Anticipation & Discipline (story)

[missed mallards]

Let my anticipation warrant my action and wasn't disciplined enough to choose wisely. That's what happened in a life event so I wrote a story reminding myself what to do next time. May not be worthy of the read, maybe something that helps someone else. Just a reminder.

Anticipation & Discipline in the Swamp

Anticipation, something hunters know all too well. It can be as simple as a limb snapping in the timber to alert an awaiting deer hunter. The first gobble of the morning to alert the turkey hunter. Even that one simple bark from the beagle to alert the rabbit hunter. It is that moment we anticipate that makes the heart skip a beat. It is that moment the adrenaline shoots up and the shakes set in. For us duck hunters, it’s simply seeing the flock lock their wings and descend toward our spread. As much a role as anticipation plays, so does discipline. In a lot of ways, discipline controls the outcome more times than not. Anticipation only gets you there!

I can remember a hunt a few years back when it all was coming together. We had actually beat the alarms up and had made our way into the dark timber with time to spare. It was shaping up to be one of those classic “froze up” hunts where we had open water and seemingly, ducks! I say seemingly as the act of putting out decoys was one you dream of. With every splash of a decoy, it would seem a second would pass and then several splashes would follow. Having ducks land in your lap is what dreams are made of in the duck hunting world. Even in the dark, that splash followed by the high ball bouncing off the water can make your senses go haywire.

Due to past history, it’s of our belief you never fire into the flock as the sun breaks or the second shooting time commences. Instead, you allow the flock to land in the spread and flush them. To tell you the truth, I had an old hunter tell me not to shoot at the first flock so I just adopted his practice. In true form, as time came to be, I stepped away from the old willow and let the show began. If you’ve been on the X and rose a flock or two, you understand the smile I had listening to the thunder of wing beats. There isn’t anything more rewarding than to be standing on the proverbial “X” when shooting time comes. With the last few ducks rising into the barely lit sky, the sound of our bolts slamming closed signaled the green light.

Anticipating their return, we sat eagerly waiting to pop off a few rounds. Our wait did not take long when a loan drake sounded off down the brake. A simple quack gave him all the confidence he needed as the tips of his wings locked in a downward motion as he made his descent. To this day I don’t know who shot first, but I’ll never forget seeing the duck rise into the sky as empty shell after empty shell fell into the water. Looking back at my hunting companions, I’m sure I had a look on my face that warned of doing that again. Just a few more seconds and it was bacon wrapped duck on the grill! Instead, a lack of discipline yielded us an empty tote.

It didn’t take long before the call to shoot was given timely. Actually, the next flock came into a swarm of steel, as did the flock that followed and the one behind it! The remainder of the morning was spent laughing and cutting up while enjoying some of the finest waterfowling one could ever hope to partake in. It was just one of those hunts where everything was just about perfect. Perfect in the way the sun rose over our backs, the mesmerizing sight as the fowl banked mere yards from us, and even the breeze that just made the decoys dance on the water. We did right, but had to use a lot of discipline to make it right.

Life is full of anticipation. We anticipate what our family will be doing next week. We anticipate the bills for the next month. We anticipate our job growth, timely cutting the yard, dinner… Anticipation is a great thing. It gives us something to look forward too and in many aspects gives us a goal to work towards. There is even old sayings like “I didn’t anticipate that!” that just reminds us that sometimes things come up that are out of our control. With anticipation comes discipline. Without it, one may jump when they need to sit. Without Discipline, we could have made a mess of the duck hunt. We used our anticipation to motivate us to go, we used our discipline to know when to act! A little discipline that morning yielded a strap slap full of ducks!

[Up2Early]

Nice story. I think I've been there myself.