In the last weeks of the Liturgical year and the first weeks of advent the emphasis is on the last things and the final coming of Jesus Christ. Parables exhort us to stay awake, keep vigilant, be patient and persevering. These attitudes and virtues are the very ones a hunter needs to be successful.

Some years ago after being assigned to the Native Apostolate  in Northern Ontario I took up hunting once again. Something I enjoyed as a young lad whose family owned a 100 acre farm in the Kawartha Lake region of Ontario.

While I have hunted deer with different groups, native and non-native, the last few years have found me on Manitoulin Island using mostly deer-stands.  To be successful it is important to be expectant. After all, if on had no hope of getting a deer why would you go out? ( I wouldn’t push this too far for the outing in itself is a good thing, and the socializing among fellow hunters is a strong attraction as well) Expectancy is a necessary condition for the difficult and demanding requirement of being vigilant. To get into position one’s needs to go out early–an hour before hunting legally can begin is recommended. One needs to be still and quiet so as not to spook any skittish deer that might be slinking by in the darkness before dawn.

As Jesus says: we know not the day nor the hour when thethe Son of Man will return.(Matt. 24:36) So we must stay awake, be vigilant, and while we wait do the works of faith–the principle one being to “keep the faith.” (John 6:29)  As well we must practice ethical behaviour treating others with love and respect, and fulfill the duties entrusted to us as we await the return of the great land owner.(Matt. 24: 42-50)

So it is with the hunt. Deer will come early–at the first light of dawn–or they will come late–as darkness falls–and makes shooting difficult and eventually illegal (in this area you can hunt up to a half hour after sunset).Deer will also pass by swiftly or stealthily without you ever noticing.

As the day wears on, and the Sun beats down, one can easily become drowsy and nod off into a blissful sleep. In the meantime the deer slip by unnoticed.

Also, as time goes by and nothing is seen or heard, one’s expectancy can waiver and wane. Vigilance decreases, patience and perseverance begin to falter.  These were the temptations that Jesus, and after him St. Paul,(See, for example, 1 Thess. 5:1-11) warned us against.

It helps, of course, if one hunts with a party and at least some are successful. This aids in keeping one’s hope up.

But success is not only due to vigilance. It is also a fruit of preparation, attention to detail, and to reading the signs

in nature that reveal the presence and patterns of the deer in the area.

The best hunters will go out weeks–even months before the hunt, to reconnoitre the area. It is important, they say, to pay attention to trails and tracks, to rubs on trees and scrapes on the ground.

Those who are really observant can point out the browsing patterns of deer and where they bed down.  Their diet, too, will be revealed in the scat that litters the territory.

As the mating season approaches and gets under way not only sights but also sounds can become  important. The clash of antlers, the grunts and bleats that one can mimic to call in deer provide another tool in the arsenal of the hunter. If one is successful, as some native people still do, we should give thanks to God our Creator for the gift of life given and taken for our sustenance.

One also should share the gift given with others–especially the elders–who cannot get out anymore, or provide any longer for themselves.  

We are to give thanks for everything–in season and out, when successful and even in the lean years.(Eph. 5:20) This will mould us into a thanksgiving people, a Eucharistic people. This the hunt will teach us–if we read and heed the signs of God’s presence and voice that echoes throughout the created world.(Ps. 19A )