Mental preparation assists attainment

Jerry Davis For Agri-View

Most outdoors gatherers likely give little thought to mind preparation before hunting deer, calling turkeys, searching for mushrooms, picking up fallen nuts or the plethora of other opportunities the seasons will present.

Several hunting seasons begin soon.

• early teal, Sept. 1-9

• early goose, Sept. 1-15

• first black-bear season, begins Sept. 4

• sturgeon hook and line, Sept. 6-30

• ginseng digging, Sept. 1-Nov. 1

• mourning dove, Sept. 1-Nov. 29

It could be that autumn assists mental preparation with its cooler, less-humid, partly-cloudy and scent-filled mornings, drenching one’s mind with happy and positive mind-clearing. Could all that also lead to safer, more-ethical and successful hunts? Many times a fly-fisher imagines and even states, “I go just to clear my mind, not to catch trout.”

Repetition of preparation can be mental preparation.

Christine Thomas, founder of Becoming an Outdoors Woman, said her family of four deer-hunts all year-round.

“We eat venison year-round (and) have fun with new recipes,” she said. “Venison is a regular part of our diet. (We) take pictures of the animals or watch them with trail cameras; there are trail cameras out all year. We watch all wildlife and while winter can be a bit boring, May certainly turns that around with cool photographs of fawns and bulging antler tips on the bucks’ foreheads.”

The Thomas family manages their 123 acres for wildlife; crabapple trees are fertilized and nest boxes installed, including for owls. Then it’s watch what the various acorns are doing, fill the “she-shed” with firewood, and prepare rifles well before snow flies and wicked winds blow. Other mind-clearing, mind-altering activities include mentoring new hunters even before they are gun-carriers.

Have activity, traditions and preparations as life activities and as fun things to do. Then while in the woods, cluttered minds, negative thoughts, complicated regulations and neighboring conflicts seem to have no place to squeeze in.

A recent gun-deer hunt ended with Thomas killing a deer 30 minutes before opening day closed.

“The deer dropped like a bag of cement,” she said.

It wasn’t going anywhere but neither were Christine or her husband, Stan.

“Stan said to me to just sit until the season ended because the neighbors were hunting nearby,” Christine Thomas said. “Field-dressing the deer would likely mess up the last 30 minutes of their nearby hunt. It didn’t and they shot a buck just before the season closed, too.”

Deer hunting doesn’t totally occupy Thomas, who is retired from university teaching, research and administration.

“Turkey hunting is my favorite hunt,” she said. “But deer hunting is my favorite hunting activity in part because of all the traditions and year-long fun things.”

Positive traditions keep year-long preparations zeroed in on a successful season.

Contacts with those who serve hunters but don’t hunt can be a major part of inviting mental preparedness into the picture. Thomas went turkey hunting for several days with a friend; they stopped their first morning for coffee.

“An employee was so interested in what we were doing so early in the morning, she helped us get coffee (and) cream, and then said, ‘This coffee is on me,’” Thomas said. “It blew me away so much that we stopped there every day during the turkey season. And every morning that woman was there asking about what we saw and did. She made us feel welcome, and important to the business’ success, too.”

The clerk helped put Thomas and her friend into a great frame of mind to hunt turkeys.

Mental preparedness, it seems, just happens in many cases. But distractions can push an outdoors enthusiast into a discomfort zone. Recognize those distractions; even plan for them with forethought.

This summer has been wet, humid and warm – great growing conditions for weeds, trees, grass and shrubs. Expect to see loads of sticktights of all kinds in most habitats. Now, while burrs are green, look for them on scouting trips. Step aside, pull them, and trim a branch or two with a clippers.

Several conditions, some going back to drought years, have weakened tree roots. Wet soil, wind and more rain were enough to uproot 75-year-old oak and walnut trees. Don’t let that trail blockage be a surprise Sept. 13 when the turkey and deer seasons open. Clear them now.

The great growing season and heavy rains seemed to have hastened ginseng-fruit development. Most of the red fruits have already fallen although the leaves have not shown the least hint of turning ginseng-golden. The two signs diggers and farmers look for to find the plants may be missing, which could be exactly what a farmer wants who is concerned with trespassers stealing the valuable roots.

Mushrooms are loving the summer but that also means the poisonous ones. Know what to pick; don’t mix knowns with unknowns. Check with an expert. Leave the unknowns where they are after a moment of admiring the fruiting body.

Doug Williams of DW Sports Center in Portage, Wisconsin, said the thought of taking a day of vacation only to have poor weather conditions for the activity may require special positive thoughts at that moment. Gary Howards, an outdoorsman from Oregon, Wisconsin, said he sees weather concerns as special tests in correctly dressing and sometimes enjoying the challenge.

Contact landowners now – even those on whose land you may have hunted for decades. Few things would put a damper on opening day as much as realizing the farm has been sold, the woods were logged or a tornado’s path cut though where a deer stand once stood.

Happy hunting begins with walking into a wood with the right frame of mind.

This is an original article written for Agri-View, a Lee Enterprises agricultural publication based in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit AgriView.com for more information.