by Greg Gilbert

Created on: November 09, 2009   Last Updated: November 10, 2009

Do We Really Want To Become A Nation of Zoo Deer?

I just spent a great four days with my 11-year-old grandson. We participated in the Arkansas Youth Deer Season and he was out of school Thursday and Friday so we had extra time together. We didn't see anything hunting but the time spent together was worth more than any deer meat that I can imagine.

We visited many subjects as we hunted, rode the Kawasaki Mule, walked through the woods or sat and just whittled on a stick (anyone need any mulch) over the weekend. My favorite conversations were filtered by his mattress in the top bunk of the bunkhouse at our farm. It was those lights out moments, thinking you were going to sleep, then there was the word Papaw, followed by another question, that I truly loved.

After you answer one, you lie grinning, in anticipation of the next one, knowing that you will soon be disappointed as he falls off to sleep. We started something like Team Prayer I guess. He would start his prayer at night and before he would say Amen, he began asking, "You got anything Papaw?" I would add what was on my heart and we both gave a hearty Amen.

One of the questions was papaw, what would you do if you were a deer during deer season? My first answer was if I were a deer I would do what all the other deer do, try to live and survive. God creates all animals with the same ability and senses. The deer don't have a calendar with big red letters that says DEER SEASON-BEWARE!

Animals have a sense of survival and given food, water and the ability to get to it, most will live up to their full potential. This gave me the opening to say that of all of God's creations, we are the only one with free will and the ability to make choices in life. As a result of this we are the only ones that don't choose to live up to our full potential. There are no excuses in life, only circumstances beyond our control and choices.

I am so thankful I didn't have to go into how my thought processes and priorities would have been different depending on whether I was a doe or buck. We will save that for when we discuss God's other creations, the birds and the bees. I probably gave more of an answer than he wanted to hear. I think he was probably just looking for - I would hide out until the season was over.

A little later it came up again & I said, "Well, I guess a zoo wouldn't be a bad place to be. They would provide food, water and a safe place to live and you wouldn't have to worry about deer season." The subject was

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