Saturday marks the 24th year that I've been a deer hunter. I've hunted opening morning for 23 of those past 24 years. By Opening Day I mean the first day of "shotgun season". The only one I have ever missed is the year my oldest son was born. My wife and I spent that day in the asphalt jungle. Our last date before becoming parents. We ate dinner, shopped, and bought our first recliner. The Lord gave me one of the greatest gifts I have ever received two days later - my first child. You'll be happy to know he also blessed me the weekend prior with my first antlered bow kill- and he was a nice 130" 8-point. It was a hunt with my brother that I'll never forget. If you factor in an emergency back surgery I had one Christmas Eve - I've officially attended the same amount of Opening Days as Christmas Mornings in the last 24 years. Both days are sacred and celebrated in my house. Although the title of this post is Opening Day......
This year is going to be a little different for me - as my oldest son has informed of his intentions to tag along. He started picking out clothes on Tuesday for Saturday morning. Honestly it made me smile and makes me happier than a whitetail deer with a bulletproof vest. He's not actually hunting yet but getting to experience the opener with him is something I've thought about since I held him for the first time. He's been hunting with me the past two years - but he's never experienced Opening Day. The perfect cold front is rolling in. Gun season starts about a week earlier than usual and the bucks are hitting the peak rut. 2022 could be one of the most epic openers I've ever experienced in my 24 years of hunting.
As I reflect on what makes Opening Day - or anytime in the woods - so special - I think I've narrowed it down to 3 things you should try this year. My prayer is you get to experience all 3 of these at some point in your life no matter the date of the hunt, or the species you are going after.
1. Watch the woods wake up. If you've done it - you know what I mean. There isn't anything else that compares to sitting in the darkness that the canopy creates. The light penetrates the gaps of the mighty oaks and the first of the squirrels scamper around the crisp forest floor. If you ever doubt the story of creation or how this universe came to be; just head to the woods in the dark and wait. One of my favorite scriptures is in Romans 1:20 and it says that we can see God in the creation - and he reveals his power and character through the things and the world he created.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1:20
2. Hunt with someone. God created each of us to be in companionship with him and the biblical meaning of a friend is someone who is loved. Almost every past hunting story I can think to tell had another character besides myself. The people we get to spend time with on the hunt are what makes the time spent in the field so valuable. I'm so thankful for my Dad and his Dad getting my brother and I started - and now enjoying a common bond with family and friends; brother-in-laws, nephews and now kids of my own. Taking this thought even further - send the person or people that got you started in the outdoors a simple text from the stand opening morning that says "Thanks - I'm doing what I love because of you".
3. Take a picture. This used to be a profound statement - but today it is something so simple to do. If you're already doing that - spend some time organizing them on your phone - or my favorite - print them off and add them to an photo album. My Grandpa Kain started each of us a hunting photo album when we first got started in the deer woods and I'm so thankful today that he took the time and did that. Before smart phones were around you could always count on him to have a wind-up disposable camera on the dash of his truck. I dug it out of storage and glanced through it this week - I realized how cherished those memories are. I don't even consider myself that old - but flipping through those pages brought back the joy of each and every hunt.
I hope you carefully consider each of these tasks and I'm praying for your good aim and full freezers. My parting thought comes from the country music singer Billy Currington - "A bad day of fishing beats a good day of anything else." When you stop chuckling at it and really think on it; I think you'll agree that there is so much truth and wisdom in that lyric. The true trophy we chase isn't the rack on the buck or even the freezer full of meat. The truest and purest trophy is our time in God's great creation and the time we spend with those we love in the outdoors. I hope you get out there on Opening Day and make some memories of your own. Until next time, keep Playing in the Creation!
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