Quiet Place
I have a group I do on a psychiatric unit for children. My group ranges in age of 8 to 12. It’s in the evening and we process the day’s stressors and how the kids have been coping with them, then I lead them in some relaxation exercises with some dial down time. I do the same thing every day in hopes to help them practice self-control. Some kids have never had anyone require them to quiet themselves and therefore are ignorant in the process. I teach them to develop a quiet place in their mind for them to utilize their imagination for productivity. I know, I teach them to go to their “happy place.” I call it the quiet place.
I went to my quiet place Friday morning, in reality and not in my imagination. I hadn’t thought of it this way but yesterday as I had to stay completely motionless for about 45 minutes while a tom strutted off my left shoulder by 10 paces. I was out of position. I shoot left handed and could not get into position. While sitting there with my heart racing I contemplated what to do. In my earlier days I would have been impatient and have tried to get in position and take the shot. As I’ve matured as a turkey hunter I realize that would have been futile. (Voice of experience speaking.)
So I dialed myself down and enjoyed the scenery. It is amazing the plethora of colors and variations of green when the sun starts to come up and shine through the trees. The slight wind blowing through the trees is like God is breathing. The temperature was cool but refreshing. I was warmly dressed so I didn’t mind. If you’ve never been deep in the woods and taken in the fragrance of nature, you’re missing out. It is a distinct, rugged smell, like fresh dirt after you till the garden – a mixture of decaying leaves and budding trees and flowers. It is actually a clean, natural smell not contaminated by humanity. I image the Garden smelling like this. You could almost feel the vibration of the earth as it spins through space like a giant motor propelling the motion. It’s like God’s heartbeat.
I thought I would wait for tom to make his move on the decoy or go the other direction and get in position, give a cluck on my mouth call and then fire – a more seasoned response to the situation. Although, any movement and tom would strut silently away without me even knowing that he was gone. This was incredible, though, my most exciting hunt by far. Tom was so close that I could hear him scratch, spit, and drum as he breathed. I knew he was there even when he wasn’t gobbling.
While sitting there, I thought of my kids who would be sitting on the floor in group that night. I did this to calm my heart rate, for if you have never had a tom strutting 15 feet away it is hard to understand the adrenalin rush you would be experiencing. So I thought about being at my quiet place – perfect quiet, peace, and safety (I was holding a twelve gauge shot gun). This is the place, in the woods, miles from a road or civilization (logging roads and 4-wheelor trails don’t count), and completely void of human produced sounds – my heart beating and heavy breathing discounted. Norman Vincent Peele in his book “The Power of Positive Thinking” encourages a person to go out and lie on the ground, hear and feel the movement/heartbeat of the earth. This is an incredible experience when you bring yourself to a still as much as is humanly possible. For me, this is a complete unwinding. I’m incessant with wrapping my chain around the clothes line pole and this is Father’s way of unhooking me and unwinding the chain. I don’t come by this naturally. I tend to be pretty intense and focused. I know this isn’t healthy so I need my quiet place.
That morning was unseasonably cool as I hurried to my spot. What a spot. I’ve killed three turkeys there in the last two years - my honey hole. I got set up just before the toms started gobbling on their roosts. I made a few locator calls and a tom down the ridge behind me was answering, probably 400 – 500 yards away. My locator call is a hen in the roost before fly down used shortly after the first gobble. I had called two times over a span of five minutes or so and I heard a gobble to my left over a little ridge about 150 – 200 yards away and didn’t call again. I had called a few more times over the next 10 minutes before the tom to my left was now on top of the ridge less than 100 yards away coming toward me. I could see him so I didn’t move. This was my mistake. When he was at the bottom of the ridge, behind some trees I should have repositioned. The trees were small in diameter so I didn’t think I could do it at the time. So I just sat and hoped he would pass in front of me on the way to the decoy. This didn’t happen.
Tom kept strutting in about a 20 foot square, approximately 10-30 feet away over my left shoulder. He wouldn’t move in and was behind me. I’m not confident in my mouth call and he was close enough that he would have recognized the sound wasn’t coming from the decoy. So I waited.
I was breathing hard and my heart was pounding. I would move my head to watch him when he was behind a tree. The trees were too small so I couldn’t reposition myself. After a while I thought I was going to get a stiff neck so I moved my head back to facing position and waited and waited. He strutted for over thirty minutes.
This is when I started thinking of being in my quiet place and there was no where in the world I’d had rather been in that moment. Well, first I was thinking I should have carried that bulky blind over the mile I hiked in. I was able to allow myself to enjoy the moment and appreciate the surroundings which helped me calm myself. I waited some more and prayed. Not for him to come in. Well, yes I did pray for that. But more importantly I focused my thought before the Lord and relaxed myself in His presence.
A deer came up from the tom’s direction and got wind of my scent and stopped and starred for a few minutes and then cautiously moved along. I saw out of the corner of my left eye that tom had moved away a bit and was behind a larger tree. I moved quickly into position. There was a fork in the tree, one large main fork about 2 ½’ in diameter and the small fork, going off to the right was less than a foot in diameter. As his head came in view between the forks I clucked on my mouth call and he stopped. I fired. He flopped a few feet away and lay still. I waited a minute and got up and started walking toward him. A hen about 60 yards away took to flight. I figured he heard and saw her coming so he started moving toward her. As I came up, tom started to move and I fired again. Forty-four paces. Not bad. I usually feel comfortable at around 35 paces.
I picked up the bird and took him back to my spot and sat there and reflected on the experience for a while. I was in my quiet place.
I went to my quiet place Friday morning, in reality and not in my imagination. I hadn’t thought of it this way but yesterday as I had to stay completely motionless for about 45 minutes while a tom strutted off my left shoulder by 10 paces. I was out of position. I shoot left handed and could not get into position. While sitting there with my heart racing I contemplated what to do. In my earlier days I would have been impatient and have tried to get in position and take the shot. As I’ve matured as a turkey hunter I realize that would have been futile. (Voice of experience speaking.)
So I dialed myself down and enjoyed the scenery. It is amazing the plethora of colors and variations of green when the sun starts to come up and shine through the trees. The slight wind blowing through the trees is like God is breathing. The temperature was cool but refreshing. I was warmly dressed so I didn’t mind. If you’ve never been deep in the woods and taken in the fragrance of nature, you’re missing out. It is a distinct, rugged smell, like fresh dirt after you till the garden – a mixture of decaying leaves and budding trees and flowers. It is actually a clean, natural smell not contaminated by humanity. I image the Garden smelling like this. You could almost feel the vibration of the earth as it spins through space like a giant motor propelling the motion. It’s like God’s heartbeat.
I thought I would wait for tom to make his move on the decoy or go the other direction and get in position, give a cluck on my mouth call and then fire – a more seasoned response to the situation. Although, any movement and tom would strut silently away without me even knowing that he was gone. This was incredible, though, my most exciting hunt by far. Tom was so close that I could hear him scratch, spit, and drum as he breathed. I knew he was there even when he wasn’t gobbling.
While sitting there, I thought of my kids who would be sitting on the floor in group that night. I did this to calm my heart rate, for if you have never had a tom strutting 15 feet away it is hard to understand the adrenalin rush you would be experiencing. So I thought about being at my quiet place – perfect quiet, peace, and safety (I was holding a twelve gauge shot gun). This is the place, in the woods, miles from a road or civilization (logging roads and 4-wheelor trails don’t count), and completely void of human produced sounds – my heart beating and heavy breathing discounted. Norman Vincent Peele in his book “The Power of Positive Thinking” encourages a person to go out and lie on the ground, hear and feel the movement/heartbeat of the earth. This is an incredible experience when you bring yourself to a still as much as is humanly possible. For me, this is a complete unwinding. I’m incessant with wrapping my chain around the clothes line pole and this is Father’s way of unhooking me and unwinding the chain. I don’t come by this naturally. I tend to be pretty intense and focused. I know this isn’t healthy so I need my quiet place.
That morning was unseasonably cool as I hurried to my spot. What a spot. I’ve killed three turkeys there in the last two years - my honey hole. I got set up just before the toms started gobbling on their roosts. I made a few locator calls and a tom down the ridge behind me was answering, probably 400 – 500 yards away. My locator call is a hen in the roost before fly down used shortly after the first gobble. I had called two times over a span of five minutes or so and I heard a gobble to my left over a little ridge about 150 – 200 yards away and didn’t call again. I had called a few more times over the next 10 minutes before the tom to my left was now on top of the ridge less than 100 yards away coming toward me. I could see him so I didn’t move. This was my mistake. When he was at the bottom of the ridge, behind some trees I should have repositioned. The trees were small in diameter so I didn’t think I could do it at the time. So I just sat and hoped he would pass in front of me on the way to the decoy. This didn’t happen.
Tom kept strutting in about a 20 foot square, approximately 10-30 feet away over my left shoulder. He wouldn’t move in and was behind me. I’m not confident in my mouth call and he was close enough that he would have recognized the sound wasn’t coming from the decoy. So I waited.
I was breathing hard and my heart was pounding. I would move my head to watch him when he was behind a tree. The trees were too small so I couldn’t reposition myself. After a while I thought I was going to get a stiff neck so I moved my head back to facing position and waited and waited. He strutted for over thirty minutes.
This is when I started thinking of being in my quiet place and there was no where in the world I’d had rather been in that moment. Well, first I was thinking I should have carried that bulky blind over the mile I hiked in. I was able to allow myself to enjoy the moment and appreciate the surroundings which helped me calm myself. I waited some more and prayed. Not for him to come in. Well, yes I did pray for that. But more importantly I focused my thought before the Lord and relaxed myself in His presence.
A deer came up from the tom’s direction and got wind of my scent and stopped and starred for a few minutes and then cautiously moved along. I saw out of the corner of my left eye that tom had moved away a bit and was behind a larger tree. I moved quickly into position. There was a fork in the tree, one large main fork about 2 ½’ in diameter and the small fork, going off to the right was less than a foot in diameter. As his head came in view between the forks I clucked on my mouth call and he stopped. I fired. He flopped a few feet away and lay still. I waited a minute and got up and started walking toward him. A hen about 60 yards away took to flight. I figured he heard and saw her coming so he started moving toward her. As I came up, tom started to move and I fired again. Forty-four paces. Not bad. I usually feel comfortable at around 35 paces.
I picked up the bird and took him back to my spot and sat there and reflected on the experience for a while. I was in my quiet place.
posted by brent at 12:39 AM
1 Comments:
I’m incessant with wrapping my chain around the clothes line pole and this is Father’s way of unhooking me and unwinding the chain. I don’t come by this naturally. I tend to be pretty intense and focused.
Great words! You've said it so well and I really like the unhooking and unwinding let it be the way for us all!
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