Personal Blog- Buddy Powers

I have found a great new spiritual activity that has taught me a great deal about myself as a human and has deepened my relationship with my creator: hunting. There is something divinely beautiful about killing a wild animal. First of all it forces me as a man to meet this animal on their level in nature. Early in the morning I’ll rise to get to my deer stand, which I’ve set up in an area that I know specific deer will be traveling through either to bed down for the day or to feed in the early morning. Sometimes hunting involves interacting with the animals I’m hunting. During turkey season you locate a male gobbler with different kinds of bird calls (crow or owl) and then draw them in with calls posing as a female turkey. There is a lot of preparation as well that goes in to a quality hunt, especially if you are dealing with a large amount of land that your hunting. Spotting animals and observing their patterns is essential for predicting where they’ll be at the time you want to get one. Most people who have never been hunting do not realize how difficult it can be to locate, track, and kill a wild animal. The first big game I shot was a mid-sized buck. It was an amazing experience because after I shot and the beast was down I started to pray to ask God if what I had done was right, was a good thing. I was in a strange state of emotion not of regret not of elation and somehow not even of uncertainty. Genesis 2 became very real to me at that time. Man is to take care of the beast of the field, and hunting has brought me close enough to an animal to whole heartedly do so. To quote Ted Nugent, “The beast is dead, long live the beast.” This line expresses the simple beauties of hunting: I am man and I am over animal, but I admire it as part of creation and desire for wild life to thrive.