Still Hunting like it was Yesterday
By DaWayne Spires

David was an old school kind of guy. He was a hard working man who was honest to a fault. David was a person of passion. His passions ran from college football to women with too much luggage to smooth jazz on rainy nights, but perhaps the one thing he was most passionate about was the outdoors. A self-taught outdoorsman, David was never happier when he was scouting a new tract of land or matching wits with a wily old buck. Through the years, he acquired quite a reputation as the man with all the deer hunting answers, a deer whisperer of sorts.

Life had been good for the most part for David, but time always has a way of changing things. Over thirty years of shift work had begun to take its toll on David’s life. An athlete most of his life, weight suddenly became a problem for him. Each year it seemed a few more pounds would appear. Each fall, he would complain to his hunting companions that they just do not make camo like they used to. Cheap material seemed to shrink with time. When David was in mid-40’s, he was on high blood pressure medicine. David still chased those whitetail bucks every fall, but his stands seemed to be placed a little closer to the logging roads than they used to be.

Everything in David’s life came to a peak in one six month period. Both of his parents died of prolonged illnesses, his mother in the spring and his father in the fall. Somewhere in between, David and his wife divorced. Only the deer woods brought David any relief or so he thought. It was just one of the many false realities that he had convinced himself were true. David was still hunting like he was living his life… like it was yesterday.

The next few years were just more of the same for David. The pain of another failed relationship coupled with added pressure at work sent his stress levels off the chart. Bouts with insomnia that David attributed to 30 years of shift work kept him from the deer woods for nearly an entire hunting season. With a less than desirable past looking over his shoulder and the future sitting in front of him like an ugly yard sale painting, David resided in a present that reminded him of both. The next year, David found a new tract of land to hunt, perhaps things would be better.

It was early bow season just a few weeks before his 51^st birthday. David headed to the woods after getting off work the last day of his 11-7 shift. He arrived at his hunting club shortly after daylight. After slipping into his hunter safety harness, David grabbed his bow and headed to his nearest stand.

He was breathing hard and sweating profusely when finally made to his stand. David paused for a few minutes to catch his breath before climbing into his climbing stand and jacking up the tree about 18 feet. Once he was settled in his stand, David hung his bow on his stand and drank deep from a bottle of water from his day bag. Wondering why he did not go home and go to sleep, David began the most significant hunt of his life.

About mid-morning, the sound of a limb cracking brought David from somewhere near la la land to full alert. He reached and grabbed his bow and attached his release. It was at that moment that a nice eight pointer stepped into view a mere 20 yards away. Instinct and old habit took over as David in slow motion stood, took aim, and fired. The arrow was true to its mark. The buck bolted and ran back down into the bottom that he had just come from. David waited to 30 minutes then climbed down the tree and with some effort unhooked his safety harness and stepped clear of his stand. Adrenalin pumped through his veins as for a moment, he was 25 years old again, full of fire and excitement from the hunt. The blood trail was heavy and easy to follow. David found the buck piled up in some brush about 200 yards from his stand. The sun was getting high and the temperature was rising rapidly. David knew he needed to get this deer taken care of quickly before it spoiled. He reached down and grabbed an antler and the real work began. Twenty years ago, a couple hundred yard drag would have been a walk in the park, but that was then. After about a hundred yards into the up hill drag, David was soaked through with sweat. There seemed to be not enough air for him to breathe as he slipped and fell down cussing himself and the deer. David rolled over and used the buck as a back rest. He drank the remainder of his water. After a few minutes, David got up and looked at the buck and then at the treeline just ahead. Wiping sweat, he once again grabbed the buck’s antlers and continued his labor

All he had to do was get to his stand and he could drive his truck right to the deer. As he dragged the buck onward, David’s chest felt like it was going to explode. Sharp pains shot down his left arm. David cussed himself for a wuss and pushed on. Just a few more yards, He thought then he could rest. After what had seemed an eternity, David and his buck finally made to the tree where his stand was hung. Collapsing against the tree, David grimaced a smile and closed his eyes.

Club members found David there against that tree late that night with the buck at his feet. The EMTs that took him away said that he was a victim of a heart attack. David had he been able would have told them that he was a victim of taking his life for granted.

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This not a true story, but it is one that could very easily be so. It was inspired by my first bow hunting venture this season. I became painfully aware of the fact that I have been living my life the same way that I been hunting… like it was still yesterday. I am divorced, over-weight, and have high blood pressure. I am being treated for high cholesterol. I have a very stressful job that I find it harder and harder to go to each day. I have lost some loved ones. I say I exercise, but I actually do not. I talk about eating right, but wind up eating a burger and fries. I found myself procrastinating about everything even my writing. I am old school about these things and make light about them. It was not until that morning that I actually realized I had a problem. I struggled just to walk to my stand. My legs hurt until they trembled as I climbed the tree my strand was attached to. It was then that I realized that the thing I loved most in the world could possibly kill me.

So what to do? I have decided to quit living in the past. I started exercising and changed my diet. I also quit trying to be the big tough outdoorsman. I realized I could not do this by myself, so I sought help. My doctor said I am suffering from depression. I do not understand it fully, but we are working on it and I feel better.

Am I the David in the story? Partly so, but I am putting the past behind me. You are only here on the world for a short time. I plan on extending my stay. I know I am not the only one out there still living and hunting in the past. If any that read this can relate to any of the things I have written, I ask you to please take action. First of all, take action for your family which loves you. If you are gone, it will hurt them. They need you more than you know. I ask you to take action for others like us. We are as outdoorsmen are too few and our numbers are diminishing. If you are gone, it will hurt us. We too need you more than you know. Last of all, I ask you to take action for yourself, because if you are anything like me; you still have something more to prove with your life. Ignoring the facts or pretending that it does not exist is not taking affirmative action. It shows fear. I will be the first to say that I was afraid that if I admitted that if I had problems that I would be looked at differently. I was afraid that I might not be the man that I thought everyone viewed me as. You are not helping anyone if you are dead.

Are you still living and hunting like it was yesterday? I am not. I am making plans for the future with my life. I am also looking for a few fantastic hunting opportunities with some great new friends with similar histories that I have yet to meet to be scheduled sometime as soon as … tomorrow. Call me or better yet come see me.  I will be either at the salad bar or the tread mill. I will be the big guy wearing the TEAM GOA hat with the new outlook on life.