Are We Forgetting About Keeping The Older Generation Outdoors?

Now that I’m in my 50s I tend to look at life a bit differently than I did when I was…oh, say 20 or 30 years old.   When a person is younger they have an abundance of unbridled energy and enthusiasm.   As you age, the mind often says I sure want to do that, but the body doesn’t always agree with that misguided thinking.

This past weekend while I was deer hunting I looked up at several trees and thought…hmmm, those trees would sure be wonderful supports for a cobbled together deer stand for next season.   All a person would have to do is climb up the tree, start pounding some nails into wood, and contort the body into unusual positions to get the project completed.   Sure sounds like fun…NOT!   Well, it did when I was half my current age, but not now.DSC08896

As a sportsman ages you learn to adjust your activity to what your body can endure.   Unfortunately, there comes a time when many hunters (and certainly even fishermen) simply give up.   When the fun of an activity becomes a chore, that signals to many it is time to move on to other less strenuous activities.

Now, let’s contrast this with the efforts underway by many organizations to get more youth involved in the outdoors.   A very noble cause and I don’t mean to take anything away from those efforts, but I still have to wonder if perhaps we are forgetting about the other end of the sportsman spectrum?

I think it is time all of us as sportsmen don’t overlook the seniors in their hunting and fishing camps.   When things start getting tough—whether it be building deer stands, getting into or out of boats, walking long distances, etc.—several years can be extended to a sportsman’s outdoors fun just by providing a helping hand.   Trouble is, for many seniors acknowledging this loss of independence is a bitter pill to swallow and they will not ask for help…and sometimes will not even accept it when it is offered.

P1010015It’s fine and dandy to introduce youngsters to the great outdoors.   I think in many ways for our heritage to continue this is an obvious priority.   But realize older sportsmen, or those with disabilities, also deserve some greater attention throughout our ranks.

Consider the efforts you spend to help an older person continue their enjoyment of the outdoors simply “paying it forward.”   Eventually, God willing, we all grow older and our day will come soon enough to deal with these same dilemmas.   Do you simply hang up the outdoors life for the easy chair or accept some assistance from a younger, stronger, more able-bodied person?

Thankfully, I am not quite to the point where I need to curtail too many of my outdoors activities thanks to a decrepit body…but when the day draws closer it would be my hope that someone younger recognizes the importance of keeping me out in the woods…or on the waters.   If for only a few years longer than I otherwise could.

©2013 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

Never Lose Your Sense Of Humor Over A Bad Day Spent Outdoors

I’ll choose a fun bunch of hunters or fishermen any day over a group who takes their task outdoors far too seriously.   In fact, it’s the group of sportsmen who know how to laugh and tease one another before, during and after the outing whom I want to be around.   Those who are so focused and serious on achieving some lofty sporting goal…want little to do with them.

You can’t assemble a group of hunters like this in close proximity without the BS flying and the laughs flowing non-stop.

Perhaps that’s why I watch very little outdoors television.   It just doesn’t inspire me to watch edited video of hunters performing at the top of their game show after show as if they were some super hero with a bow.   I want to see sportsmen razzing each other for a missed shot or a fish that didn’t quite get landed in the boat.   The real outdoors contains more misfortunes than achievements and laughter is one of the best medicines to soothe the sometimes painful sting of that reality.

And that’s why I like deer camp.

It certainly doesn’t take meat hanging from the deer pole to generate a good story.   In fact, some of the best stories often end with an unfilled possession tag still in the hunter’s pocket.

This past weekend my buddy, Mitch, had taken several shots at deer with no luck.   Of course, the obvious banter revolved around the fact maybe at the age of 52 he finally needs glasses to see things better.   After some good-natured teasing Mitch’s son whispers a confession to me.   “Dad just got glasses but he doesn’t want you guys to know about it.   He was having trouble in the deer stand keeping them from fogging up.”

You know what that’s called?   That little tidbit of disclosed information in secrecy is called fodder.   Fodder for continued harassment and amped up commenting about needing glasses.   Oh, Mitch has shot and missed a deer since that information discovery…and you can believe now with renewed enthusiasm we commented about his eyes obviously going to hell quickly considering he’s reached middle age.

And that’s what the outdoors should be about.   Not bullying or relentless griping about how someone is a failure in life, but a friendly give and take that is interrupted occasionally by smiles and laughter.

These fishermen have a contest ongoing…and that is to see who can score the best insult on the others in fish camp.

Honestly, when you take the fun out of the outdoors for me it becomes a chore.   I don’t voluntarily get up early and go sit out in a boat during the rain just to catch fish.   I do it to both catch fish and to experience the process of catching those fish.   Often times its the happenings and down-right discomfort about the experience that gets long remembered afterwards.

Certainly, I’m not saying how a person shouldn’t go out on the lake or into the woods focused and serious about why they are out in the first place.   But, I do think that today more than ever there is a pressure on sportsmen to succeed.   That pressure comes from TV, it comes from industry experts giving seminars, it comes from an array of products promising the world if they get used in the field or on the lake.

Truth is, the savvy sportsman knows when to funnel the mental energy into concentrating and focusing on the techniques that put them in the best position to score.   And at the end of the day, rather than beat yourself up because expectations were not achieved…find a way to laugh at yourself and others.   For it is the mature hunter who best appreciates how laughter is the best way to decompress from a stressful day spent in the outdoors world.

©2013 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.

Yeah, I Ate Breakfast In The Deer Stand

To some folks they might think this is silly.

Other folks might even go so far as to say any serious deer hunter would never do this.

Yet, after spending 35 years of deer hunting your mind gets to do a lot of thinking over that time.   Indeed, I’ve often said to myself all this deer stand needs is another creature comfort from home.   In fact, I’ve always thought how neat would it be to sit in the deer stand hunting while also cooking up a hearty breakfast.

Well,….

Yeah, I did it.   The peak morning hunting hours had already come and gone…so, I wasn’t worried about that.   Even so, I was still technically deer hunting and I’ve learned stranger things have happened in the deer woods.

Back in 1994 I was the camp cook for a large group of hunters up near Perham, Minnesota.   I was the last to leave the camp after cleaning up the breakfast mess.   I was also the ONLY hunter that year to tag a deer from our camp.   How did it happen?   Less than 30 minutes after cleaning dishes and sitting in a stand 75 yards from where I cooked.   BINGO!

So, don’t tell me how doing a little cooking while out deer hunting is silly or a foolish activity if you’re a serious deer hunter.   You just don’t fully comprehend the power of bacon cooking—at times even for the deer.   Ha!

©2013 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.