Technology Can Be Your Friend

I’ll admit it, technology finally saved my life a couple of weekends ago. It was the last day of dove season in Georgia and Will and I went to a field we have gone to a couple times this year with several degrees of success. It has been so good for Will to go as there is no substitute for experience. This particular afternoon was going along like most as we set up in the middle of the field with our lab Wilson crying out for some action. It was later in the afternoon when I notice the constant hum of a small airplane circling above. At first I thought is was a local farmer that had taken off from his pasture for an afternoon flight, but after it kept circling five or six times, I started to care. Without even looking knew it wasn’t a farmer, but “The Man”; Georgia’s finest in wildlife law enforcement. I looked up to see a GA on one wing and WILDLIFE on the other wing.

Yeah… this particular day I forgot to get my three day non resident license and it was only a matter of time before “The Man” would be walking through the field checking us for violations. They used to offer one day license for $11! Those were the glory days. Well, I was in violation and I needed to work fast. So in superb fashion, I picked up my Blackberry, looked up the phone number on the internet and called Georgia Department of Natural Resources for a license. Will asked what I was doing and I plainly stated that I was getting a hunting license. Within minutes I had Sarah on the line where she had all my information in the computer and I had a confirmation number. I had no pen so I grabbed a stick and wrote my confirmation number in the picked peanut field. In the heat of battle, word traveled quickly through the field that “The Man” was here so be ready. I never missed a beat and kept my composure as I continued the painless process of getting a license over the phone. I gave her my gmail address and it was in my inbox within minutes. Wow, that was easy.

“The Man” was making his rounds, wandering from hunter to hunter making sure we didn’t have too many birds, plugs in our guns and all licenses were current. Well, mine was very current. I introduced myself and Will to “The Man” and proceeded to show him my license…on my phone. He wasn’t too excited about the electronic license, but what do you do. I thanked him for coming by, gave him a bird Wilson had picked up by mistake to give to guy hunting just down from us, and sat back down.  I turned to Will and said, "you just passed your first of many checks by ‘The Man‘. Congratulations.” Will just said, “yeah”…..it was a special moment.

At the end of the day I sent Will to get the truck so we wouldn’t have to tote our gear all the way across the field.  While I waited I had about 10 minutes to myself in the twilight of the evening to reflect on the day's events. There are so many lessons to be learned and taken from this episode in the field. Gun safety, the essence of cheetoes eating, why we drive on the right side of the road and the Brits drive on the left, why did Wilson eat the only bird we shot, what am I going to be when I grow up and why we eventually had to go home…to name just a few. But, if you ask me, the most important lessons of the day are: keep cool under fire, don’t let your 10 year old see you sweat, stay focused, and most of all….technology can be your friend. (I can’t believe I just said that).