A dream came true last night.
I routinely checked my email and was happy to see the results for this years Utah hunting draws that our family applied for. We have been expecting and waiting patiently for this day since February when we filled out our applications. I quickly called the family together and we oped the email for each family member.
It was fun to see the kids and Vernie enjoy the process of discovering that we were “unsuccessful” for the Trophy elk hunts but “successful” for the buck deer hunts. Each of the boys and Vernie got deer tags but were unsuccessful for the elk and the Bison.
Then it was my turn at last to open my email.
I was so caught up in the fun of knowing where we were going and hunting with the kids that I wasn’t even thinking about my draw. I was just thrilled for the success of the rest of the family. I opened my email and it read like all the others “unsuccessful” for elk.
I scrolled down and my eyes saw with unbelief “successful bison Henry Mountains Utah”
I started to speak but I couldn’t. My throat was choked up and tears filled my eyes. My kids reading over my shoulder began to scream.
“A Buffalo! Dad Got A Buffalo!”
Vernie thought we were kidding until she saw my reaction. We celebrated for hours, walked to my brother Oliver’s home to tell he and his family and I called my other brother, Alma. We were all shocked and thrilled with this accomplishment.
Many people join this draw for twenty years or more before they get this opportunity and some never draw this tag it at all.
I drew the bison tag on my second attempt.
This is a special thing for me, my family and my friends. A real dream come true. A dream against the odds. A dream to share while my children are still home. A dream ongoing now for 30 years. A dream unfolding into reality. A dream of truth and choices. Not a matter of luck but a result of cognizant action.
I have realized that there is a catalyst at work in the lives of human beings.
Most of us are unaware of it and the result is we feel unlucky. A few of us are aware of it and we choose the path of our destination. The unfulfilled crowd calls these few the lucky ones. But the lucky ones can trace their so-called “luck” to the principles they have lived that attracted the blessings into their life.
The catalyst of luck is our choices and most of the power comes from the thoughts we think and the subconscious actions we take because of them. I credit my American Bison draw to the power of my subconscious mind.
I didn’t know my imagination was increasing my odds of winning this buffalo draw and there are those who would say that this kind of thinking is absurd. But I am a believer.
For three decades I have known I would some day harvest a wild bison. My Grandfather Force, born in the 1800’s, would tell me the stories and the lore of the american hunting tradition and the outlaws of the Henry mountains. When I first read “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George, I knew the Henry Mountains were my mountains. I have escaped there to recuperate and find myself… I also found the buffalo herds.
As I have spent the last several years training my three and four year old fillies, I have seen myself hunting in the mountains; with many visions of the Henry’s and the buffalo. My mind has been filled with the continual imagination of the aspects of the hunting camp. The dutch ovens, the tents, the rifles, the campfires. Dark early mornings, crisp cold air, thick coats and binoculars hung around my neck. The steam from the horse and saddle bags with water and snacks.
Each day as I feed the horses I have imagined them with packs carrying fresh meat back to camp. I never labored over these thoughts. I simply enjoyed thinking them. It was an enjoyable game to dream and dream and dream. Each dream feeding fuel to the fire for the next great idea.
I have not regretted for a moment the time I have invested in the potential of my horses, saddles, rifles, tents and dutch ovens. It was all worth it and enjoyable as a wholesome activity on its own. Now that I am mentally prepared for this Bison hunt I have received another reward: the physical manifestation of my subconscious efforts, though they were reward enough.
The dream is true and the dream was rewarding but now the dream is no longer a mental imagining. It is here as a physical reality to be realized. A manifestation of the dream which has so often been created in my mind.
Luck? I don’t believe in luck because I have purposely experienced the dreaming process and the dream could no longer remain a dream. I will now pursue the noble American Bison Like my fathers before me. I will be a steward of the herds, a husbandman of the grass and the knolls. I will oversee the canyons and the peaks. The rocks and the trails shall be my ally, the clouds and sun shine shall be my companion. The winds in the pines will whisper their melancholy tale and I shall know I am among my friends. My sons will be by my side. They will feel the healing balm of the fresh mountain air. They will see the magical moments of the wild herds as they cross, almost mystically, the clearings from forest to trees. They will feel the winter sun on their faces and build crackling fires that glow deep into the night.
We will return home rich and wealthy men with meat for the belly and stories for generations.