Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Sportsman's Power of Patience and Observation

I had a lot of time to sit and think a few weeks back, as one of the thousands of people stranded at a airport terminal as the airlines attempted to recover for the recent snowmageddon. As I pondered, I began to realize sportsmen posses a skill set that seems to be quickly disappearing from the general public. Around me hundreds of people were zoning out (or is it in?) to their blackberries, computers, handheld video devices and busily chatting and texting on their cell phones. Few if any people were able to disconnect that just “be”. It seemed easy for me to “waste” away the approximately 12 hours happily watching people and their comings and goings. I wonder if sportsmen are so used to spending quite hours in the woods watching and waiting, that over the years they have finely honed their levels of patience and  are perfectly content to sit and observe. Over the years, this mastery of patience and observation have served me well and allowed me to see hawks snatching mice from fields, tom turkeys battle for dominance, mink skirt vernal ponds, a fisher pass under my tree stand and numerous other woodland animals carry on their daily quest for survival with little or no knowledge of my presence.

People are truly fascinating creatures, perhaps the most interesting. We are all a storybook of secrets that an astute observer can sometimes unravel. Some folks are especially gifted in this skill like doctors, teachers, social and child care workers whose very job it is to know well the ins and outs of the human mind and be able to correctly and efficiently determine through the correct levels of observation, human interaction and questioning the inner workings of the mind. Everyone could certainly learn something about their fellow man, if they simply disconnect and observe the world around them at a much more immediate and personal level. I challenge you to unplug!

6 comments:

  1. No way man! What has it been almost a week since your last post? If anything you need to more technified so you can keep in touch better.

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  2. PBM, Good point! Was out fishing all of the long weekend and then cutting wood for the fire pit. It is hard to find that balance between technology and the outdoors. Game cameras, vhf radios, blackberries, compound bows, even scopes are all technologies that aid hunters. My struggle is when does the technology begin to change us as people for the worse and not the better?

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  3. Didn't we hit upon this in an older post? It was when your dad gave you a rash of crap, you may want to link to that from here. Did my pet largemouth make an appearance?

    DEDH

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  4. DDH,

    Probably, I had hoped I would be much older before I completely lost my mind. :) Will try and find the other post.

    No, fished for 4 hours with 2 bass to show for our efforts.

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  5. What's the ice condition on Grand..when will it be out?

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  6. PBM, Hopefully before Memorial Day!

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