Hunting Isn't Something That Can Be Easily Described

I asked my Dad to explain to me what it was like donning a parachute and jumping out of an airplane that was on fire, at night. He tried his best. I even asked a lot of questions about the other Green Berets with him on that routine flight in Florida, when the C-119 engine caught fire.

The truth is, I couldn’t relate to any of it — the adrenaline rush, the panic, the chaos or even the relief when he realized the next day, as he was getting picked up in the woods, that all had made it out alive. It’s not that he didn’t try to explain. I’ve just never been in that situation. Other than a single tandem jump with a pro strapped to me, I had no frame of reference. I listened, fascinated, but the truth was, I had nothing to compare it to. Dad ended his story by saying, “I guess it’s just hard to describe.”

Just last week, I was talking to a guy buying a pair of sunglasses for an outdoor concert he was going to. It was a chance meeting at a Bass Pro event in Colorado Springs. He stopped by my table, where I was talking with some people. While looking at my picture behind me, he said, “So, I guess you’re a hunter.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied with a laugh, and then asked what he was doing there.

After a brief conversation, he asked, “What’s hunting like, or what do you like so much about it?”

I gave the quick, standard answer and tried to tell him as briefly as I could about the amazing feeling of hiking into the woods and watching the sun come up and the pride in harvesting your own dinner instead of buying it at a store. He was in a hurry, so we shook hands, and as he was leaving, I said, “You should try it. It’s not easy to describe.”

Later, I thought about that conversation a lot. I feel like he didn’t get it, not even close. I felt I had done hunting and the sport we all appreciate so much a disservice. I felt like I failed. I was disappointed, because I want everyone to experience what we are so passionate about. I feel like if I could have just taken him out one time, he would have understood. He would have appreciated the beauty, the love of the animals and the respect we hunters have for them. I know many will never experience what we all get to see every year, whether that’s the simple joy of taking a kid on a first squirrel or rabbit hunt or the beauty and grace of an arrow arcing through the air. So, I will continue to try and improve my talk to non-hunters.

How does one explain the sight of watching the mist come off a swamp in South Florida and hearing a turkey gobble? Or the amazing rush of talking back and forth with a big tom and having it slip out of the palmettos so close you feel it as much as see it? Or the iridescent feathers that seem to have more colors than the biggest crayon box ever made as you move them in the light?

How do you describe watching the sun slide onto a mountainside and hearing a bull elk bugle from somewhere in the golden aspens? Or watching an animal that big rip a tree out of the ground in a rut-induced rage?

How does one explain the feeling of slipping up to an angry mountain lion in a tree after finding the fresh track you were hoping for and releasing your hounds?

How do you describe to someone about hunting an antelope on a sweltering prairie, baking in a hot blind for days from dawn till dusk, waiting on an antelope to come drink at a waterhole you have been watching patiently?

How do you share with someone who has only seen a deer dead on the side of the road how incredible they look in the woods, slipping down trails that other whitetail deer have used for generations? Or the loud, aggressive sounds of two bucks fighting for dominance, or even the quiet sight of a doe lick her fawn while neither one has a clue you are silently watching?

How does one describe the rush of sneaking up on a bear with only a bow and your optimism that things will go according to plan, knowing that you are not the top predator in the food chain at that particular moment?

As hunters, and even more so as bowhunters, we have the unique chance to get away and enjoy the real world instead of the virtual world that is all so many modern people know. It’s hard to explain the simplest of things we see to someone who has never seen what we are trying to describe. Despite the often-daunting task of trying to share what we love, we all need to try! We need to introduce as many people as we can. We are competing with video games, TV, social media and a world full of unnatural things that can make the world seem like a different place than the one we know as bowhunters and stewards of wildlife and wild places — even if that wild place is only 100 yards from the house!

I think that is why I enjoy guiding so much. It’s a chance to introduce even hunters to some things they may have never seen but I know they will appreciate. It’s important for non-hunters to realize that while killing is a part of hunting, hunting isn’t a kill sport. But I have come to realize that, without taking someone out there and allowing them to see it for themself, it’s often not easy to describe.

For more information, visit fredeichler.com, and be sure to watch the latest episode of “Everything Eichler,” every Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on Sportsman Channel.

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