Friday, March 24, 2006
Is It Possible To Think Deer Daily?
I admit it. My mind is narrowly focused on two outdoor passions: bow making and hunting whitetail deer.
People often wonder how I can think about these two topics all the time. It’s apparently quite easy because I’ve been doing it for many years.
It’s not that other thoughts don’t cross my mind, but besides my lovely wife and my children, I have two all-consuming passions—bow making and deer hunting.
There is hardly a waking moment when I’m not thinking of one or the other. I heard someone ask my buddy, Dave Richey, if the only thing he thought about was writing.
His answer was straight forward and honest: “Writing is my job, it’s how I make my living, and thinking about what I will write next is a burning passion. It’s what I do, and it’s what I must think about every day.”
It would be easy to steal his answer, but I’ll paraphrase mine: Hunting whitetails with a bow, and making bows to hunt whitetail deer with, is what I do. It’s my avocation and vocation; it’s my job.
Amazingly enough, when I’m hunting, I am totally aware of my surroundings, and what the deer are doing. I never lose my concentration on the deer, but I solve many bow manufacturing problems while sitting in an elevated coop, ground blind or tree stand.
Conversely, while solving knotting bow-making problems at work, my mind often drifts to deer hunting even though I can separate the two different thought processes without losing track of my primary objective at the time.
Is it possible to intermingle the two at the same time? Well, it kind of happens that way on occasion. I’ll be thinking about solving a limb design idea when a shooter buck walks in. The bow comes up, and my body becomes fully automatic.
My subconscious takes over as the bow comes to full draw, and as the red-dot sight settles low behind the front shoulder, and the release trigger is touched, there is a lingering thought about the bow limbs.
Thinking through knotty problems is easier when deer hunting. The answer is really quite logical if you think about it. The hunting field always has some noise, but the telephone isn’t ringing and there aren’t a half-dozen people within earshot talking about something else.
I’m in my stand to hunt, but all of us need something to keep our mind active as we wait for deer to start moving. This hunting time is the most peaceful time of day for me, and it’s easy to let my mind roam at will.
It’s much the same as something else that Richey told me many years ago. He said that some of his best story ideas come while he is sleeping, and during his freelancing days for outdoor magazines, he would often awaken from a sound sleep with a great story line.
He would slip quietly out of bed, go into his office, and write the story while it was still fresh in his head. The same thing happens to me.
A problem may vex me for weeks at a time, and while I am asleep, the answer to the problem tugs my eyelids open. The answer was lurking in my mind all this time, and falling asleep allowed it to slip out. I suspect the same thing occurs to others who work with their hands and mind.
So I don’t find it awkward or mysterious to be able to think out problems while doing something else. It’s like walking and talking; walking and chewing gum; and sometimes doing three things at once.
I get so absorbed into making bows, and hunting whitetail bucks with a bow, that it’s as if my brain is half-filled with bow-making thoughts and deer hunting thoughts. One thought feeds off the other, and it’s easy for me to separate the two whenever the need arises.
Of course, I’ve been deer hunting much longer than I’ve been making bows, but I’ve been able to efficiently separate the two passions until such time as they both come together in an unforgettable moment.
That often happens while hunting on my deer ranch. And when the two passions meld while aiming at a big buck, it is one of the most memorable events of my life.—The Whitetail Wizard