Editors Thoughts
Brody Vorderstrasse
Rethink Your Deer Season
The early season anticipation is over.
The rut has run its course. The last
ditch efforts of the late season have
taken place. Deer season is over.
gun. There was no sightings of huge
bucks, doe sightings were hard to
come by, and in the end I didn’t
leave the woods with a deer in the
back of the truck. It was not what I
But as deer season ends another one
had dreamed of. I kept asking
begins. Starting at about this time
myself , “How am I going to become
every year is the season of “dreams”.
the deer hunter I want to become if
Dreams about what was and what’s
this is how my seasons are going to
to come.
go.” I realized this offseason that I
A dream can be defined as the
had a choice to make. I could either
pursuit of an unknown outcome,
dream about what could have been
working towards something that
and what might be in the future or I
may or may not occur.
could continue the pursuit.
For most that work starts now: shed
hunting, planning food plot
locations, scouting, finding new
stand sites. All of these things are
done in the pursuit of an unknown
outcome, the pursuit of a dream.
There is no guarantee that a buck
will walk in front of your stand.
There is no guarantee that you will
still have that lease next year, that a
big buck will stay on your property,
or that the food plot you planted will
grow. But what can be guaranteed,
is the pursuit of that dream.
This season made me understand
that the obstacles in my way weren’t
going to move just because I had a
dream. I would have to keep
working at it. The fear wasn’t going
to go away, the doubt wasn’t
leaving, and the disappointments
still happened.
It may have been disappointing this
year having to lease a piece of
ground to hunt on, having to move
stands multiple times on public land
because of hunting pressure, or
having put in hundreds of man hours
This season’s pursuit was not what I creating the perfect habitat and food
had hoped for. The arrow never left plots and still only having does walk
my bow, the bullet never left my
in front of your stand. But my advice
to you is, keep working. Keep
pushing forward, make habitat
improvements, shoot your bow a
few more times, learn all you can
learn. Change your attitude on what
you think your dream is. Change it
from one you think about every now
and then as you wait for opening
day, to one you live every day. So
one day, when you sign the papers
to your own piece of ground, hang
that record book deer on the wall, or
have your own show, you can look
back and be thankful you kept on
pursuing your dream.
I don’t know what your hunting
dream is. Maybe it is to own your
own land, to go on a hunt of a life
time, or to tag a Boone and Crocket
buck. Whatever it is, it deserves to
be pursued because in the end it is
not the goal that makes you who you
are, it’s the pursuit of it.
Brody Vorderstrasse
Co-founder: Whitetail Instinct
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