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Sun and clouds mixed. High 79F. Winds light and variable..

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 56F. Winds light and variable.

Last week, I tucked the hunting license into its case on the back of my orange parka.

Beside the parka hang the matching bulky orange insulated bib overalls. I haven’t worn them in 10 years. But I am not yet ready to discard them.

As scientists remind us, “climate” is different from “weather.” Global warming will produce more extremes of weather, both hot and cold. I keep the coveralls, just in case.

But why am I fiddling with November-December clothing?

To me, July is a perfect time to anticipate the rifle deer season. July is the time to buy the licenses that we will need after Thanksgiving. Also, in July, gun raffle tickets sprout like head-high cornstalks.

I am a sucker for gun raffle tickets. In all my decades of buying them, I won one shotgun. It is a 12-gauge camouflaged pump action weapon designed for turkey hunting. I no longer hunt turkeys. I fired the gun a half-dozen times, cleaned it, and let it rest in the gun cabinet, retrieving it once a year for a maintenance cleaning.

But I continue to buy gun raffle tickets. I also spend $24 a week on Pennsylvania Lottery tickets. Lotteries are fun for me.

Nearly every day, I am disappointed when my lottery numbers do not win. But that disappointment lasts for only a minute, to be replaced by anticipation.

“Hey, I have another ticket, this one for tonight’s drawing!” I remind myself. That renews my optimism.

I get enjoyment from checking those lottery tickets.

It is much the same with gun raffle tickets. The secret to enjoying them is having more than one chance.

I have tickets from several groups in my desk drawer. My disappointment at not winning the Sigel Volunteer Fire Department’s prizes could be offset because I see the Pine Creek Township VFD ticket’s due date is coming up in a few weeks.

Hope springs, as long as I have “tickets” instead of just one ticket.

Each year in July, I go to DSD Sports in Brookville, show my driver’s license, and get a no-cost renewal of my prepaid lifetime senior citizen hunting license that entitles me to try to shoot (and eat) a legal buck.

A few weeks later, I send $6 or $7 or so to the Jefferson County treasurer’s office to get an antlerless deer license.

When I get each license, I open the closet that holds my clothing, in-season stuff on the right and out-of-season stuff on the left. I cache the licenses in the holders on my blaze orange hunting gear. Recent changes in state law allow hunters to keep licenses inside pockets instead of pinned onto the backs of hunting outerwear. But I already have the license holder. I have the large safety pin that holds the holder, plus a small piece or two of coated wire (attach the harvest tag to the deer’s ear) and a ballpoint pen for noting the date, time and county of kill on the license. Since I have them, and I also have nearly 70 years of tradition to go by, I’ll keep the license hanging outside my jacket or parka. Makes me feel “old school.”

I have not shot a deer in perhaps eight years. I still “hunt,” taking a different rifle for a walk in the woods each day and thereby reminding me to give each weapon its annual cleaning. Those walks are good for my own health. They might help to push a deer or two toward friends and neighbors. We have too many deer. They pose a threat to drivers. I drive, therefore I shoot (occasionally).

I often daydream about taking a wallhanger-racked buck or a plump, tasty doe, or winning zillions from the lottery. The fun is in the anticipation. I chuckle over what I would do with all that lottery money or how to crowd just one more firearm into my storage areas. Ditto for lottery fantasies. I smile at the thought of boring my family and friends with umpteen photos of my imaginary trophy buck.

It does not much matter whether I actually shoot the deer, win the firearm or claim the money. It does matter to feel that momentary deflation of, “Aw, I didn’t win again,” and then to perk up, glance at the tickets whose numbers are yet to be drawn, and smile at the uplifting thought of “Maybe tonight...?”

I try to expand my petty avarice into larger life lessons. Most of the time in life, we don’t “win.” The trick is to slide past “I didn’t win today” and look toward “I could win tonight!”

Denny Bonavita is a former editor/publisher at newspapers in DuBois, Brookville, New Bethlehem and Warren. He lives near Brookville. Email: notniceman9@gmail.com

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