Archery season for deer is about open and I haven’t screwed the broadheads on my arrows yet.
This is strange, to say the least. The excitement of the first day of deer season has surpassed that of Christmas for me since I was about 12. Now, staring 40 in the face, I recognize I’ve been missing out on a lot of other outdoor opportunities by being hyper-focused on a single species for most of my life.
So this year, I’m going to approach fall with greater perspective and spread out my pursuits across a diversity of adventures.
Let’s face it, fall is too short. It’s simply impossible to experience too many crisp fall mornings, sitting on a front porch with coffee in hand gazing at a natural mural of hardwoods changing colors. Or sitting around a campfire at night under a star-filled sky sipping warm apple cider, noticing you could once again see your breath.
If only I were in charge, October would be 10 months long, with two Aprils.
Growing up, I was the kid with a white-tailed deer wallpaper mural in his bedroom. It is no surprise to any of family or close friends that I’m doing what I’m doing today. Working on behalf of the conservation of wildlife and wild places is a dream come true, even though from a young age through college, I never grasped the fact one could make a living focused on hunting and fishing. So, if you know a young person who has a deep passion for the outdoors, please help them understand there are many opportunities out there for them to build a career and a life around their passion for nature.
Deer hunting has consumed me for a very long time. Anyone who has read this column for the last decade or so knows I do engage in a vast array of outdoor pursuits, but deer hunting has always come first. I even moved to Montana after college with the dream of becoming a great elk hunter, but once I arrived and realized how incredible the whitetail hunting was, I ended up focusing on deer the four years I was out there.
I’m not saying my love for whitetails is going away. I’m just saying that I’m going through that strange time in life when you realize this ride does have an end, and I’m about halfway there, God willing. So there is no time to waste. There are lots of adventures I need to undertake now, because tomorrow is not promised.
To begin with, I’m putting a focus on pursuing monster brown trout in October. I have heard all the stories about the lunkers pushing up to the dam on the White River in Arkansas. This October, I am going to spend some time with a few good friends trying my best to land a double-digit brown. I watched my buddy, Paddle Don, do this once, and it was a thrill I’d like to experience for myself. Throwing jerkbaits and stripping big streamers on the river while wearing a sweatshirt sounds amazing, and I’m going to miss a few treestand sits because I’ll be in a boat.
Another thing I haven’t done nearly enough of in the last 20 years is rabbit hunt. When I was a kid, we shot quite a few rabbits out of the fence rows crisscrossing the endless agricultural landscape surrounding my town. My uncle had a good friend, Mike the Greek, who owned a restaurant and was a great chef. He didn’t hunt, but he loved when we would bring him wild game to cook. The Greek could cook rabbit so good you’d pass up a bone-in ribeye to eat another of his lemon-peppered braised rabbit thighs.
Musky fishing is a lot like hunting, and these freshwater monsters become aggressive during the fall. The fish of 10,000 casts can be caught after far fewer during this time of year as they gorge themselves in preparation for a docile winter. Catching a fall “water wolf” is a challenge with incredible reward. Many of the natural lakes of northern Indiana support thriving musky fisheries, and I hope to experience the pull of a toothy predator in October.
Before we know it, September will be behind us and October will be sliding by too fast. Be sure to make the most of these months, which afford so many opportunities to enjoy all of the natural blessings we have at our fingertips.
See you down the trail …
