It never gets old.

great job man, were all proud of you…

This year marks my 30th year of taking to the deer stand.

On November 5, 1983 at the age of 13, I uncased my .410 in the pre-dawn darkness. For weeks before this I had been high with the thrill of knowing that I would finally be able to be there.

I grew up with men who grew up with men who only allowed a boy to hunt at the end of a long and rigorous apprenticeship. None of this sitting two abreast with a mentor in a stand or ground blind and being handed a gun when it was time to shoot.

You were either a hunter or you weren’t.

Finally, I was. The frost was thick on the ground and dad told me to be careful and to walk and get him if I needed him. I walked across a hay field and took a place at the edge of the tree line. I waited for dawn to arrive while basking in the thrill that I had arrived.

Thirty years later, I’ll do it all again, and it never gets old. In some ways it changes, but in all the ways that matter, it’s still the same.

I’ve shot deer, I’ve missed deer. I’ve been awed, thrilled, bored, frost-coated, frozen, soaked-through, crestfallen, and triumphant. At some point, it came to me—what it was I found out there that kept me coming back. The gift of this was that it both came to me and that I understood it.

Out there in the stand or in the woods, I see–we see– what almost no one else in this modern world ever sees: That nature that is unfiltered and unseen except by the very few who are hunters like us. I’ve seen young owls learn to hunt, deer pass by with a blanket of snow on their backs, bears and cubs on their way to I don’t know where, and all the while I’ve been aware that I wasn’t seeing it, I was part of it. For that day, or for those hours, we have a seat at nature’s table. Not as masters or owners, but as just one of the guests at the banquet.

I’ve run across a number of former hunters who have “gone Sage”. They tell me in those hushed been-there-done-that tones that they have killed enough deer in their time as younger men. Now they are content just to sit back and take it all in from the comfort of the cabin and the campfire and watch the others. As if everyone will learn eventually that it’s just a phase.

That will never be me. Even if legs, lungs, and sight fail me, the thing that will never leave is the want . I will always want to be there. Maybe it was because I wanted to be there for so long, but for me this never gets old.

Good luck out there.

Grouse

Very well said, and I couldn’t agree more!

39th opener for me cant wait. And yes we see stuff that the average Joe has never seen or heard or will never understand. My sons do not get to hunt as much as I do but they still talk about the stuff they saw and heard as the world woke up when they were to small to carry a gun but I took them to the deer and duck blind. Remember to take a kid out if you can perhaps they won’t be an avid hunter but they will always remember the world waking up even when they are married and out of the house.

Mwal

You couldn’t have said it better, heck I tagged out in MN and don’t have a doe tag, guess where I’ll be…in the stand!

I’m ready for the holiday weekend!

Love it Grouse! I don’t know what “it” is but it’s in my core. I think back to the years when I was on my leave of absence from the sport, it was a void I knew was there, but just didn’t know how big it was. I tried filling it with fishing, but simply put, the void was never filled. My first year of deer hunting was the fall of 1984.

I’ve been blessed with some amazing friends and family who have allowed me to get back in the game. I can’t thank them enough and I’ll appreciate them opening the doors for the rest of my life. This year, I’m taking my two oldest daughters on their first rifle deer hunt. We can’t go until the 3rd weekend, but they are excited. Not nearly as excited as I was when Todders said I could bring the girls. Thanks Todders! Just think, 30 years from now they’ll be wheeling me to the field and sitting with me.

It’s amazing how many people have never really witnessed this.
DT

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30 years from now they’ll be wheeling me to the field and sitting with me.

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Thanks for this line, it just made me tear up. About 4 years ago Jon J and I wheeled my Dad down to his boat for his last trip. Sad but a good memory.
DT

Posts like this are why so many of us are at home on this site. 500 random people could read this post. Only a handful will know exactly what you are talking about. I am happy to be one of them. It’s comforting to know I am not alone.

Any and every time you can bring them they are more than welcome Kooty. There is nothing better than the look on their faces when they see something new in natures marvel. We might have to build some larger box blinds before you youngest gets the itch!

Dino was on of my first IDO and Mn friends when I moved here. He is a good man!!

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Dino was on of my first IDO and Mn friends when I moved here. He is a good man!!

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One of the best.

I might not have the time, money or resources to do all the things in the woods that I want, but the desire to just be out there will never fade. I working very hard to start that fire in both of my kids.

Very well said

I am enjoying seeing it all through the eyes of a kid. I had my 7 year old son bow hunting with me last weekend. We had a doe bust us at 10 yards and watched us for 5 minutes. My son told me after that it made his stomach hurt because his heart beat too hard. Sometimes a kid can say it better than I can.

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My son told me after that it made his stomach hurt because his heart beat too hard. Sometimes a kid can say it better than I can.

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I think there is a great joy in knowing exactly what he means because you’ve been there many times before.

I think you may have just added another to the brotherhood of those for whom it never gets old.

Grouse

My first post here, but I have been registered on the IDO fishing forum, for awhile. Famous Grouse, I started deer hunting the exact same day you did. I was 17 years old. It will never get old for me, and it never will. I had to sit out this year due to dealing with a work injury that happened this summer. It’ll make looking forward to next year that much more special, because of just what you posted about.

Grouse…. that was a great read! Once in a while we come across something that really makes us feel like we’ve found “the warm cup of cocoa in front of the fireplace” in our hearts! My experience was different, yet so much the same. But no matter. I get it and really enjoyed the perspective you shared.

I really can’t say what will or won’t take place in my life, simply because I don’t have that kind of control. However, that FEELING you spoke of really comes down to a lot of ingredients that bake a really great cake and in the deepest depths of my heart, I know I will always have a desire to bask in that sweetness every autumn.

We may call it hunting but it’s not enough. We may call it life but it’s not enough. Every man has his own experiences and interpretations of what it all means, both personally and philosophically. But until we crawl out of bed at the crack of “are you kidding?” with eager anticipation to see what will be written in pages of our history today, and felt those anticipated hopes so tangible it gives us goose bumps to even dare think of the possibilities, it’s hard to relate or truly understand the heart of these traditions and why they not only become a part of our lives, they become a part of who we are. As hunters. As people.

This coming weekend will make my 33rd year of joining a legion of thousands for a great tradition. Unlike many of them however, I’ll know that I’m there not just because I want to be there, but that it’s exactly where I belong.

Here’s to feeling like the first time, every time!