WHY WE DO IT - by Chris Tindall

[Terry_Green]

WHY WE DO IT

by Chris Tindall

For Centuries man has strived to better the odds in survival and taking of game. To feed their family or just for the sport of it. We have evolved from Traps, snares, spears, atlatels and bows and arrows to Flintlock, Black powder and Center fire rifles.

Now in a time where man isn’t in such demand to hunt for ones food and hunting is just a sport  .. “How many can one bag in a season?” or the attitude of  “The bigger  the weapon, the better my chances”.

Then, why have some of us regressed to a more primitive less efficient style of taking game.
Hunting a Mature Whitetail deer is no easy task regardless of how advanced the hunters weapon is. To an animal that can smell, see, hear and flee at a rate ten times better than the common human is no easy Quarry to fool.

I have been so amazed to see first hand what I call “The whitetails sixth sense” I would have a strong wind blowing in my face and have a whitetail deer follow it in with absolutely no possible way for him to smell me, I would be camouflaged to the point of losing myself and the deer just twenty yards upwind would instantly freeze with the look of terror on its face its life in near jeopardy, stomp it’s hoof with the hopes of making its unseen enemy show itself ,  then spin and be out of sight with just a few mighty bounds. So I say… “ Why do we do it?”

The small handful of hunters that insist in spending what little spare time they may have from their families, work and demanding lives to stalk around the woods with a less efficient weapon in hopes to get close enough for that one shot at that elusive whitetail. “Why do I it?” . . Is a question I ask myself from time to time. I have been successful at taking whitetails with a selfbow but if my survival had depended on it, I would have surly perished long ago.

At times my first tag of the year is filled with thanks of the invention of the firearm. My freezer is full and my rifle is cleaned and placed back on to its rack. It is then… when I string my pride and joy and take my first steps on to my dear hardwood forest floor that I find myself back in time with thoughts of how they did it,  how much I still have to learn and also how to tame my patience if I want to be as true  a hunter as our deep ancestors where. Most days may end up with only the heart wrenching sight of the …. “White Flag” But it is then at the days end when we return to our modern life, home and everyday high tech advancements that we can’t help but to grin through the thoughts of that amazing fleeing animal and come to understand “Why we do it”.