With another season of Bassmaster Elite Series competition in the rearview mirror, I have entertained thoughts of the 2017 season. Especially since I qualified for the Bassmaster Classic. But, as much as I’ve enjoyed this season and as much as I will someday soon enjoy starting another year on tour, now is my time for relaxation.
This is my vacation season, and anyone that knows me knows that means deer hunting.
I love the sport of deer hunting, but I love it for more than just the act. Yes, the thrill of watching a big one walk into range and taking the shot is pretty incredible. But there’s much more to it for me.
For one thing, it’s my time to recharge the batteries. Stepping away from fishing for a couple of months lets me wind down, catch up on my rest and spend some very important time with my family.
During the fishing season, all of us fathers miss a few ball games and those important times in our kids’ lives. When I’m home during the 2 1/2 month break, I try not to miss a single thing from ball games to parent-teacher conferences.
That’s a priority for me because I think the kids see that I have a job where I have to be away a lot, but they see that when I’m home, I’m very involved. I just enjoy spending time with them doing whatever they want, from shooting baskets to sitting in a deer stand.
What makes this so important to me is the fact that all three of my girls have busy schedules with school and their athletic events. There’s almost always one or two that wants to go hunting, but it’s rare that we all get to go at the same time.
Whenever any of them have a morning or an afternoon off, we’ll go sit in the tree stands. But there are times when they’re just sitting around the house, and I say, “Do you want to go deer hunting?” and they just want to stay at home.
I understand that and I try to be patient with whatever they want to do and try to be a part of that as well.
I’ll also spend some time with a few of my hunting buddies — guys that also fish. We don’t talk about fishing during the break, though. They know that’s my downtime.
It’s the same thing with my offseason preparation. I usually get my boat Nov. 1, and for the most part, it sits in my shop for a month until I have time to deal with it.
Whenever I get some time, like a rainy evening, I’ll be out there working on rigging. That’s just a process that has worked for several years.
Dec. 1, my boat goes to get wrapped and the companies that help me, like YUM, Booyah, Garmin, Power-Pole, Atlas — they all know my schedule. That makes it easy for them because they know when everything needs to arrive.
Being organized helps me enjoy this vacation break because I’m not stressed over a bunch of scattered details. I can leave it all alone for several weeks and focus on my deer hunting.
The good thing is this will be the first year, all of us — my dad, my kids, my wife — have tags for hunting in Kansas. The last few years, it’s been my dad, my uncle and me, but this year it’s going to be everybody.
My oldest daughter is a high school senior this year so this may be the last deer season for a while that she’s close to the house. Hopefully, we have enough time between her games in November and December that we can get up there and do a little hunting.
It’s a lot more work preparing for everyone to make the trip to Kansas. I’ll spend several days hanging tree stands and getting all the gear ready so they can come in and have that one- or two-day quality hunt.
Whether it’s making those trips to Kansas or just spending a day in the woods near our house, all the preparation and effort is worth it when I get to see my family enjoying their time in the woods.
Last year, one of the highlights of deer season was watching my oldest daughter kill a big one — an 8-point that scored 125 inches.
A lot of memories come and go throughout the years, but I won’t ever forget sitting in the stand with her that morning.