Phillips: Are you sure?

For a lot of years, there would be a turkey hunter shot or injured when they were mistaken for a turkey. Now when you think of a 200-pound man being mistaken for a 20-pound turkey your next thought would be how drunk was he. Now that’s being honest. Or was he on drugs or whatever. Doesn’t make sense but it can happen easier than you think. Many a hunter has been shot simply because some hunter mistook him for a deer. Hard to believe, but it happens. That’s the main reason it’s a requirement to wear that hunter orange vest and cap or head covering. But honestly it’s easier than you think.

I’ve hunted my whole life — whether it was coyotes or jackrabbits or mule deer or whitetail deer or ducks or geese or tin cans or even cow chips. Killed many a cow chip. It wasn’t hard picking out a coyote when he came into your rabbit call when there was 6 to 10 inches of snow on the ground and it was close to zero. An old coyote will stand out like a sore thumb. But one time I’d dressed in white clothing and had hunkered down in a snow drift. A friend of mine some 200 yards off actually saw the movement of my rifle and wondered if I was a rabbit or coyote or whatever. Mistaken identity!

But down here in Missouri amongst the trees and bushes and weeds, things are different. I’ve sat there and watched and watched, and sooner or later you will pick out a spot off in the distance that looks like a deer. Your heart will speed up. and your emotions go into overdrive. but as you stare at the spot and stare and stare .it slowly begins to look like bushes and sticks. and realize it’s just imagination. It’s like our mind is looking for the shape and size and color. I’ve sat in a deer stand listening to a deer walking through the woods. At times it was a deer and other times it was a couple squirrels playing with my imagination.

Every morning I sit out front of our house with a cup of coffee and watch for critters or birds. whether it be across the valley or in the trees around our house. Critters such as coyotes or groundhogs or raccoons or deer have a definite shape and color. The same with birds. My eyes will pick out a particular shape, and I’ll think it looks like a deer. I’ll watch it for movement and after a while I’ll have to admit it’s just a brown bush. Or what might look like a coon down by the pond turns out to be just a bush.

On Facebook they have these puzzles where they have a whole page where the letter “W” or “X” is printed but there is a single letter printed that doesn’t match. Your mind is looking for the misprint and only the misprint. You are focused. Kind of like proofreading. I proofread my article several times, and have Marge check it as well, but I can read over a mistake time after time and not notice it because I’m looking for punctuation errors or whether to use "then" or "than" or "their" or "there". Fresh eyes help.

I believe at times we are looking at someone or something or a situation or whatever and our mind sees something or even imagines something that isn’t there. We make an assumption and the assumption is totally off base. At times we make a judgment call only to learn later we were wrong. We think we see a coyote lurking off in the bushes, and it’s just weeds. We hear something and assume it’s accurate only to learn later that’s not what was said. Just because I don’t like tattoos and purple hair doesn’t mean a whole lot. It’s up to me to not be judgmental. Some like tofu and sushi. I will let you have my share.

Look and listen twice or three times and judge later.