To the Woods

Photo taken on my Archery Coues Deer Hunt

Why do I go? Yeah, there's the thrill, the high-5's, and the great stories. There's that small feeling that you're somehow connecting with your ancestors, and "bringing home the bacon" the old-fashoned way. But for me, the picture above really sums it all up. It was taken on just such a trip, my archey coues hunt 2009. The angle's pretty good, but the lighting's not great; it was real overcast that day, a big storm was rolling in that weekend... Looking at this photo you can appreciate the sense of overwelming quietness and calm this picture conveys.
It's when you finally wind down enough from this fast paced world to actually notice what's happening on the earth. You finally see things you've never seen, hear things you've never heard. It at times like these, when you've been sitting there hours on end soaking up all this goodness, that you stop and thank God for all his greatness.
Society gets so wound up with iPods, big screen TV's and blackberries that they're missing out on some of the most awesome gifts our Creator has given us. I don't hear anyone speak in awe of their laptop, or their G3 network. However, people stop and listen when I talk about how I watched from 30 yards a wild mountian lion stalk my elk; or how my husband called in a young bull that trotted to 3 feet away from me. The elk and I just stood there taking stock of eachother for a while before he chose that, while I was intriguing there were more comforting hillsides to reside on. Yeah, you can watch all these things on You Tube, or a nature show, but there is something about being there that makes it special.
It's like God reached down and handed you a special gift for stepping outside of your self-centered existance. And it's a special gift because it's all yours, he didn't dol out 32 bowls of ice cream. He gave you one special memory, one moment in time that can never be reproduced. A story that you'll look back upon and smile. Thirty years from now you may not remember what you got for your birthday, but you'll remember that time on the hillside when you when stopped to appreicate the all-natural awesomeness that surrounded you.

That's why I'll keep going back.