Do you take joy in little or even momentary experiences while hunting?  Maybe brief moments that really have nothing to do with the hunt itself?  This morning I had just such a moment.

After completing my drive to Waldo County I was standing outside my truck donning my outer clothing, performing my final spray down of my clothing and equipment and thinking through my thoughts of the day’s coming hunt.

As I finished up what I was doing around 5:45 AM, I glanced up in the sky to see how overcast the morning might be and in the dark early morning sky I could see a crisp and clear slim crescent moon looking back at me.

In that very moment while looking at the moon I saw a shooting star fly across my vision of the lunar lit sky.  The heavenly object burned out as fast as it appeared lasting only a split second but in that moment it provided me with an intensely uplifting and energizing feeling.  As I left my truck and began walking off into the Maine Woods I had a big old downeast smile on my face, an outward sign of the spiritual joy I was experiencing inside.  I found myself speaking prayers of thanks immediately as I walked off into the still darkness of the forest.

How strange it might seem to someone without a spiritual connection to the natural world to try to understand the effect that this momentary sighting at the start of my hunt had on my spirit and my emotional state.

All I can say is that this one small gift shared with me this morning left me feeling a sense of satisfaction even before the morning’s hunt had started that could not be overcome by the fact I saw no deer in the four & a half hours I spent in the woods.

May nature’s joy touch your life in unexpected and uplifting ways.

Jeff Cash