Sitting in my recliner in our family room……OK, my Trophy room, as my wonderful wife of 35 years would call it. She would also tell you that it ceased to be OUR family room 25 years ago when the first three pheasants went on the wall over the fireplace and that she had fought valiantly to keep it just pheasants on the wall. Yet, after a beautiful remodel of our master bedroom and bathroom, (that she had been promised by me years before, when we first bought the house) had finally been completed, her attitude toward mounts on the wall changed. Her argument of limiting the family room to the pheasants on the wall softened within months of having her dream remodel completed. Shoot, if I knew that all it was going to take was an expensive remodel of my sweetheart’s sanctuary to be able to convert the family room into my trophy room, I would have forked out the bucks years ago.
Now, as I was saying….Sitting in my recliner, in my trophy room, with the TV off, the room quiet and peaceful, and the sun just about to set on the horizon, I began to scan the room wondering where my Eland mount was going to fit into this already crowded, yet tastefully decorated trophy room. Now, for clarification, when I say trophy room, please don't misunderstand me. Any seasoned trophy hunter viewing this room would probably chuckle that I call my mounts trophies. In fact, there is honestly only one animal I have that could be considered a trophy, and that is the Eland that I took on a recent archery trip to Africa. That baby made the SCI books. Well, even a blind squirrel finds and acorn now and then. All the other mounts in this room aren't trophies in the typical hunting vernacular, but they are all trophies to me. Let me explain.
The mounts in my trophy room are trophies because of the memories and fellowship associated with them. Not every animal I have ever taken is on those walls, but every animal on those walls has a story and a memory attached to it. Each of these result from time spent in fellowship hunting with friends and family. One such memory is from the bear hunt I went on with Pastor Kevin, my partner in Hunters for Christ. We hunted up in Northern California and stayed with his grandparents the first night. That evening before the hunt I had an awesome time of fellowship with Kevin and his grandparents. That was an evening that I’ll not soon forget, not to mention the great hunt for a bear with my .44 mag the very next day. Another memory is my first left handed rifle hunt, which was a hog hunt. I had just recently begun shooting left handed because a few months earlier I had lost the sight in my right eye due to an unfortunate medical condition. I shared that hunt with my very good friend Jesse Mendoza, and that was his first ever hunt with a rifle. Talk about two firsts, I don't know which one of us was more stoked. Other great memories are from the Ram I got with a bow on the very first Hunters for Christ big game hunt, that our entire Pro Staff attended. Then there was the first Whitetail that I took in Texas with one of my best friends, Rick Tonkin, and his dad, Jim. We had a blast at that hunting camp and almost as much fun driving from Gilroy to West Texas and back again. Another mount memory is from the first banded mallard that I shot was while hunting with my Dad, Frank Rossini. Dad insisted he shot that bird but that was hard to believe at the time since his autoloader still had three shells in it when the dog got back with the bird. Then, remember those three pheasants I spoke about that are mounted over the fireplace? I tripled on up those in Northeastern Oregon on a hunt in the snow with some business associates. Some of those guys I didn't know very well but by the end of that hunt we became very good friends. I was even able to minister to them about Jesus. One of my first, of many turkeys taken with a bow, was in a blind with my best buddy Rene Vargas. If turkeys could smell, we would have never gotten a bird. Let’s just say I had to lay hands on Rene a time or two as well as rebuke him to just go clear the air (as a result of the dinner he ate the night before).
These mounts and others on my walls are not in any record books, and they would certainly not impress any big time, world traveling, trophy hunters, but they all hold a very special place in my memory banks. They all have a special story of fellowship attached to them. There are also pictures of some unsuccessful hunts on those same walls and those hunts are trophies as well. There are pics of the Bull Elk archery hunt, where I came home empty handed after 10 days. Despite that, I had the best time fellowshipping with the greatest bunch of guys. That trip pushed me to the limits physically but, as a group, we kept each other encouraged and motivated to push on. The pics of my Black Tail archery hunt up in Northern California depict another unsuccessful hunt but are still a trophy on the wall in the form of a picture. On this hunt I spent four days sweating my patootie off with my Uncle Tony, who was in his 60's at the time. I was only in my 30's yet he would threaten to carry me up the next hill if I didn't get my butt in gear.
As I sit in my recliner and look around the room, I see all of these “trophies” remembering the fun and fellowship shared with friends and family along with the failures that gave me the drive to keep hunting. I am blessed to relive those hunts, experiences and great times with people who have influenced me and that I share my love of Jesus with.
If you are ever unlucky enough to be in that room with me some day, you will most likely hear a slightly exaggerated story of those experiences (unless of course there is a buddy in the room along with us that was on one of those hunts with me), then I will have to tell the gospel truth, for sure.
The trophies on my walls are not those of record book animals, but of record book memories. Memories of fellowshipping, encouraging, listening, and sharing the “Good News”. I look at these mounts and daydream of those hunts and dream of the hunts, memories, and fellowship still to come.
Psalm 55:14
”We who had fellowship together walked in the house of God in the throng.”
God Bless You and good trophy hunting! Go out and fellowship making memories.
Gian Rossini