I didn’t go deer hunting last fall to get a deer. I went because something in my chest needed to get quiet, and the woods are the only place I know that will actually make that happen without asking why.

People who didn’t grow up with guns spend a lot of time arguing about them in the abstract. I didn’t, so I won’t.

An empty game bag doesn’t mean a wasted morning. But the lesson it taught me had nothing to do with patience or persistence, it was something a lot more specific, and a lot more useful.

I’ve spent the last several years building things on screens. Somewhere in there, I forgot what it felt like to sit still in the dark and wait for something real.