PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE

   Finally! The finished product of my European mount of the 8 pointer I got last hunting season. This was my first time trying this procedure, but it won't be my last. I think it turned out quite well . Total cost was under 25 dollars. I even got a little plaque engraved with the date I harvested the buck.

   This past weekend I got to go bowhunting for the first time this season. It felt good early in the morning, but warmed up quickly. Fall temperatures are still a long way away. It was great to climb a tree again. My shooting lanes I cut looked good, but nothing co-operated and walked by.The forest is still green and bright. I need some cold weather and strong wind to change the color of the leaves and blow them to the ground.

  

  
   I know my time will come, and soon I hope. For now all I can do is be patient and keep on practicing. Soon enough I will wake up one morning to smoke coming out with my breath. That chill that runs down your spine and shakes you to the core. On that magic fall morning the leaves will helicopter down to the forest floor in an autumnal cascade of reds, yellows, and oranges. The old trails and new paths will come alive with the soft footfalls of heavy hooves and hopefully my arrow will find it's mark right behind the shoulderblade in the sweet spot of the heart. Legends will fall to make room for future kings to reign, and meat, fur, and horns will come home to Bullfrog Bottom once again.

   Past, present, and future hunting is a way of life. A legacy that goes back to the time of my ancestors who had to hunt to survive. To myself who lives to hunt and just spend time in the woods, and hopefully to be passed down to my children, and my children's children. It is a way of life.

   It is my life!

Jim Cobb Coleman.