- I spend a great deal of time planning and preparing hunts. As an pro shop owner, that applies to helping others prepare for theirs, as well. Preparation is good, essential actually. A simple outline would follow something to this effect: #1 choose your game (the what), #2 what type of experience are you after and what are the area(s) you want to hunt (the where), #3 figure out the guidelines, ie the application process if applicable, the rules and regs of your location choices and complete them (the how), #4 gear needed, assembled and organized, #5 get your body ready for the experience you have chosen (#4&5 are details of the how). If you do all of the things in this outline, pack up and set out, you MAY get somewhere. You MAY have an amazing experience. You MAY… even fill a tag.
However, if we really want to maximize our odds, we must not exclude the final and absolute crucial piece of the outline, the WHY. Why are we wanting to do this? Why are we making the choices we are making and why are we going forth in the manner we are? Once we have figured out the WHY, we can develop and settle on a path that will get us there. If we are honest, truly devoted to the WHY, that path will likely be a narrow one. Will you take it?
Matthew 7:13,14 (NKJV) “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Like in life, the path to success in the field is seldom the one that most are willing to take. If you want to find your game, you will likely have to be willing to seek and follow the path few others will. When the pressures on, elk, deer, turkey head for inhospitable locales, places they know are hard to get to and they will find security. Are you willing to find the way in there AND take it? That’s where the reward is. That’s where the WHY lives!
Most of the world around us is looking for the easy road, the wide, broad stretching mesa of easy travel. I’ve looked for that route, sometimes still do. I’ve followed that route, in life and on hunts and what I’ve learned is that elk do not live there. They seek out those hard to get to cracks and seams that you see in the picture above. They travel down narrow paths to get beyond the reach of most.
To get to the reward God promises, your path will not be across a lush grassy mesa. It’ll be along a sheep trail, with you questioning the sanity of your every step. He never promised us an easy road. In fact just the opposite, but He will empower our WHY, and assures us victory for our willingness to find and take the sheep trail. So, assemble your outline, figure out the WHY, look for the narrow path and push on. Have a blessed weekend.
In full pursuit of the greatest Trophy,
Scott Pace
