Hunting and fishing is best done when young because those are the best of our years. Really?
Do we now go afield to reclaim a bit of that youthful time, not because it was really any better then, but because now is more a continuation, now we are actually “hunting the hunts” as it were? Maybe so.
When we now introduce a child to the outdoors, are we not also getting the chance to relive our own beginnings?
Sitting a deerstand or duck blind and reminiscing of your first times afield with the adults that were in your life then, you don’t feel any older then the wide eyed child beside you now. For instance, the first time a fishing bobber jiggles and then goes under carries the same thrill and excitement no matter your age.
Also now with maturity we take in so many things overlooked in our youth. The caress of a subtle breeze against the cheek, a mouse busy beneath the leaves beside us. A Dragonfly’s dance across the water to alight upon our rod, cocking it’s head side to side giving us the once over.
Maturity brings wisdom, patience, perseverance, acceptance and appreciation for so many things we missed in the past. It’s been said that seeing things new again through a child’s eyes is special, and it truly is. But seeing the wonders of the natural world through adult eyes has it’s special place too.
For those that start later in life on their adventures, you get the double pleasure of experiencing things as a child’s first time as well as from a grown-up’s perspective. Take in and relish every moment, young or old!
Even now when I sit an evening deerstand time and distance become compressed, for seemingly only the day before was I sitting a stand with my father more than half a century ago and I am no longer old. ~ Wade Pennell