The Fire Within

Ryan Bendelow

I remember the day that I had my first professional bow set up for hunting like it was yesterday. It's a memory that hasn't faded at all. I hope that it never does. It was such a memorable day for me because it changed my life forever. It was the day that I became a bow hunter.  Long before we were building skyscrapers, or mass producing cars and trucks, or even liking everything on Facebook, we were hunters. It is a very old trait that has been with us from the beginning of time. Like it or not, it's what we were born to do.

Some of my most memorable moments in life were in a tree stand, or on an annual hunting trip with great friends. I learned far more valuable lessons hunting than mostly anything I ever learned in a classroom.It's the most natural thing in the world. It comes easily. Likely because it has been with us from the beginning. So the day I took my daughter Chloe to get her first professional bow set up for hunting was even more special than my own. It was the day she decided that she was going to be a bow hunter. Although it's a day that will change her life forever, it's a day that changed mine as well. All over again. Chloe has had the fire inside of her from the very beginning. She recognized it from a very early age. She knew exactly what it was. That old trait that has always been with her. She has had a pretty amazing start to her hunting career taking 2 good bucks in as many years with a rifle.Now a new chapter begins for her. A very old one.  Many of us don't realize what we were born to do. The ones who do, are hunters. We are the lucky ones.