Archery season is upon us

I love this time of year. The crisp morning air, the tickle in your throat, how you find comfort in the feeling that first sip of hot morning coffee gives as it goes to your gut. I've spent the past 4 weeks practicing with my bow in the back yard. my bow now groups well. I'm using a 20 year old Bear Whitetail II and frankly, unless it breaks, I don't want to change. It's heavy. It's cumbersome. But there's just something about the way the grip feels as I wrap my hand around that aluminum riser wrapped with camo felt tape.

My family thinks i'm wierd. I'll wear that hat...proudly too. I live for fall, and archery hunting for deer is the one time i get to enjoy this part of nature with only God to sit by me. Don't get me wrong, i can't wait to share it with my boys and sometime maybe even my wife, but for now, it's my "me and God" time.

I came across a poem today on HPA (www.huntingpa.com) and wanted to share it. Author Unknown:

Summer has come and soon it will be gone
The temperatures are cooler at dusk and at dawn
The crops are high, the foliage is green.
But a change in the season, will soon be seen

For some it’s a sad time, for they know what’s ahead
School days, and winter, a time that most dread
But there’s a certain group out there, whose anticipation grows
A special brotherhood of hunters, who choose to use bows.

We’ve practiced our craft, our groups are now tight
Our arrows with broadheads, now steady in flight
We know in our hearts, we owe our quarry this
There’s some things more costly, than merely a miss

We will sit up in trees, in blinds and in brush
Waiting for days, for that split second rush
We’ll go when it’s rainy or snowy or cold
Hoping today, the plan will unfold

There are many outsiders, who don’t understand
But it’s this that completes me, what makes me a man
We’ll leave our loved one’s, family and our friends
We return to them rejuvenated, our souls have been cleansed

Maybe, we are friends, maybe we’ve met
Perhaps we’ve only talked, on the internet
But we go to the woods, together each time
I’m up in your stand and you’re with me in mine

Our worlds are different, some of our views don’t agree
But we are more alike, than different, and that is plain to see
Our passions the same, our success matters not
We pursue this the same, with all that we got.

Be our bows recurve or long, compound or cross
Bowtech or Hoyt, Barnett or a Ross
Hunt an oak flat, a cornfield or a fencerow
Wear Scent-Lok, wear Realtree or wear Ultimate Camo

I wish you success in our shared favorite sport
May your arrows fly true, your track jobs be short
I wish for you brother, a great season this year
Great trophies and great memories, both we hold dear.