Lessons from the Trophy

It’s more like a lesson than a trophy.

It’s not a real trophy, anyway, it’s a shoulder mount of a nine point whitetail on my wall. A couple of years ago, I was blessed enough to shoot that “wall hanger”, and it is my biggest buck to date. I’d like to say its there because of my great skills as a hunter, stalker, and tracker. Truth be told, I owe it to 3 lovely ladies. If it hadn’t been for 3 girls, he’d still be running, and part of me is sad about that. That is the lesson.

The 2007 opening day for firearm season in Michigan was going to be anti-climatic for me after the previous two weeks of hunting which I had enjoyed. It was that magical time that Mark and Terry Drury of Drury Outdoors call “Sweet November”. I had seen no less than six bucks, and the nicest one had been a close encounter. After hanging a “doe-in-heat” scent wick just upwind of my stand one November evening, I settled in to my stand and let the wind do the work. It did. After chasing some does out into a field directly downwind from me, a nice 8 point hit my scent wick, locked in on it, and followed it straight into my stand- just minutes after good shooting light left the area. I was amazed at the lustfulness with which that hormone-driven bachelor walked carelessly across my path, and I was sure I would not get another chance like that. It took a little more than a week for me to arrive at that opening day of firearm season where I would be proven wrong- and the lesson would once again be taught.

That opening morning started cold and rainy. Even inside my blind, I was feeling the chill of the damp November air, and I had decided that I would close my windows even though it limited visibility. I huddled down in my seat, keeping only a half an eye out for deer that I realistically surmised would be too smart to be out running in the misty drizzle. During a random check of the field to my right, however, I was startled to see 4 deer on the run and angling toward me. Startled gave away to an adrenaline rush as one of the four revealed a nice set of antlers. It was a nice 2 ½ year old, and I initially did not hope for it to be naïve enough to stop anywhere within shooting range. Big boy, you didn’t get that big by being stupid, I thought. I was also a little nervous about making too much commotion during the process of opening windows and getting into shooting position. It just didn’t seem likely that I would get a shot at a monster who had been cagey enough to survive to his current trophy state. As I said, if it hadn’t been for the 3 girls, I am sure the story would have ended with a wave of his white tail going through the brush. My shot at the buck not only happened, it was easy when it came down to it. Mr. Big had three ladies in tow- actually, they had him in tow. He came to a stop at the edge of the field, and he never looked right or left in any sort of concern. He was so focused on the three does in his escort, he never looked around, he never saw me, and he never knew what hit him until it was too late.

As I sat there enjoying the moment, the sad part entered my thinking as I reminded myself of the lesson that the rutting buck teaches. It is the lesson illustrated in the sobering story of Proverbs 7. The author of the proverb observes a young man, full of vigor and strength. For all the power and potential he possesses, however, he is void of wisdom. He is concerned about his belongings, his status, and his reputation, but for all his appearances of invincibility, he has left his heart unguarded. Somewhere along the line, he has traded holiness for hormones. He is exposed, and it doesn’t take much. He is enticed by a woman, but the real lure is simply the base desire of a lust processed into sin. Sin makes you stupid, and the affect of that stupidity on his thought process is profound. He no longer reasons, his awareness is dull, and even his sense of self-preservation is so diminished that he willingly throws all caution to the wind. He follows his lusts, and as the proverb states, he goes “as an ox to the slaughter, or as the fool to the correction of the stocks (v. 22).

Sitting there in that hunting blind, I shuttered, and it was not for the chill of the day. The shudder going through me was the conclusion of the proverb as I remembered the ending of the proverb: “He goes after her straightway….. until an arrow strikes through his liver- as a bird hasteneth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life”.(. vv. 22- 24)

His life? No, the stakes could not have been that high. It was merely an impulse. It was a desire, and a need for that desire to be fulfilled. He was just looking for a little fun- a little action. His life? His life? He forfeited his life for that? Why? How?

As usual, a clear answer never came to the forefront, but it once again started within me an investigation of sorts into my own life. I could never do that, could I? I would never forfeit my life- my wife, my family, my career, my reputation- for that sort of recklessness, would I?

Each time I reflect on the lesson and each glance I take at that trophy, my suspicion grows. I am suspicious of myself. I just might. Would it be anything but pride that would say it would never happen? Would it be anything but foolishness to live as if it couldn’t happen to me? I have reached a biblical conclusion: I can’t be trusted- only God can. While the “heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9), a young man can “cleanse his ways” only through the guidance of God’s Word in his heart (Ps. 119:9-11). In almost a panic, my senses are alert. I must pray that I fall not into temptation. I must guard my heart with all diligence, for out of it comes all that I am and do (Prov. 4:23). Passions and desires are a part of me. I can never be rid of them. I don’t want to be rid of them. At the same time, I do not want to be ruled by them. I do not want to be slain by them, and so I must guard, pray, and always remember that there are commandments and warnings because there are dangers.

It is the lesson of the rutting buck, and, though I hope I should move on to bigger trophies and more exciting hunts, I hope I should never move away from the wisdom that I remembered once again that day- with the help of those 3 girls. It’s a nice buck, but its more like a lesson than a trophy.