Scrolling
Chatting it up with Smokey, a professional trapper and the inventor of Preorbital Gland Buck Lure.
The past two weekends had us on the road at the West Virginia Hunting and Fishing Outdoor Show and the Iowa Deer Classic. There's a good chance that while you are reading this that we're somewhere on the road between Iowa and Maryland, or back at home, looking at inventory and getting ready to make whatever needs replenished.
I prefer the outdoor shows over the regular festivals and art shows because we are surrounded by lots of other hunters and outdoorsmen that are full of stories and when I get into an actual conversation with them I find they are normal people like the rest of us. It's exciting to talk to them because of our common interests.
That side of the show can be really fun, but there's also the side that we don't talk about much, the part where you sit and wait, where the conversation is shallow and things get downright mundane. It usually happens halfway through the day. You can see it in the crowd. They've been there for a couple of hours and their brains can only handle so much stimulation. They shuffle by, barely looking, their eyes in a glaze. Sometimes they'll look and say something like, “nice” or “wow” or "that is so cool”. Sometimes it feels like we're just a post on Facebook or Instagram and people are just scrolling by, and those niceties are a little tap on the like button. That's when Jenelle and I start to get tired. We try to stay focused and we turn to people watching. Sometimes I’ll drop a corny joke and someone will laugh and Jenelle will roll her eyes, and in the back of my mind my eyes are rolling too. But I just smile and the people roll on by. But then someone will stop and talk or ask a question. Sometimes it's about the glass. Sometimes it's about the deer we have hanging behind us. Whatever it is, all of a sudden we come back to life and they come alive, and things are back to the way they should be.
When it comes to strolling and scrolling, I'm as guilty as the next person. They say that endless scrolling is bad for our mental health, because when we compare ourselves to other people's doctored up, online lives, it can lead to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. Walking around an outdoor show can be the same. You see all of these people sitting in their booths with giant deer and bears and elk, and you start to think that all they do is hunt and fish. Then you start to think about how they have it made and you don't. But you're probably not seeing the whole picture.
Something that I've been learning from talking to other vendors is that most of them have other jobs or businesses where they make their living, and the shows and the hunting videos are just something they do on the side. They don't just eat steak every evening and hunt the rest of the time. They work hard too. And the hunts that you see on TV or YouTube, well they're not fake, but they are the work of a great filmmaker. Often the drawing of the bow, the whispers when the deer is coming,the recovery of the deer, the excitement after the shot, it's all reenacted over and over again until they get it right. And as long as the story rings true, there's nothing wrong with all of the scripting and editing. It's an art that we all can appreciate.
Something I'm learning as well is that I really love a true unscripted story. Oftentimes they are just as good to hear as any other story. Everyone has one. Like the family that stopped by, looking at glass antlers, and their little girl, probably four or something, kept whispering something in her dad's ear. He looked embarrassed but the girl kept saying,”tell him Daddy”. Finally he told me that he had just found his biggest set of sheds ever. He showed me pictures and in my book they were absolute hammers. We talked about shed hunting for a bit. He told me how much he loved shed hunting and how he got permission to hunt for sheds on property that he wasn't allowed to hunt, and lucked into the set. Then there was the kid that shot a bigger buck than his dad, two years in a row. The excitement of the story was apparent in both the father and the son, and it made me chuckle. It’s always good to hear other father and son stories that relate to me and mine.
As I'm wrapping this up and trying to capture the point of my rambling, I guess the thought is this. If you've been scrolling and comparing yourself and feeling down, maybe it's time to take a break and go share a coffee or spend some time with a like minded soul. Or with your wife or kids. It doesn't matter if it's an old friend or just someone with similar interests.
We weren't made to spend our lives strolling and scrolling. It's good to slow down. After all, you have a story too. Why not share it with others?
