I am a firm believer in growth – mentally, physically, emotionally, culturally – growth is good. If you’re not growing, learning, and asking questions you’re either standing stagnant or worse, regressing.
When I moved back home back in 2020 when COVID hit I was disconnected from every aspect of my life including the outdoors. It’s no secret how removed and discontent I was but even as I started to find myself again, I realized that I had been relying heavily on others in a lot of different aspects. I was doing myself a disservice. I was allowing myself to be stagnant, which is a very scary place to be. So I started asking questions and I started using the phrase “I want to do it myself.”
I started asking how to do things I had only observed. More importantly, I started asking why we were doing things the way that we were. Asking someone how to do something often seems like the straightforward question to get what you want out of the lesson but the why always feels more important to me; why gets me the context, and a lot of times ties the bigger picture together. I started really asking people to slow down and show me, instead of just letting them do it for me or observing silently. Whether it was because they felt like they were doing me a service by helping me or because I just never took the initiative, it didn’t matter. I decided it was time to step it up. When my father shot a deer during opening weekend of VT archery season in 2021 I made a point to be an active part of the caping and quartering process. Safe to say, I think my old man was a little surprised when I basically shoved him out of the way so I could cut the hide off the deer and then demanded he walk me through it.
I also started using resources that are literally at my fingertips. We live in the tech age where you can find a group for anything on IG and FB to follow and there are a lot of hunting and fishing groups online. I love to use these types of groups to ask different questions, to bounce ideas off of others, and to network. Sometimes there are a lot of the same answers, but more often than not you get answers that come from many different perspectives and you can find what you like.
Right off the bat after making a better effort to grow my knowledge base I noticed a confidence boost. Asking why and how something works the way it does enables me to learn, grow, and push myself to new limits. The confidence and excitement that I feel coursing through my body when I accomplish things for myself – especially the first time – is like none other. I started to notice that I was developing what I would say are my own techniques. Not everyone does everything the same, and by asking these questions to all that I can, I am learning how to do things in more than one way. I continue to ask questions. I continue to find people who can help me learn new ways of doing things that I have been watching one way for a very long time. I have accomplished things that I wasn’t sure in the past that I could have; now I know for a fact that I can.
I successfully dressed a deer with no guidance start to finish last season with my hunny assisting only to hold the flashlight. I have a much better idea of what to look for while I am in the wood scouting. I (try to) practice more and have started to learn how to adjust my sites myself – even if I have to ask for help along the way or have go through a little too much ammo trying to perfect what I’m doing. I also have become a lot more comfortable in the woods, and am able to walk in the dark a lot earlier than I used to be able to. I have even tried my hand this year into building my own deer blind – it’s a bit rough around the edges and has a lot of room for work but I did it myself and I am very proud of it. Hopefully this season I’ll shoot a deer out of it!
I have seen this rub off on some of the “old dogs” in my life; they have started asking questions when we are hunting or fishing with others and this opens so many avenues for conversations and discussions. I saw the light in kids’ eyes while they learned how to ice fish for the first time – my asking questions and learning enabled me to pass that down. I was embraced with a hug by a father after he watched his son harvest his first turkey – after a day of learning, watching, and patience for all 3 of us.
Don’t stop asking questions. Ask how, ask why, and ask WHO. Who taught you this technique? Most folks will be happy to share what knowledge they have and tell you where it came from, especially to someone eager to learn. The more you soak in from everyone around you, the more you’ll grow and the more you’ll have to pass to the next generation of hunters and anglers.
Who knows, maybe your asking questions will inspire others to do the same – in fact you could be inspiring someone to grow in more ways than one.
Drop a piece of hunting or fishing advice in the comments if you have something willing to share with me.
Wild Woman 