Perfect weather. Excitement. An opening day that felt like my first time in the woods again. Russell and I headed into the darkness behind the house. Our every breath left a smoky cloud of respiration. We walked ever so gingerly across the marsh to the blind. The anticipation of the morning grew with each crunchy step. This is the stuff dreams are made of.
It didn’t take long for the action to get started on that brisk opening morning. First, a small deer fed into the fading stand of clover. Just after that, I saw another deer through the woods moving quickly. I could tell he was a buck. A few minutes later, this second deer had almost fully circled us, and I caught him walking down the back fence heading towards the property line. It looked like he was on a clear path away from us. Game over. Suddenly and without any notice, he stopped at the tree line to make a scrape. Before he decided to resume his morning walk - I wanted to try and see if I could slow him down. The only problem was, I couldn’t find my snort wheeze and thought I left it at the house. Oh well, I wanted to take a second look, and desperation leads to innovation. I’ll try the old mouth call. I pushed my upper teeth into my bottom lip and did my best mature buck impersonation. Fft – Fft – Fffft. It was the best rendition of a snort wheeze I had on such short notice.
I got his attention - I guess it worked. After watching him for a few more minutes, Russell and I collaborated and decided we couldn’t let the opportunity pass us by. The big-browed 8-point turned around 180-degrees and started to walk back to where he came from. A safe shooting direction. He was a great deer, a buck I hadn’t seen before, and well - I had an itchy trigger finger.
Russ did a great job on the video camera and kept the deer in center frame for what would be his last 80-yard walk. I let out a deep breath and squeezed ever so gently as my Browning rifle reported back to us instantaneously. The buck fell into a pile and the celebration ensued. For a few short-lived seconds, we were ecstatic. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw some movement. The buck I just watched fall in my scope was showing me how tough he really was. After watching him for a few short seconds, I could see the problem. I hit him a little far back. He wasn’t mobile, but he wasn’t dead, still trying to get up. This isn’t something I’m proud of, yet it’s part of the deal. As an ethical hunter, I try to do everything possible to dispatch the animal quickly and efficiently. We take good shots – we take well placed shots. But in the excitement and the reality of it - it doesn’t always happen. Thankfully, he was hit hard enough that I was able to eject the spent round and cycle in a new one. A couple deep breaths to settle the nerves and I was able to complete the hunt without getting down from the stand. My next round downrange hit its mark. Success. Not exactly how we drew it up, but nonetheless – we had a great deer on the ground. Now we could celebrate.
As I thought back on that day in the passing weeks, I realized that out of all the mistakes I made along the way, I was still able to harvest a beautiful animal. It didn’t feel perfect and the word that kept replaying in my mind was “forgiveness”. That word describes using a rifle to shoot a deer versus using a bow. It’s a lot more forgiving when you hold a .308 or other high-powered caliber in your hands. I couldn’t find the misplaced call in my bag and had to use my own vocal ability. It was forgiving enough to work and get the job done. Self-filming my hunts has been a hobby and goal of mine over the past few years. During the rush of seeing the deer come into the field - I forgot to reach up and turn my GoPro to record. I missed capturing that epic second angle video. Thankfully the main camera was running, and Russell did a great job running it – forgiving me of my mistake.
There are a few different definitions of the word forgiveness, but my favorite is this – “to cancel (a debt).” I believe the Bible to be true, and the Bible says that each one of us is a sinner. (Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23) The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23a) You and I both deserve death. That is the debt we owe. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob - He is a just God, and our sin demands payment….
Praise God! – the story doesn’t stop there and neither does verse 23 in Chapter 6 of Romans. He gave us The Way. He sent us the gift of eternal life. (Romans 6:23b) He sent forgiveness. His son, Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross, made it possible that we could be in relationship with God himself. (1 Peter 3:18) Jesus paid our debt. Jesus - paid it all.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
A badly placed shot. A forgotten camera and a misplaced deer call. The list could go on and on. For some - the error of the hunt doesn’t always equal a freezer full of meat. Thankfully, for Russ and I the list was short enough to equal success. I only needed a few things forgiven to be reconciled to my 8-point. But what about you? How many past sins do you have that you need to be forgiven of? I know I had a bunch. I still have some I’m working on and asking Jesus to help me with. I know for a lot of people this can be a huge hurdle to climb – it’s been a challenge in my life. Yet unlike a deer hunt, the Bible promises that our list can never be too long, and our sins can never be too large. The ‘Good News’ - it really is Good! We need to look no further than the criminal on the cross to see that biblical truth. (see Luke 23:40-43) He had enough sin in his life that he deserved death on a cross – yet he was reconciled in a moment through his belief and profession. That - is amazing grace. Today is the day of repentance - and today is the day of forgiveness, no matter what your past looks like.
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:12 NIV
As I scroll through the photos of this wonderful morning, I can’t help but smile. They give me so much joy – and none of it has anything to do with the beautiful animal we are holding and posing with. The most exciting part was being able to sit with my son all morning – talking and laughing. The most exciting part was getting to include my whole family on the recovery. My loving wife and all 3 of my kids went along to help me pick up my buck - and this forgiving and snowy November morning will forever be embedded in my my mind. My only hope is to replace it’s memory with the memory of each of my kids finding this true forgiveness that Jesus offers. Those are the memories I pray for each night. Those are the memories I want as a Kingdom Hunting Dad.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 4 NIV
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