I made it a personal goal this year to spend more time and energy in the woods and less time in the water. With that, I also made it a goal this year to secure my first full-time job. I graduated from college this past spring with a Bachelor’s degree in marketing and was fortunate enough to join the Murray Road team at the beginning of August. It’s now mid-way through fall and I have also been lucky enough to take my first whitetail buck with a bow and arrow. However, I would be lying if I said that accomplishing these goals came without lessons learned. There have been some key learning points over the past few months that have helped me proceed with confidence in the field and the office. None of these concepts are new to anybody, but I believe they are elements we all need to be reminded of once in a while!
Practice and Confidence
The start of my 2020 hunting season began in early August at the range in preparation for the Minnesota archery opener on September 19th. It felt strange at first, as I had not picked up a bow in nearly four years. At the same time, I was also onboarding with the Murray Road team and getting comfortable with my new role. Although I felt a certain level of intimidation tackling both of these pursuits, I still had some confidence in myself that grew stronger each day at the range and at work. The contrast here is that in life, as cliche as it sounds, practice and persistence is the ultimate way to build confidence and reinforce your capabilities. Shortcuts just don’t cut it and when things are intimidating you have to be stout.
Teamwork and Planning
Before I knew it, September had come, I had already checked off my first month at Murray Road, and archery opener was only a few days away. The prior weeks of practice and hard work had put me at an adequate confidence level on both fronts. Even so, there was still a lot of pressure mounting for me to shoot a deer and the challenges of a new role were still existent. Luckily, I have an incredible team at Murray Road to lean on for support on the work side of things, and top-notch hunting mentorship from my older brother and friends. These past few months have shown me the value of trusting your teammates and leveraging your relationships. Whether it's crafting a marketing campaign or strategizing a hunting game plan, using your network and working together as a team is a powerful thing.
Mistakes and Learning Opportunities
As I stood at the base of a tree on opening morning in the darkness of the whitetail woods, sweating and incredibly frustrated, I realized I wasn’t sure how to hang my brand new tree stand. After four attempts to climb up the tree and hang that thing, it just would not lock in place. I looked around in panic as I realized light was starting to creep in, and a doe was standing ten yards away. One loud blow and off she went. My panic switched to anger, and I made one last go at the stand. I’ll spare you the details, but I finally found myself in the tree just as the sun fully illuminated the woods. Not even minutes later, a bobcat came bounding through the woods to the base of my tree, followed by the sound of a buck crashing through the tree branches behind us. The cat disappeared, and within minutes I was covered in deer. A doe and two fawns to my left, a spike in front of me, two does to my right, and a basket six-point paired up with a giant broad necked ten-point thirty yards behind me. As quick as they had appeared, all the deer were gone as they sensed my sweating, unprepared presence above. During my first couple of months with Murray Road, I’ve also made some mistakes and faced some challenges here and there. It’s human nature. The takeaway is that mistakes are learning opportunities, not reasons to get down on yourself. Needless-to-say, I can hang my deer stand pretty darn quick after that conundrum of an opening morning.
Trusting your Gut
The final thing I’ve gleaned from these past few months is that sometimes, in the field and in business, you have to trust your gut. After such an incredible first morning, I hunkered down in that same area for two more sits. In the meantime, I had also done some scouting to identify a crossing point on a field edge with rubs and other sign. Something kept telling me to sit at that spot, but I ignored the calling all weekend. Finally, as I climbed my stand for a final sit, I couldn’t resist my gut any longer. I climbed down, unhung my stand, and high tailed it for that field edge spot with only two hours left for the evening hunt. With an hour and a half of light left in the day, I found myself setup above that crossing point, silently regretting leaving my position in the woods. All the while, my gut kept telling me I had made the right move. As I was beginning to lose all faith, a nine pointer came out of the woods 300 yards away at a full sprint right to me. There he was, stopped perfectly broadside at 30 yards. I’ll let you fill in the rest, but if I had ignored my gut that day, this wouldn’t be the success story that it is. In hunting and business, you can’t always make decisions based on feelings. However, sometimes you have to trust yourself as a professional, and if your gut tells you something, don’t be afraid to listen to it.