Memories are made to last a lifetime
- Bob Hanna: Someday
- May 7, 2020
- 960
So many emotions going through this heart of mine: gladness, sadness, joy, relief, anticipation, memories.
Our farm sale on May 2 went well. We appreciate all the prayers and comments of friends and family. We had several sleepless nights fearing the worst, hoping for the best, remembering my own words printed in this very column: God’s got this. Trust him to take care of the problems. Easy to say, easy to write about, not so easy to do in real life.
The Christian life was never promised to be easy. Satan throws his darts every chance he gets. Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
So many memories growing up on our farm, memories that will last a lifetime and will be passed on to generations to follow. Just a note, I will continue to write my Someday column as long as they will let me. I enjoy sharing our adventures with you and Lord willing, sometime soon, maybe a book of our adventures.
Speaking of memories, some of our adventures that stand out in my mind have actually been the dangerous ones: face to face with a bull rhinoceros in Africa or flipping a canoe in the rapids of the French River in Canada.
But above all the others was our bear hunt in Northern Canada. If I’ve told you this story before, “bear” with me. We had been invited to hunt with Wilderness 2000 Outfitters at their camp just outside of Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario, which is northeast of Lake Superior about halfway to the Hudson Bay.
Jr. Miller, husband of Millersburg Tire’s Georgie Miller, had taken a huge 500-pound black off of one of their stands. Jr. worked for his brother, who owns the camp. They had saved that stand for me and reported it had been regularly hit in the past few weeks.
Well, you know how hunting goes. The first two days, not only did we not see a bear, but not even a trail cam picture. So the third day Jr. pulled my behind in a little trailer with his four-wheeler way back in this swamp. We went through places I never thought we’d get through.
So I crawled up in this tree stand that is situated with a bait site next to a snowmobile trail. Just before dark I see these pups coming by me on the trail. No, not dogs ... wolf pups, followed by the mother and then the papa, an albino (all white) male timber wolf in the wild.
They later told me (yes, I did live through this) he was a legend few people had seen, and here he was 30 yards from me. I was so shocked I didn’t even get a picture of him, but he will be forever engraved in my memory.
What happened next is not a memory but a nightmare. As I leaned back against the tree again, I heard a rustling sound. Looking up, a huge hawk was bearing down on me, wings spread, talons out, aiming for my head. I can still see the beady eyes, beak open, readying for the strike.
I had just enough time to swing the butt of my rifle in defense, which caused him to swerve, and he landed in a tree about 30 feet away. Shaken, I literally yelled at him, “What’s your problem?” It may be funny now, but that’s what I said.
He screeched at me, went airborne, circled a couple times and came at me again. Same thing: talons out, ready to strike. Again I swung my rifle in defense, and again he flew off a ways and landed. I thought about shooting him but didn’t.
If that wasn’t enough, right about then I heard a rustling in the woods behind me. Thinking it might be a bear, I turned to ready for a shot. Then I heard the wolf pups yipping. Those wolves had circled around behind me.
I radioed to Jr. and told him to come get me out of there. I wouldn’t even climb down until he pulled the four-wheeler up to the tree.
No one really knows why I was attacked. My only thought was the movement up in the tree made that hawk believe I didn’t belong there. Thank God (and Jr. too) for saving me that day. It is a memory that will forever help me appreciate the savage part of nature.
Until next time ... God bless!