I’m tired of being snarly. I’m
tired of politics. I’m tired of talking about things which I have no control
or influence over
I can feel Fall coming. Whether it’s the decrease in the day length or the
subtle change in the temperature (very subtle here), or maybe it’s a smell
in the air, I can feel my interest changing from BS‘ing with ya’ll here at
the plastic monster to other interests, more outdoor, more primitive .
Where, during the summer months, you had to beat me to get me out of air
conditioning, a sad confession for a native Alabamian, the blood sports now
beckon.
Cooler weather means the fishing will improve. 2 and I will be in
Apalachicola, Florida a great deal over the next several months. No, it’s
not to sabotage the Democrats in the election. Although they do get
badmouthed a lot, it’s not that type of blood lust.
On October the fifteenth, deer season with a bow will open up here in
Alabama. I’ll be gone from Sunday the thirteenth till….. The camping weather
should be nice. No radio, No TV, No computer, No phones, No politics. Just
me, the coyotes, the deer, the game warden and the DEA agents.
I’ve been shooting my recurve for a few minutes every day. Like I told you
before, it’s basically just a stick and string. No sights, pulleys or
triggers. I’m not as good as I was as a teenager, but I don’t shoot nearly
as much. Even though my arrows aren’t as fast or penetrate as far as from a
compound bow, there are advantages to your arrow not going completely
passing through the deer. There is seldom a blood trail to follow, but the
effects of the razor sharp head whipping back and forth in the chest cavity
as the fletching hits brush when he races away from his attacker means he
doesn’t go very far.
A broke twig, a few droplets of blood, where he stumbles will lead me to my
prey. I will cautiously approach him from the rear and feel… And feel… It’s
hard to explain if your not a hunter. A feeling of joy mixed with sadness. A
sense of reverence and a sense of primitive triumph . We talk so easily of
being a civilized people in our discussions without ever thinking about how
thin a veneer it is over our true being. Being a vegetarian is so easy when
the crops are plentiful. Being against hunting is so easy when you don’t see
the factory farms that supply you your meat. No, no soap box today. I’ll
leave it till another day.
The nights will be cool and the shadows will come early. I’ll set outside my
tent and listen to the coyotes talk to each other in the darkness. I’ll feel
the shiver running down my spine when I hear a rabbit screaming as something
takes its life.
It’s in the air and I start feeling it every year at this time. Life will be
a joy for me as I tramp through the fields and swamps. Some days, I will
spend a great deal of time physically alone with my thoughts and prayers.
Some days will be spent in the company of others like myself. Some days, I
will win. On other days, my prey will survive to be hunted another day,
whether by me or others like me, human and otherwise.
© LCM3
Rimfire at Idlehourwebs dot com
