PA Rut Report Blog

Get a lot of folks that don't hunt ask me why I do..... My immediate reply is to ask "When was the last time you sat by yourself for five hours straight without a sound or outside distraction all while immersed in nature influenced only by your enhanced senses?"... Knowing the answer for most would be never without having to even ask the question. They often reply "I don't think I could do that, sit still for that long". To which I reply, in a non-judgmental manner, "That's your problem." ... Life nowadays gets faster and faster. Every thing is immediate. Anxiety and depression go hand in hand with burning out which everyone will experience if you don't willfully slow yourself down sometimes. "Take pride in yourself for that." The woods and its subsequent silence works as a natural filtration system for your mind and body. Couple that with the adrenal boost that comes with hunting and it becomes one of the most efficient me...

I recall fondly those evenings, breath fogging up the living room windows as the crisp fall wind spread leaves across our property like a painting, awaiting the return of my father from the hunt with fevered anticipation. Adrenaline pumping through my tiny frame. Watching his silhouette exit his vehicle and opening the tailgate to retrieve his gear, hoping that momentary pause he took was one of appreciation and fulfillment as he gazed upon his latest harvest. Living vicariously through him in hopes that one day I would be the one pulling into the driveway with a harvest of my own. The vast majority of the time he simply retrieved his bow and came into the house to relay to me stories of the woods and its bounty, stories that went beyond just filling our freezer with meat. I recall the disappointment at first, building an early assumption that a rack would be protruding from the back of his truck on each return trip -- not knowing, at that time, the benefits I would draw from that i...