Big Day!

It was a big day for my son (and me) as he killed his first squirrel. We got to the woods about daylight and the sky was a beautiful red with white streaks of clouds swirling above. The leaves were falling like rain which prompted my son to announce that he knew why the season was called "fall". It appeared to be another day of spending quality time with each other, but no hunting success and then things changed. He spotted a squirrel that I didn't even see only a few yards away and made the shot. The smile on his face was unforgettable and made getting up before daylight only a minor memory. The scene conjured up memories of my first squirrel with my Dad. Squirrel hunting is an excellent way to ease young people into hunting and is a rite of passage of sort for hunters. Although he has been deer hunting several times and has come very close to getting one this was his first animal to harvest.

Hunting is more about camaraderie and spending time together, and the "hunt" more than about the "kill". The patience my son has shown has been great and hopefully he has learned more about patience through our hunts. We live in such a "microwave" age full of video games and hunting shows that give the illusion of instant action that sitting quietly for hours without achieving your goal seems foreign to many young people. However, these are important life lessons than will be valuable in the future and to some extent teach a work ethic of staying with something until the job is done.

The small things in life can be some of our lasting memories and the smile on his face and his happiness will be an image I will never forget. I know that he will soon grow older and such moments will be less frequent as the things that make us smile unfortunately become more complex. We could all learn a lesson from the youngsters and allow the small things in life to bring us pleasure.