Pheasant Hunting, Teamwork, and Social Genuineness
by: James Carpenter
10-22-2014
Today's blog post comes after a week of vacation. My fellow vacationers and I were pheasant hunting in Kansas and spending time down at the lake - both before and after the pheasant hunting trip of course! During the course of our hunt something occurred to me. To share it with you, you have to understand a little bit about pheasant hunting.
Pheasant hunting is a team effort between and among men and dogs. Multiple dogs are used to locate birds nestled snugly within endless fields of milo, wheat, or some other plant that grabs at your legs and wears you out in 5 minutes. I digress. One dog catches scent, stops, and points right at the bird. The dog's tail will be straight, rigid, and the dog freezes in place. The other dogs will notice this and "honor" the point by doing the same thing. Meanwhile, on the human team we have a line of men walking through the fields in orange regalia, two at the sides of the field and one at the distant end to prevent the birds from running out the back and flying away. Together, men and dogs form a sort of square trap if it were possible.*
Now this is where the subject of this blog begins. Once the bird is found, all manner of hell breaks loose when it flies into the air and in this chaos it seems that time slowed down for me and I was all at once aware of many things. For the record, I wasn't taking drugs and I didn't just get through watching all 3 Matrix movies back to back.
The Dog Team is the Better Team
All hunting jokes aside, the dogs really do have it together. Why? Because they "keep it real." Amazingly, even dogs that haven't worked together form up a good team pretty fast. They're just hardwired to point and honor each other. Keeping it real means they don't have little social nuances that get in the way of the present moment. Imagine a dog that did have our social nuances.
"I see a bird here and I should point it out to the rest of the team but I don't want to point because Sandy (the other dog) said that I point funny last week. Why is Sandy always criticizing me? She is right though, my tail is kinda bent..."
Conversely, another dog might think...
"The problem with Sandy is that she always wants to be #1 dog out here. She HAS to charge in and be the first to find everything and brag about it on Facebook."
This layer is absent in the dogs relationships. They just are who they are and they came to do what they do. They most certainly do have social nuances - but they are genuine - established with purpose and to serve a natural function. They aren't fickle.
The Human Team is a Mixed Bag
Over on the hunting team, we do have little social nuances that influence the experience. It first begins with expectations as we leave for the trip. I've been on several years worth of hunting trips and have come to discern some types of hunters. There are those who build expectations around how many birds they're going to bring home from the trip. The success of the hunt is measured by the number. There are those that are "there for the experience" - the success of the hunt is measured by the overall experience. There are those that want to show off their latest hunting equipment purchases and fancy new gear - the success of the hunt is the satisfaction of approval by their peers and I'm sure there are some that are a mix of all of those. This all instantaneously comes together in that chaos moment when the bird flies to reveal the effectiveness of the team. Dogs 1: Humans 0.
These nuances also shape how the team works together before the bird flies as well. Those that are about the numbers are usually the first ones taking the shots or positioning themselves to be in the most likely area where a shot is to be taken. Those that are about the experience will form up where they can obtain an overall view of the hunt. Those that want to display their new gear and fancy equipment - well they form up in the most visible spot of course! These classes of hunters and the various others will move through various phases of their hunting career until they eventually become a 'seasoned hunter'. I offer up that EVERY hunter will eventually become a seasoned hunter as they grow in experience and knowledge. Judging from the photo below, you can see where I stand in the cycle. If there were a polar opposite to seasoned hunter - I am there. My role in the human mix is to ensure other people know there is something important that needs to be done.
Seasoned Hunters and Keeping it Real
Seasoned hunters are a lot like the dogs. Genuine. They've come out to do what they do and be who they are. If you can ever get a complete group of those on the Men Team, then it may well be Humans 1: Dogs 1. (Dogs
never lose, you see...)
You'll see a seasoned hunter do the following things:
1. Defer a shot to a fellow hunter and bask in the moment of the other person's enjoyment as they engage the excitement of taking the shot.
2. Tell the other hunters - good job, good shot, good ANYTHING. They're always building up the others.
3. Shooting straight: Teaching their fellow man how to hunt better and sharing their advice directly.
4. Honoring the other person, much like the dogs honor each other, to achieve the overall goal.
5. Purposefully missing the opportunity for a greater cause: safety, education, a great story to be told down through the ages, a perceived wrong against nature, etc.
6. Sharing themselves - telling the stories that made them who they are.
7.Accepting the accolades and gifts of others - not necessarily because they want or need them - but because it allows the other person the joy of expressing thanks, honor, and gift-giving.
Wouldn't it be great to work with a team like that! A team is best when it's genuine. Social goofiness is for the birds! If you want to be happy, get things done, and enjoy the moment, ask yourself :
"What would a dog do right about now?" Tip: Under no circumstances should you follow up on one trait of dogs - No butt licking.
* On my latest hunting trip I learned that the fancy tractors used today connect to multiple satellites to plant rows that are mere inches apart! In fact, if the tractor only obtains 7 satellite linkages for triangulation (hepta-angulation?) - that is considered poor! Furthermore, the tractors drives itself. The driver can sleep for all intents and purposes and the tractor will honk the horn when it has reach a point where the human should pay attention. Thus, while it is possible to configure a perfectly square field (or round one) using this technology, the land itself often creates obstacles to doing this - for example, valleys, hills, trees. All of these are fixable to form a perfect square or circle, but why waste the energy! Just plant around them and move on. That's what a dog would do.
