Opening Day of Archery

The rising sun revealed a clear blue sky and a sea of tall green grass covering the ground of a massive clear-cut, where the timber company had removed practically every stick of lumber. If it were not for the environmental laws protecting the narrow strip of hardwoods growing along the natural streams, I'm sure I wouldn't have had the tree I found myself sitting in that morning. By personally hauling thousands of tons of cut trees to the wood mills, seeing them processed into finished products (paper, boards, railroad ties etc.), I was able to fully appreciate the delicate balancing act performed by the all the various people in their respective organizations, to preserve the status quo. I said a little prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for giving us the wisdom as a society to preserve His precious gift.



An unsuspecting hummingbird appeared directly in front of me and found a watering hole in an oak tree thirty yards away. I enjoyed the distraction and watched it zip around the trees, marveling at its ability to do so without crashing. I began daydreaming and thinking of my son Michael, who was then and still is, working his but off (literally) in the USArmy. A feeling of pride engulfed me as I pictured him studying very hard to complete his advanced training. (Please don't forget to pray for all of the members of our armed forces. Thanks.)

Seemingly out of nowhere a very loud thrumming noise from an unknown source, invaded my brain through my left ear. Whatever it was, was very close and startled me so much my body involuntarily flinched. My head snapped to the left preparing to take defensive measures and was tickled to see the hummingbird buzzing, inches away from my nose. I was surprised to see one of God's smallest creatures making so much noise, until I remembered I was wearing a hearing aid cranked up to maximum volume. The critter had apparently noticed me sitting still and became curious to see what crazy human would try to pretend to be part of a tree and acting like a nut.

Once satisfied I was no threat to him or had any designs for his watering hole, the tiny bird kicked it into high gear and zipped away. My eyes followed the flight path and caught a flicker of movement, behind a merckle bush thirty yards away. They focused on the head of a doe appearing in a tiny opening. My mind instantly recognized the opportunity to harvest the animal would soon occur. It knew, she only had to take two more steps to clear the obstruction from the path of the arrow's flight.

I began to slowly rise from my sitting position while the leafy bush had the same effect of blocking her view of me. My arm pulled the bowstring back and anchored the mechanical release to my right ear. My eye placed itself to see through the sight and peer along the thirty-inch length of the arrow. A diamond sparkle of sunlight reflected off of the tip of the razor-sharp broadhead. My body was tuned and I was ready.

The adrenaline flowed through my veins and caused my heart rate to increase, pounding. All of my other senses had also came online, to a heightened state of readiness. Time seemed to stand still. After placing second in a state-wide archery tournament, my confidence of bringing home the venison was at an all time high. I just knew it was about to happen. All of the long hours of work and preparedness was about to pay off.

Seconds seemed to stretch into eternity, but the stubborn deer refused to step out from behind the bush. The bowstring began to exert its will to return to its original position, forcing me to increase the strength in my arm to resist the sixty pound pull. The extra strength provided from the initial burst of adrenaline was abondoning me and I was becoming weaker. I watched the sight began to wobble in erratic motions and slowly released the pressure off of the string to return it to its normal position. I didn't want to wound the animal by risking a bad arrow placement.

I watched the solitary bush for the next hour and a half expecting to see the the doe again and it never happened. The thing had pulled a Houdini magic act right in front of my eyes. I wouldn't trade the whole experience for any other on opening morning. I thanked God for the gift and waited for my two buddies to come fetch me. No Primer and Number One showed up a short time later and reported an uneventful morning. The three of us put our heads together and decided it was time to implement "plan B," for the afternoon hunt.

. . . stay tuned, it only gets better!