Malcolm Dykes: Moderation in the Great Outdoors

As a columnist for various newspapers, I try to keep my stories in the context of the area I'm writing for. I write both religious and outdoors columns weekly and try to keep them separate as much as possible. Not to go too churchy on you today, I have to use one scripture in this dialogue as it lines up with this verse. "Let your moderation be known of all men. The Lord is at hand." Phil. 4:5 . The word moderation here simply means balance, and as a Christian the Apostle Paul is saying be balanced before all men. Reason being, the Good Lord is watching you! 

As an avid lover of the great outdoors, I have seen greed manifested way too many times in both hunting and fishing. The reason we have game wardens is if left unchecked, there are those among us who would deplete all game. My dad who was born at the turn of the last century remembered back when as a boy and growing up there were no deer to speak of in Washington Parish. in Pine LA. just across the Stateline from where I live in Walthall Co. MS. He said there was nothing but big woods and outside of a few small animals like squirrels, coons and opossums to hunt or trap, they relied on the rivers and streams to provide fish to eat. No game laws or wildlife enforcement back then had allowed the game to be depleted.  

Our valuable resource of whitetail deer here in the Magnolia State rival any other state now due to the hard work and conservation of our MS Wildlife and Fisheries Dept. It was they who transported the whitetail deer from Virginia and other contributing states to get established and maintain a thriving herd of these big animals many of us enjoy pursuing. And because of their diligence with game wardens out and about with boots on the ground making sure we hunters stay within the bounds of the law, we have great opportunity to harvest at least one of three bucks allowed yearly. Even that big old buck with a rocking chair rack to hang on our wall. 

Greed has always been a damning factor in anything good. It's a human fault that is not going away anytime soon. It's found in all areas of life, not just in hunting and fishing. 

Case in point: 

While a pastor back in 1990, I had a couple of young ministers trying to get started in the ministry in our church. One Saturday morning they called asking if they could go out to some property I was developing to fish. I had built a small catfish pond and it had been stocked for about two years with channel catfish that had some weighing over 5 and 6 pounds. They said they only wanted to catch a good mess for their family's supper that day and I was only too glad to accommodate them. 

The next morning as I was finishing up my Sunday morning sermon, I heard a knock on my office door. It was the two young ministers and they asked to speak with me. Standing there with their hat in their hand, so to speak, they asked me to forgive them. Their conscience was biting them hard, and they confessed they had caught more than a mess to eat for their supper. 

The fish went into a feeding frenzy as they had tossed some of the fish feed over into the water I kept in a container on the pier and greed took over their religious good sense. They had caught over 200 lbs. of catfish in a short period of time with them flopping all around them on the bank and had spent the rest of the day cleaning and bagging their huge catch to put in the freezer. 

But the above scripture had caught up with them and they knew the Good Lord was watching thus they had come asking for forgiveness. I laughed in good humor and said with a smile, "Forgiven.....!" and sent them merrily on their way. The same excitement can overcome the best of outdoorsmen when the game is abundant.  When afield, be it on your deer stand, a dove field or wetting a hook on your favorite white perch hole, just remember to let your moderation be known of all men, reason being the game warden is at hand! 

God bless you and God bless America.