Lessons From the Deer

I hadn’t hunted in probably 15 years before this year, but I decided to get out and make time for it. When I was a kid, I was a kid, and consequently, I got my first deer ever last night. It was an average doe (probably 2 years old). I learned a couple of things from hunting…

1. It is always easier to endure hardship if there is an end in sight. I despise hunting in the morning, and it took me a while to realize that the reason was that I decide arbitrarily when I’m going to come in from the hunt. Every moment standing in the freezing cold is my own volition and I could just leave if I wanted to. In the evening, I know that eventually I have to come in. As it gets darker and darker, I can see the end approaching,,and I can endure that next 10 or 15 minutes.

This same phenomenon is true in other areas. I can endure the pain and shock of a doctor’s needle if I know it’s about to end. I can endure a horrible job or difficult circumstance if I can see the end in sight. It’s when there is no end in sight that man becomes hopeless and despondent.

2. There is something about actually killing a deer. I’ve hunted many times and for many different things. I’ve gotten many different types of game animals, but the deer is the largest thing I’ve ever killed. There is something of a feeling a greater responsibility or a rite of passage. It has a calming, foot grounding effect. Once in a while every man passes a point where he steps to a new kind of manhood. Those who don’t experience this remain children all their lives. These events might be a fight, a promotion, a lose, a death, a birthday or some other dramatic event. Women may grow up gradually, but men grow up in chunks. We mature in fits and starts.