Christianity Through the Eyes of a Deer Hunter

I still remember the first deer I ever harvested as a kid. I was with my grandfather Leonard Crouch (or Pa as everyone knows him) on his property in Cheatham County. I was ten years old and excited to be in the woods with him as I still am today. We crawled up into the “condo” stand overlooking the greenest food plot you have ever seen full of winter wheat. We hadn’t been up there long when a 4 pointer stepped out into the food plot. My heart beating out of my chest, Pa reached for my Remington .30.30 and handed it to me. Since I was too short to see over the front, Pa had built a stool for me to climb up on so that I could shoot my rifle. Climbing up onto the stool I was trying to not make a sound but I knew that buck was going to hear the thumping of my heart if I didn’t calm down. I remember Pa telling me to aim just behind the front shoulder and squeeze the trigger. I did just as he said and the deer dropped right in its tracks! I don’t remember who was happier Pa or me but we slapped hands and hugged each other several times before we climbed out of the stand and walked up to my first deer harvest of my life. It was only a 4pointer but it was a wall hanger to me!

I also remember the day that I was baptized. I was twelve years old and had grown up in church my entire life and knew that on Sundays and Wednesdays you go to church. My dad began preaching at a small country church in Eagleville, TN and on the first Sunday my brother and I were the only kids there. In class I remember Dad telling us that we were going to be the beginning of something great at that church and that kids from all over the community were going to come. I felt a conviction that morning that God had plans for my life and was asking me to follow Him. Not too long after that morning on Easter Sunday 1997 I was sitting a few rows back from where my dad was preaching and I remember my heart nearly pounding out of my chest as he talked about Christ giving up his life for me. I had this rush of what I know was the Holy Spirit trying to come into my heart. When my dad offered the invitation I walked up to my dad and told him I was ready to let Jesus into my heart and follow Him. After confessing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God dad took me up to be baptized. Man what an awesome feeling it was to be immersed into that water leaving my sins behind and coming back up a brand new person!

I don’t claim to be a great hunter, although I love to be in the outdoors and I love to hunt. My Pa gave me that love for the outdoors. I have killed several deer since that first 4pt buck including several does and several decent bucks. I wish I could say that all of those deer have given me that same “buck fever” that I had on that first hunt, but I can say the buck I harvested on 12/12/12 came very close. I was hunting with my good friend and game warden Kyle Walling on a lease in Van Buren County and his Uncle Barry. We were hunting that morning in particular for does and had not seen much that morning. It was a very cold morning and the creatures were late stirring.  Walking down a four-wheeler road we jumped a couple of does and sat down for nearly twenty minutes seeing if anymore would come through. We began walking that same four wheeler road and not taking 10 steps Kyle stopped and said, “Big buck! Big buck!” We sat down in the road and watched a huge buck walking through a thick section of woods towards the four wheeler road at about 70 yards. Instead of walking all the way out he bedded down in the woods. Kyle said he could see him good so I maneuvered myself in front of him. My heart was beating out of my chest and I was shaking from head to toe. I looked through my scope and all I could see was his front shoulder and back hams, and boy was he big! Several times I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and began squeezing the trigger just like Pa taught me and each time I would began to shake so bad that I couldn’t hold the gun steady. I tried this three more times with the same result! I told Kyle I didn’t know if I could hold the gun steady enough to shoot. Man did I have the fever again! The buck then turned his head and was looking back behind him. I decided I would take the shot and squeezed off the trigger. Boom! Immediately that buck rolled right over in his bed. My eyes got big and I think Kyle’s were just as big as mine. I laid down on my back and tried to recover from the experience. We slapped hands and I won’t speak for Kyle but I was jumping up and down! It was the biggest deer of my life and the fever was back!

I wish all my hunts were just like that first one or just like that last one, but I know they all won’t be. That is why they call it “hunting.”  I say all that because that buck fever reminds me of my Christianity at times. I wish I was fired up everyday just like the first time on Easter Sunday 1997 when I came to the Lord. I wish every morning I step out of bed with that same desire to be an example to those around me. It seems that through the years that fire smolders some and you don’t feel that fever from the Holy Spirit like you wish you did, but that is why we continue the hunt. We continue searching for that feeling; that fire!  Thanks to God though, the Holy Spirit still lives in me and it still lives in you, and that fire is ready to burn just as hot as it did the day you committed yourself to Christ!

Psalm 71

¹ In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame.
² In your righteousness rescue me and deliver me;
    turn your ear to me and save me.
³ Be my rock of refuge,
    to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
    for you are my rock and my fortress.
⁴ Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.

⁵ For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
    my confidence since my youth.
⁶ From birth I have relied on you;
    you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
    I will ever praise you.
⁷ I have become a sign to many;
    you are my strong refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise,
    declaring your splendor all day long.

⁹ Do not cast me away when I am old;
    do not forsake me when my strength is gone.
¹⁰ For my enemies speak against me;
    those who wait to kill me conspire together.
¹¹ They say, “God has forsaken him;
    pursue him and seize him,
    for no one will rescue him.”
¹² Do not be far from me, my God;
    come quickly, God, to help me.
¹³ May my accusers perish in shame;
    may those who want to harm me
    be covered with scorn and disgrace.

¹⁴ As for me, I will always have hope;
    I will praise you more and more.

¹⁵ My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
    of your saving acts all day long—
    though I know not how to relate them all.
¹⁶ I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;
    I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
¹⁷ Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
    and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray,
    do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
    your mighty acts to all who are to come.

¹⁹ Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,
    you who have done great things.
    Who is like you, God?
²⁰ Though you have made me see troubles,
    many and bitter,
    you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will again bring me up.
²¹ You will increase my honor
    and comfort me once more.

²² I will praise you with the harp
    for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
    Holy One of Israel.
²³ My lips will shout for joy
    when I sing praise to you—
    I whom you have delivered.

  My prayer for you and me is that we will take refuge in Christ even on those days that we are tired from the hunt. He is our rock! I pray that he will not be far from us today. He has and continues to do great things in our lives! Even though we go through troubles, He will bring us up, He will deliver us, and He will restore our lives once again. You see God doesn’t promise that we will be successful in all of our hunts, but He does promise that He will always be there.