly and the turkeys got quiet. I thought that I heard the sound of leaves crunching on the distant bank. I never heard another gobble that morning. I never saw a hunter but when I went back to my truck there was another one of those out-of-stater trucks parked just up the road from mine. Grrrr!

With that morning fresh on my mind, on this particular morning, with getting out well after daylight, I would have the advantage of seeing where the other trucks were parked. Hopefully I could avoid the other hunters altogether. But after seeing all of those other trucks it just wasn't looking good. Who invited all of these people anyway? I was just certain that they were shooting all of “my” turkeys!

I headed to a different place and I found a spot where no one else was. Maybe it would be good. It looked like heaven in that you had to go straight up to get there. And no one in their right mind would climb that cliff. So maybe this was going to be turkey heaven. And I was pretty sure that in heaven there would be no out-of-staters!

Whoa! My thoughts brought me to my senses. Who was I to blame an out-of-stater for coming here to hunt turkey. I have hunted out-of-state on numerous occasions. I wonder how many people cussed me when they saw my license plate? Even though this was public land, I was kind of feeling like I was the one entitled to it.

I climbed the mountain and an hour later was all alone, just me, the wilderness, and my thoughts.

I didn't hear any gobblers. I called in a hen which was exciting and I honestly had a beautiful morning. 

As I thought about the season so far, I  was reminded of my hunt with Blake, watching how excited he got when we were calling in the bird and it snuck in behind us. I remember all of the successful hunts I've been on in years past, calling in more birds than I'll ever remember. I really do have a lot to be thankful for but yet I'm always wanting more. I thought about how the life of a hunter isn't much different than the life of anyone else.

Greed and unthankfulness are almost always the underlying cause of unhappiness. Just like me not getting to get that turkey and then getting mad at some innocent and unknowing person or getting mad when people step into what I think is my space, isn't any different than wanting that nicer home, newer car, or a family that has it all together, and walking over people just because I think I deserve it. There's not a thing in the world wrong with wanting those things, but when we want them for the wrong reason, or don't want to share them for the wrong reason,or don't appreciate what we do have, then maybe there's a problem. Maybe it's greed or, maybe it's that old word, covetousness! Wanting what we don't have only because others have it.

I often wonder where turkey hunting is headed. Or for that matter hunting in general is headed. I'm pretty sure that its future is destined by people out there just like me. And when we can only think about “me”', then our future looks bleak. We want and demand our spots. We buy land and only allow “me” to hunt it, trying to protect that big buck for just me, even when the environment says that more deer need shot. This in turn means fewer places to hunt and causes more hunters to hunt public land. To manage over-hunting, states generally raise prices and put lotteries in place to control the amount of hunters in an area and to make money. We push our states to make rules that satisfy “me”!

Is greed determining our future?

Will we get to the place where, like hunting out west, only the rich can afford the tags? Will a turkey hunt in Western MD one day be only for the rich and just a once in a lifetime event for the average person? Or worse yet, will we get to a place like Europe, where only professionals can hunt?

On Sunday afternoon, the boys were playing basketball and with Jenelle being gone, I took a six or seven mile excursion up and down some hollows that I haven't been in in a while. I stumbled across a turkey nest. The hen flushed when I was just a few feet away, scaring the heebie-jeebies out of me. I looked down and there were 13 eggs. If they all hatch, studies would suggest six would be gobblers seven would be nesting hens. All will eventually be eaten. Some by predators and some by man.

And hopefully, if things are managed properly, that cycle will continue.

And somewhere down the road, hopefully, even if it's only once in a lifetime, a common person will outwit an ole gobbler, and find joy in the pursuit, fulfillment in the success, and a heart full of gratitude for God our Creator. 

To think that I could play a part in someone else's future is mind boggling.  What if I focus on that instead of just “me”?

I know, It probably wouldn’t make much of a difference. But what if I got others to think about that as well? What if our goal was keeping things affordable for everyone but still maintaining good management? Is there an answer that isn’t all about the dollar?

We probably all need to adjust our attitudes. Life isn't all about “me”. And to think that we thought that we learned that at six or seven.

Well, I guess I'm still learning. I guess that we're all still learning. Good things start by giving thanks for and sharing what we have.

And if someone from Pennsylvania gets my turkey, I hope that we get to swap some stories. After-all, I’ve had a few good hunts myself!