Maybe a good sunrise would help President Trump

Every sunrise helps a hunter or angler wanting a November do-over

Sunrise Thursday south of Tulsa. (Photo KJBOutdoors)

Need another November? Need a do-over?

I bet President Trump would like one about now. We all have our miseries, our inevitable losses, our unexpected Bidens, and they are especially bothersome when we just had it in our minds that things would work out differently.

For outdoors-minded folks the natural world can bring perspective. Always, there will be another sunrise, another trail to follow, and another day when good things are happening out there whether we are there to see them or not.

The world is bigger than our personal foibles

November can heighten the outdoors demands for a work-a-day outdoor enthusiast in Oklahoma but no matter how things go we come out on the other side with our stories to tell, miseries and all. Everyday troubles that fill the mind fade to minutia when the bare earth is your floor and the sky is your roof.

For the outdoors-minded in Oklahoma, every day in mid-November can feel like one of those nights when you end up going to sleep in the front seat of your truck at 2 a.m. because you had to work late and you weren’t prepared ahead of time for the pre-dawn hunting plan that starts in about two hours.

Saturday here sees the start of waterfowl and quail seasons, the deer are on the move with rut coming into play, the winter trout fishing streams are stocked and fall bass fishing is pretty danged good too. And next week rifle season opens for white-tailed deer. For a hunter and angler with multiple interests there are not enough weeks in the month. You can’t do it all, even if you try.

There are just not enough days in the month.

Maybe the president can’t relate to that specifically, not being the outdoorsy type, but a lot of hunters and anglers sure can and we all feel like we fell short sometimes.

That 2 a.m. front-seat nap can magnify those scattered mid-November thoughts.

Sleep tight—try not to let those “shoulda-dones” bite.

You might find yourself dwelling on that one morning in the deer stand; literally, the one.

All that work on food plots, all that money spent on the lease with other guys who have already posted photos of their first deer of the season on Facebook. But there was COVID and kids and the job and bills to pay and fishing and dog training and that do-it-yourself home repair you should have hired someone else to do, and … it was always something.

So, you’ve made one trip to one of four deer stands you put up in September. All that scouting and set-up time in prep for deer season and here you are catching a nap in your truck for opening day of duck season.

You only get so many good seasons with a great dog and the years pass too quickly to miss too many days of duck season. The deer stand will still be there in December and January, right? Yes, as long as the weather isn’t shaping up for a good migration day or the guys ask if you want to join them out West for a quail or pheasant hunt.

You might fantasize about slipping loose one weekday morning for some time on the deer stand. But then you think if you actually get to arrow one and the shot is marginal you won’t have time to wait and follow a track—much less pack it out and get it hung or delivered to a processor.

What about all that time spent flinging arrows, and the money spent on that new bow site? Maybe it just is time to hang up the bow and arrow for a year or two. Maybe compromises have to be made. Rifle season can still put venison in the freezer.

As the cold sinks into your truck and that comfortable seat becomes less comfy, the windows are not only fogged but streaked by rivulets and the forearm you rested against the door now is wet. You peek at the dashboard and the clock shows you the time to rest your head is half gone.

Thoughts turn to your gear. You know you should have re-painted the decoys when the weather was better. Maybe you should have just bought some new, or even used. The paint is wearing thin on this old string—again. What will they look like at sunup? Will the ducks flare off of them?

Then you wonder if the ducks will even be there today. It’s been a few days since you found time to get out and scout. More wasted time?

Thoughts turn to that cool feeling on the back of your left knee you know will come as the water starts to seep through that slow, impossible-to-patch leak in your waders. By morning’s end the left boot will make a squishing sound as you walk and that blister will form on the back of your heel again. You hope the leak is no worse that it was at the end of last season.

New decoys or a new pair of waders, there went a second-quarter budget issue that never got resolved, but the bathroom does look nice now. That needed to be done.

Need to get the wife and kids out more this year, too. Need to find a better spot that will be good for everybody, not this swamp that the old tires actually might not handle on the way out. Let’s worry about that later.

Will the next two weekends be spent on deer hunting, or should one day be spent in the marsh, or maybe you should get the dog out on some quail? Depends on the weather forecast.

Oh, geez. And Thanksgiving is coming up. What day is that again?

Maybe you can start hunting ducks in the mornings, deer in the evenings. Ha! Good luck with that.

Those trout streams are calling, too, but the status of your fly box is lacking. One of these days you’re going to have to get into tying your own flies. They’re too darned expensive to buy. Or, maybe it’s time to just switch to ultra-light spinning gear and a few spoons and spinners. That’s the easier family-friendly choice.

What to do? What to do?

When the alarm sounds, no matter what’s filled your head, you haven’t slept a lick and there’s no time for a do-over. It’s time to push through the misery and get moving. You might not look too good, might not feel too good, but it’s time to slide into those cold, frost-covered waders and slog off into the mud with a happy dog, crappy decoys, and leaky boots.

A clear, black star-speckled sky stretches to infinity above, to the east a blue hint of peach dawn defines the horizon, cold air from the north tightens your face and brings a smell of winter and marshy earth. Coyotes sing, barred owls hoot, and once your head is pointed down the trail and your boots get a feel for the ground, the minutia in the mind fades away.

No more worries, you just move forward, the sun will rise and good things will happen. Even if it’s just a pretty sunrise, that’s enough, as long as you’re out here in touch with the earth and sky.