I’ve had a few unsuccessful elk hunting seasons over the years here in Colorado. I used to try to make myself feel better by uttering slogans such as “at least I got out there and saw elk” or “that’s why they call it hunting and not killing.” A few years ago, I realized that I adopted this mindset to simply make myself feel better for not being successful. After all, I’m a meat hunter. Meat matters most. Try as I might, I just couldn’t eat good memories. What ate me up, however, was living for the next year knowing that I could have done everything in my power to bring home the proverbial bacon.
I tend to go the extra mile in the field when I know that the freezer at home is empty. Let’s take this year’s elk season(s) as an example. I did not get an elk during the antlerless archery season in September and I wasn’t very happy about it. I had my chances but couldn’t seal the deal to harvest an elk. I drew an either-sex tag for the 1st rifle season in mid-October. The 3 weeks between archery and rifle seasons seemed to crawl by. If there is such a thing as a biological hunting clock, mine was ticking and before long I would be out of time. To make matters worse, I fractured or badly bruised some ribs in a furniture moving accident with some guys from my church.
Rifle season rolled around and I was already thinking about the edible trophy that was at stake. We only had 10 lbs. of elk meat left in the freezer from the previous year. The pressure was on. After hunting for 1 day, I came down with a scary stomach sickness, fever, and chills. I emptied my stomach on the mountain that night, a blizzard moved in, and the situation seemed grim at best. Praise God that my friend Ed went hunting with me. He didn’t hunt, he came just to take video & photos and because he likes to camp. Ed helped me off the mountain that day and I drove home literally falling asleep at the wheel and stopping at many a convenience store to visit the bathroom.
In my early days of elk hunting, I would have given up after the rib injury. If I was trying to act tough, I would have made it to rifle season only to give up when I started throwing up and came down with the 102 temperature. I would have spent the next year in regret that I waved the white flag and because my freezer was empty. I finally realized that the memories of the quaking aspen, the bugling bulls, or the smell of elk weren’t enough to sustain me throughout the off-season. Meat matters Most!
I got better just in time for the last day of the 5-day season. Ed agreed to accompany me once again as we went in on stealthy one day mission to get meat. We met at 3:30 am, hiked up the mountain in the dark, and proceeded to hunt. The bulls were screaming and I almost got a shot at a cow at 120 yards around 7:00 am. I was down but not out. We hunted all day. I knew that God was the champion of the down and out and could provide an elk at any time. Sure enough, God provided the elk in the middle of the afternoon. I made the shot(s) at 183 yards, harvested a mid-size bull with a small rack, and got meat to feed my family for the next year. I had harvested my 4th elk in the past 5 years in the same forest, all on public property.
The years of having an empty freezer finally taught me a lesson…Meat matters most. I thank God for this lesson, for the ability to not give up regardless of the situation I’m in, and for the protein provision. Friends, don’t give up. If you value meat over antlers or fuzzy feelings, don’t throw the towel in at the first sign of adversity. Pull yourself up and get back out there and give God all the glory knowing full well that while you are weak, he is strong! Praise the Lord and pass the elk!
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