This wee marked the last days of the bonus weeks that the eastern zones have been granted for archery season. It also marked the season opener for many small game animals like gray squirrel. For me it marked a week of confronting my own mortality, which is something I seem to be doing a lot more as I get older.
I did not get a chance to go out during the week due to long hours at work, but I was game for Saturday. I had one short job to do, and I was able to schedule it so that I could grab a morning sit, and an afternoon sit. In theory, this made for a great opportunity to get some early season sitting and scouting, and hopefully some meat in the freezer.
In practice, it did not turn out at all. Friday morning at work, I was transitioning from a roof to a ladder, and I felt a little pop in my hip. This has happened many times before so I knew what was coming. I took it easy for the rest of the day, still managing to get all the jobs on the schedule completed in the proper time frames.
The next day, however, I awoke with extreme pain in my hip that was bad enough to actually make me limp. I ended up calling off the morning hunt, as a responsible adult with a family, I needed to pay the bills first. My day of work turned out to be a lot of crouching, which actually further aggravated my hip, so I ended up replacing the afternoon sit with a long rest on the couch catching up on season 8 of MeatEater.
Ironically, the last episode of that season closed with a narrative from Steve about the effects of aging and how it would affect future hunting in the mountains of Alaska for himself and his brother. Over time, our bodies begin to slowly give out rendering us unable to do things we used to do with ease.
It does not matter what we have done with our lives, where we have gone, or how we have spent our time, we will all have to face our limits. Some of us will approach this time with grace and acceptance, and others will fight it until the bitter end. What really matters is how we have spent our time here. Enjoy the moments you have, and help those around you to find joy in their moments as well.
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