The 2026 hunting season has dawned. Last week I got online and bought licenses for Heather and me, including our doe tags.

Buying our licenses triggered a desire to climb to my adopted hunting ground in the Loyalsock State Forest. It’s located on the Allegheny Ridge in Plunkett’s Creek Township. I use the Loyalsock Trail to access the ridge.

I’m not a big fan of the woods in July. It’s just too muggy, buggy, and hot, but I just couldn’t resist the desire to do some pre-season scouting. It had been quite some time since I had climbed to the ridge, and I was eager to see what was going on.

It was about three years ago that things changed drastically on the ridge. I had hiked in during late archery season and climbed into my tree stand just before daylight. Part of the reason I adopted this ground as my own is because I really enjoy quiet solitude. I have never bumped into another archery hunter on the ridge.

Shortly after daylight, I heard a large diesel engine start, and the loud roar of a bulldozer shattered the quiet of a perfectly still morning. Every time it backed up, it sent a shrill beep-beep-beep through the woods. Several chainsaws were also screaming. It was chaotic. What I heard was the beginning of the end of my hunting the ridge.

Rumors had swirled for quite some time that a gas well was being installed on the ridge, but I guess I never thought it would happen. Well, it did, and there was no way I was going to sit on that mountain and listen to noise all day. I gathered my stuff and headed down the trail. I figured there was no point in hunting the ridge again until the gas well was installed.

That’s why I was eager to climb the ridge last week. With the well completed, I guessed the woods would be quiet again. I guessed wrong.

I started the climb around 7 a.m. and arrived at the top of the ridge, soaked with sweat, a little more than an hour later. The biting flies were well-represented. The gnats were constantly in my eyes and ears, and the deer flies were incessant. Thankfully, the stinging nettle made my legs itch and burn. It took my mind off the bugs.

As the trail leveled out, I stopped for a drink and listened. Ten minutes went by, and I didn’t hear a single man-made sound. Encouraged, I continued to hike toward “my” hunting ground.

And that’s when I heard the sound of an approaching truck. Not good. When I got to the spot where I harvested the biggest buck of my life, what I found was a newly installed gravel road big enough for two tanker trucks to pass — and it ran right through the middle of my hunting ground.

I decided to walk the road for a bit to see what else was going on, but passing pickup trucks and tankers kicked up so much dust that I turned around and headed back into the woods to process what I had just experienced. Clearly, hunting on the ridge would never be the same again. I concluded that a chapter in my hunting life had ended. I gave thanks to God for the awesome hunts I had enjoyed on the ridge, then gathered my stuff and headed for home.

It’s hard to end a good chapter, but like it or not, all chapters end. The upside is this: When one chapter ends, a new chapter begins.

I’m certain this next chapter of my hunting life will be quite different. I’m not as young as I used to be. Backpack hunting may be in my rearview mirror, and I’m okay with that. I don’t know what the future holds, but I am certain of one thing: the best is yet to come.

The best is always yet to come. I don’t want to live a moment of my life thinking my best days are behind me. They’re not. They’re up ahead and waiting for me to take ahold of them.

In my senior stage of life, Joshua 13:1 has become my theme verse:

When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.”

I have applied that verse to my ministry life, and God has opened new and “very large areas of land” in front of Heather and me. We are excited about our future of serving Jesus together.

Now I’m applying that verse to my hunting life. I don’t know where my new “very large” area of hunting ground will be, but I’ll enjoy looking for it, and some day I’ll find it — and maybe I’ll also find the next biggest buck of my life. Yes, my friend, the best is yet to come.

Life can be very difficult, and challenges often come our way. Sometimes we are tempted to think that our best days are behind us. They’re not. There’s a new ridge out there, and I pray you will find joy in pursuing it. The climb won’t be easy, and there will always be obstacles, but joy is found in hope — and we must keep hope alive — even if our next ridge is found in heaven.