Hunters Are A Generous Bunch

My seventh-grade daughter blacked out from the heat this week while cheering on those Putnam County War Eagles. I caught the tail end of it as four of her cheer sisters grabbed her before she toppled over.

Her sideline coach and our athletic director were quick to get her to the shade with some water and ice. I was left to do nothing. Fact is, I wouldn’t know what to do. I’m just a writer, among a few other things. Medical fixes? Pretty clueless and probably best described as helpless.

Forget the game, forget their kids are playing, let’s focus on the girl and getting her well. That’s what the group of school employees did, and in short order she was all better.

The above incident reminded me that despite the evil we’re seeing around the globe, my little slice of the South is loaded with generous folks.

When I look back, the Lord has sent a number of generous people to me over the years. Taking it one step further, it’s almost uncanny how many of those givers are also hunters.

I had a friend at church one time lose nearly 100 pounds. This individual wore name-brand, top-of-the-line hunting clothes. One day six plastic totes with shirts, pants, coveralls, Bug Tamers… just appeared in the back of my truck likely valued at more than a grand. I’m still wearing much of it today.

When I got called into outdoor ministry in 2011 and things ramped way up in 2013, I had to drop my deer hunting lease. I couldn’t justify the $1,000 a year for the little that I got to hunt. My rabbit-hunting buddy handed me a key to 150 acres and told me to shoot as many deer as my family could eat. Right now I have 2020 venison from that same property in the freezer ready to thaw and eat.

My wife drove my truck to the taxidermist a few seasons back to pick up a Euro mount. The F-150 was 18 years old and full of problems, one being the tailgate wouldn’t let down. Just ask me if I know how to fix it…

This country gentleman who had been to the woods that morning saw the issue, grabbed some tools from his truck and within 15 minutes, my tailgate was back functional. It still works great.

My 4-wheeler is a necessity when I trap. When it breaks, it’s a bad deal. I fix 4-wheelers about like I do tailgates or little girls who pass out from the heat. Thankfully, I have a friend who I hunt with generous enough to show me how to find the correct replacement parts on eBay and then carve time out of his busy life to show me how to install the part. I’m planning to run a number of trap lines with that same 4-wheeler this winter.

Some of y’all know from a few issues back that a man by the name of Lynn Stanford with 50 years of trapping experience took me to coyote trapping school at no charge to me or GON. In fact, he had to shell out bait money, gas, time, etc. just to show me how to trap.

Why would he do this? Because Mr. Lynn knew I was going to tell you how to do it, as well. He knew the result of me showing you could result in hundreds and hundreds of dead predators and that many more deer and turkeys making it another season.

I really think people become generous when they quit looking at themselves and take a peek into the future at a broader picture. Have you looked at the future? A lot of hunters I know have. I believe when we are proactive about looking forward, generosity is a natural byproduct. For whatever reason, those who spend a bunch of time in the woods seem to be really good at this.

Lynn hunts everything under the sun from Georgia to South Dakota down to Texas. Maybe that is why he’s so generous.