Success is measured in a number of ways. For the football player it”s winning the game. For most golfers it”s just making par. Fishermen and hunters also measure success. For the tournament bass fishermen it means bringing it a heavy limit of fish ? not just catching a lot of fish. However, many recreational fishermen usually considers a successful day as one when he/she just catches a few fish.
Hunters also have a different take on success. A few deer hunters don”t consider it a successful venture unless they shoot a big four-point buck. However, others consider the day a success if they just see a few deer and don”t even fire their gun. I place myself in the latter category.
For years I have said that too many fishermen and hunters take their sport too seriously. If they don”t get a limit of ducks or fish they feel the day is wasted. A good example was a few years ago during the annual Lake County junior pheasant hunt. The purpose of the hunt is for the father and son or daughter to enjoy themselves and do some bonding.
The hunt provides the perfect vehicle for this. In fact, in addition to the actual hunt, the Lake County Rod and Gun Club provides trap shooting for the young hunters and the Konocti Rod and Gun Club hosts a barbecue for the young hunters and their parents.
On one particular hunt a father, who had two boys in the hunt, came up to me asked if the hunt would be over by 10 a.m. because he had a golf tee off time of noon. When I explained to him that the purpose of the hunt was for the parents to spend a day in the field with their youngsters, the man stormed off. The good news is the 90 percent of the parents in hunt enjoyed spending the day with their kids.
The actual killing of an animal is part of the hunt, but it shouldn”t be the sole part of hunting and fishing. I was fortunate in having a father who loved to hunt and fish. But he also respected all the creatures in the wild. Spending a day in the woods with my father was like a trip to Disney World. He would point out various birds, wildlife and even plants and explain their existence.
My most vivid memory of a hunt was when I was 15 years old. I was deer hunting one cold morning in Minnesota when I spotted a huge buck. My heart was beating so fast that I thought I would pass out. I raised my rifle and fired. The buck took off running, completely unscathed. I was furious that I had missed the buck. Later in the day when I told my dad about the buck and how I had missed, he just smiled and said, “Hunting is a game just like baseball. If you win, the animal has lost everything including its life. However, if you lose, the animal has won and best of all you”ll get to hunt him another day and you have actually lost nothing. It”s a win-win situation for you and the deer.” I have never forgotten those words spoken to me more than a half-century ago.
In that same spirit I recently spoke with a hunter who had just returned from a deer hunting trip in Wyoming. He said that he had seen a lot of bucks and even elk and moose, yet didn”t fire a shot. He also said the country was beautiful and it was one of the best hunting trips of his life.
On the reverse I recently had a duck hunter who leases an expensive duck blind in the Sacramento Valley brag about how he and his partner killed more than 700 ducks from their blind last season. He measured his success by the number of ducks and geese they killed, not by the hunting experience. His statement was, “If it flies it dies.”
Many fishermen also measure their success by the number of fish they catch. For some, five fish per day is considered very good. However, others aren”t happy unless they catch 30-40. Fishing is supposed to be a relaxing sport and the purpose is to wind down from a high pressure job or other stressful activities. It”s an activity for a person to get back to nature and relax.
That”s not to say that bagging a big buck or catching a limit of bass or trout shouldn”t be done. In fact, it”s the icing on the cake. The lesson is not to take yourself too seriously.
Terry Knight can be reached at tknight3021@sbcglobal.net or by calling (707) 263-1699. Letters intended for publication that respond to Mr. Knight”s column can be sent to news@clearlakeobserver.com.
