Chasing Joy
What really gets me out of bed and in the woods before sunrise.
It’s turkey season here in North Carolina. That means I’ve been waking up well before the sun most mornings and regularly running on five or so hours of sleep.
I talk a big game about the importance of hunting for conservation and the nutritional (and taste) superiority of wild game, but neither of those things drives me to wake up early and forge my way through predawn spiderwebs, tangles of green briars, and swarms of ravenous mosquitos.
No. I’m chasing something else entirely.
It might look like I’m chasing turkeys, but I’m really chasing joy.
I would be lying if I said I don’t find joy in hunting’s big dramatic moments. Yes, I’m chasing the adrenaline rush when a huge warhorse-of-a-gobbler comes strutting in to my soft purring calls. I’m also chasing the even bigger rush that follows the moment lead or TSS connects with that bobbing red, white, and blue head just as he pauses between gobbles.
But while I’ve had a couple of close encounters with birds this spring, I’ve yet to pull the trigger. It can’t be about those big fireworks moments because those are few and far between. If that were all I was chasing, I’d probably roll over and try to catch a few more hours of shut-eye when the alarm blares at 4:30.
Joy is more often found in the quiet moments that slip by when we aren’t really paying attention. Sure, sometimes it’s big and spectacular, with bursting fireworks and a full orchestra belting out dramatic music like a John Williams film score.
But joy is more often found in the gentle syncopated glow of early evening fireflies than in Fourth of July fireworks. It’s the early morning hymns of cricket and birdsong over the deep foghorn bass of pondside bullfrogs, which honestly rivals an 80-piece philharmonic.
I think joy is like that in every aspect of life. Some people are just too busy waiting for some big, monumental change to come and make them happy as it parades in with excessive amounts of fanfare.
Happiness might work like that, but joy rarely does. Joy is more likely to hide in hot coffee, fresh bread, clean sheets, smiling children, or a Sunday drive while holding your best friend’s hand.
That’s why I’ll keep rolling out of bed until either the season or my tags run out. While most of the world is still asleep, I’ll watch starshine fade as the sky turns to a deep, bluish grey. With my back pressed against the rough bark of a sturdy old longleaf pine or a solid pin oak, I’ll sit like a sentinel, still and watching, thrumming with anticipation, as night slowly turns into day, and I’m flooded with joy.
Where You Can Find Me This Week
Besides running around in the woods chasing joy (and big gobblers), I was also featured in Field & Stream.
Forloh Insect Shield Review: Does the Bug-Repellent Hunting Clothing Actually Work? - I’ve been impatiently waiting for years for Sitka to release their Equinox Guard in women’s sizes, but it hasn’t happened. So, I was super ecstatic when Forloh came out of the gate being all kinds of inclusive with its new Insect Shield. The short answer: Yes, it works!
Field & Stream Staffers Share Their Favorite Turkey Hunting Gear - I’m super honored to be included in this roundup. (You can also tell I’m not a big fan of bugs.)
Quotes That Made Me Go Hmmm
“I don’t hunt turkeys cause I want to; I hunt turkeys cause I have to.”
– Tom Kelly
There is only one way to end a piece about turkey hunting, and that is with a Tom Kelly quote.
Some of the happiest moments of my life were the times it was just me and whatever stretch of outdoors shared the breaking of day. It could be in my truck, waiting for the rest of the crew to show up and I had the privilege of watching the night creatures seek shadows, and the day lovers emerge from hiding. Or the anticipation of dawn when the hunt or fishing could commence. It is time never wasted.