The cliché, patience is a virtue, has more merit than you realize. This is especially true in regard to our hunting and fishing endeavors. Our human nature typically manifests itself into wanting something or everything not in due time but now. Come to think of it, in all walks of life, our desire for immediate satisfaction and acquisition abounds. As an infant, we want/desire a bottle at a moment’s notice. Early childhood temper tantrums are thrown when the toy we see at the local five and dime is not handed to us at our beck and call. As we mature, tension escalates if the checkout lines at our local grocer are backed up. Fast food ordering creates a spike in our blood pressure, especially if the car in front of us delays the process. Traffic lights, road construction, and air travel can only add to our already hectic way of life. Can you relate to this? Let’s visit how this every day strife can affect our way of life in our beloved swamps.
I was always taught to pitch my devil’s horse just past my targeted stump and not move it until all of the ripples from the landing lure had subsided. When all was calm, I would then barely twitch the stick bait to create the most subtle ripple. This was repeated over and over again until the bait was back at the rod tip. There was none of this whipping the water to a froth with fast casting, hectic reeling, and loud talking. Patience, my son, were the words I heard over and over in the oxbows up and down the Mississippi River. One well-placed cast and slow retrieve was better than a hundred sloppily thrown baits with a hasty retrieve.
Lab puppies are full of energy. They run, they frolic, they chew, and their attention span at this early age is almost non-existent. Of course, we expect them to become field champions in just two or three weeks after training begins. Blind retrieves should be the norm when they are eight weeks old. Every hand signal is obeyed even before the command is given. Of course, we are the best dog handlers in the world and how could the pups not be perfect in every aspect of the game by the time they are a year old. Do you know trainers like this? Are you this trainer? Again, patience is the key.
Which of the following can you relate to? When the old gobbler sounds off at daylight do you sprint to him? Do you break brush and run through briars to close the distance to him. Do you yelp incessantly with a mouth call while squawking at him with a loud box call at the same time? Are the feathers flying as you beat a wing on the ground and on the side of the tree you are sitting next to? If he doesn’t immediately fly to you to meet his demise, do you get up and try to inch closer until you run him off? Let’s look at another approach to this same gobbler. As his gobbles echo through the hardwood bottom, do you slowly pick your path to him avoiding limbs and blowdowns that may alert him to your intrusion? Do you enjoy every step of the way to him in the spring woods? How does it feel to slow your heart rate with peace and tranquility by taking in the aroma of wild honeysuckle? Subtle clucks from your slate spark his interest and soon you hear him drumming and see the bobbing of his head as he makes his way to you. Your patience was rewarded.
Let’s go to the whitetail woods. Daylight finds you in your favorite climber anticipating the appearance of the haunt buck of your dreams. The sun barely breaks the horizon and you reach for your cell phone to read the text that was sent a few minutes earlier. You exchange dialogue digitally with your compadres comparing what you are seeing. You start to become antsy. Emails are briefly checked. Then you reply to one. It’s almost 8 a.m. and you haven’t seen a thing. Horrors, what are you to do? Where is the 160 inch buck that should just run up to you and stop? By 8:45 you have had enough. A noisy retreat back to your truck ends your opportunity to get away from long lines and a hectic lifestyle. Is this you?
Here we are in another year. Have you been rushing your entire winter away? Do you carry the hustle and bustle of life with you to your place of what should be serene? You do know this is a matter of choice. You control, for the most part, your actions and reactions to life. If you think about this, it is a blessing to be able to control your own destiny on the lakes and in the woods. I would invite you not to complicate your “quiet time” by lugging “life” with you everywhere you go. We still have plenty of time to maximize our enjoyment of what passes all too quickly. It will all be over with only memories remaining soon. Don’t look back and ask yourself where did it go? There is another cliché that I try to remember and adhere by. It is the story about the tortoise and the hare. I’m sure you know what it is, but to re-enforce my agenda, I will lay it out. Slow and steady wins the race! Which are you, the tortoise or the hare? Think about this and try not to rush your life away. Stay in your stand or in your blind a little longer. Reward yourself with a little more time in the places you long to be. Life is fast enough, don’t speed it up. Patience, my friends, truly is a virtue.
Until next time enjoy our woods and waters and remember, let’s leave it better than we found it. Happy New Year.
