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The days of the old flasher are long gone with colored graph and GPS combos being the norm of today.
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The term “success” varies among sportsmen. For some, success is three roosters tucked into a vest, or a limit of walleyes on the cleaning board. For others, success is simply walking the fields or wetting a line. Getting away from the everyday with the expectation of success is an easily accomplished goal and just as satisfying as actually shooting or catching something.
It has been said that there are multiple levels of maturity in the realms of hunting and fishing, and at times sportsmen advance through each one, until finally, the experience itself is the reward as opposed to filling a daily limit. I disagree; I think there are two levels of maturity on a sliding scale, which no doubt can be adjusted to the conditions - new waters, new targets and so on. The first occurs where we are building toward success, and the second is where we achieve success and set new goals and the scale slides.
It is okay to go out and search for a limit of fish. It is fine to be frustrated at missing shots. It is alright to be disappointed in an outing and hope to do better the next time out. These are the results of setting goals, and goals are important to mark progress as a sportsman.
These are elements of the outdoors that equate to every other day in life: desires, shortcomings, and plans based on them in order to secure better success in the future. It is important to remember these times, to be competitive with nature and ourselves. To adjust our expectations of what we can and must do for a successful outing is necessary to have an enjoyable time in the outdoors.
That’s not saying these goals of killing every bird or getting a five-fish limit should be the end-all-be-all of the experience. But rather, they should be incorporated into it, creating a sum greater than the whole of its parts; an experience that stretches the limits to a point where they cannot return to their original proportions.
The latter level of maturity is not reached by removing drive, befuddlement and future expectations in favor of zen-like oneness with the outdoors; they are in fact those things which help us achieve new successes. Some of the better preserved memories I carry with me are those good days with just a few near-misses with success. They are times when I almost did everything right, but still failed to accomplish my goal. Those particular outings, and undoubtedly similar outings that followed, were more enjoyable for my lack of success and for what I learned from it. My skills improved, and success became easier and each “successful” outing had a new standard. Now those previous successes are enjoyed more often, as I see fit, and future accomplishments can be reached due to this progression.
The native tribes of North America did much to preserve their skills at both hunting and fighting. In combat, warriors would enter battle armed with a simple stick marked with tiny notches. With these sticks they would engage opposing warriors and attempt to strike the opponent in a non-lethal manner, and through agility and skill, evade a potentially lethal counter-attack. For each successful “coup,” or strike, the warrior added another notch to the stick, or was bestowed another feather in his headband for bravery.
The process of “counting coup” continues today, oftentimes in relation to animals passed up by outdoorsmen - most notably deer hunters - but the same can be applied to catch-and-release fishing. The creatures are lured in by rattles and grunts and the hunter better concealed than when he first began the pursuit years before. The bow is never drawn. The gun is never fired. The young forkhorn walks by, unaware that he has become another notch on the growing hunter’s coup stick. The actual killing blow is reserved for a better quarry, but the hunter’s skills are kept sharp through the process. For many, that becomes a successful outing.
As our skills increase, we come closer to obtaining that total enjoyment of the experience being the primary goal of our time afield – whether or not we actually kill an animal or catch a fish. Early successes are experienced more often, increasing enjoyment. New goals become better challenges, should we choose to undertake them. Each new goal, based on previous successes and incorporating the lessons learned in achieving them, helps raise each hunter’s maturity and enjoyment of each outing…in our outdoors.
