It All Began There

I remember the longing like it was yesterday. As a young child, I desired to go to the woods and learn the ways of the hunter. It was deep inside me busting to come out.  I thought in my own mind that I had to learn to clean a rabbit in order to be a man.

I sought out people who had some resemblance of hunting in their life.  There were many, but one that continually sticks out in my mind was a neighbor two houses down from where I lived.  His name was Mr. Sheeps.  He had retired to Florida from up north and had been in Florida longer than I was old.  He was a man that stayed to himself much of the time working in his yard and a few times grouching at us kids. He had two beagles next to his house in a well made kennel. His dogs were graying older dogs that barely barked when I would approach.

One day, as he was working in his yard, I got the courage to approach him alone and ask him if he hunted.  His reply was slow as he raised his head to look me in the eye.  His reply was, “Why do you want to know about that?” So I told him I was interested and wanted someday to do it.  He told me to come back around 3:00pm and he would talk to me about it.  That was the longest 4 hours of my summer vacation.

At 3:00pm on the dot, I was on his door step waiting. He came out of the house and we sat on the carport ledge.  In his hand was a stack of pictures. Over his arm was a tanned deer hide with a bullet hole in it.  Many of the pictures were old black and whites and a few faded color ones mixed in.  I absorbed every picture.  Deer across the car hood, deer in the back of a truck, many deer hanging from a tree, rabbits lined side by side with hunters behind them and so much more.  I felt the hid as I listen to every story, every word as if I lived the adventure myself.  Time had past that afternoon – way to fast.  Mr. Sheeps said he had to go, but before we said good by he turned to me and told me to stop by behind his house tomorrow and look on top of his trash cans.  There would be some magazines tied together and they would be for me. 

The next day I believe I had walked the small gravel alley behind his house 10 times that morning alone.  Around noon there they were a stack of about 10 magazines.  They were called Field and Stream and Outdoor Life.  That summer afternoon, under the big tree in my side yard, I began my personal adventure of reading and learning about the outdoors. Each article, tips, hints and how-to’s captured me. I even remember reading them by flashlight after I was to have gone to bed and suppose to be fast asleep.

That lasted all summer. About every week, Mr. Sheeps would place a few more tied together and I would take them and devour them.  It all began there.  The desire, the passion, the love and the respect for creation.

As I look back over the years…some 35 now from that very first talk with Mr. Sheeps, I realize that I also want to be a Mr. Sheeps.  Instilling in others the adventure and opportunity to learn and live an experience in the outdoors.

I think often about all the outdoor experiences I have encountered. All the incredible opportunities with family, friends who are now family and guests who I have shared many outdoor experiences with.  It leads me back to one thing.  My life is short and I desire to continue to share the experiences with many more…not just for the experience itself but also to acknowledge the Creator for his creation and lead them to Him.  I am 43 now…time is short and desire to pass on this Faith In The Field.

Whatever a person is like,

I try to find common ground with him

so that he will let me tell him about Christ

and let Christ save him.

1 Corinthians 9:22 (LB)