Hunting and the Gospel?

I recently went hunting. Not just for an afternoon or a day. I took a 5 day trip to Michigan to hunt for 3 days. As I should do more, I asked myself beforehand, "How does the gospel affect this trip? and how does this trip affect the Kingdom of God?" I would be traveling with believers so there wouldn't be evangelistic opportunity. At first I wasn't sure and almost didn't want to put much thought into it because I really enjoy spending time in the woods hunting and didn't want to come to the conclusion that it was wasted time. I decided that I should pray about it and maybe I would figure it out on the trip.

As we left at 4am Wednesday morning to start our 13 hour drive, I took the co-pilot seat. Instead of sleeping, I chatted with the driver. We talked about books, church, preachers, eschatology, women, hunting, missions, and stuff like that...we had a lot of time on our hands. The time passed and that afternoon we arrived at camp. After a hearty dinner, we examined the map, picked spots for the following morning's hunt and headed to bed. I got to sleep in a tent. The weather predicted a low in the night of 27 degrees Fahrenheit. Needless to say, it was cold. I slept in my long-johns and inside of two sleeping bags on an air mattress that was 1.5 feet wide. There is a challenge that comes with sleeping on that sort of air mattress. It's engineering is designed so that after inflation it is raised down the center of the mat, sloping downward on the sides. Any movement to one side or the other leads to rolling off of it onto whatever hard surface one is trying to avoid sleeping on. Therefore, one must sleep in balanced position, not moving the entire night to 'enjoy' the comforts of an inflatable mat.
Day 1 of the hunt was spent mostly in the woods with only 1 deer being harvested although I saw at least a dozen. The challenge with bow hunting is not seeing deer, its getting those deer within very close range. Day 2 it rained a lot, and 2 deer were harvested. Day 3 we went to the famous Beaverton Tavern for their famous "wet-burritos" that are so large few men can eat the entire thing, although we always try. We chatted about hunting and sports and work...the usual. As I left the BT, it occurred to me one area the gospel had affected that lunch and the trip overall. It was in our conversation. We didn't constantly talk about the gospel or grace, but I don't think we had to. I realized there were a lot of things we didn't talk about as a result of Christ being in us. This seems trivial but I really try to think about how various things are affected by the gospel and I was really wondering about this hunting trip.
So basically I saw two areas specifically that were affected by the gospel and may even have a small affect on the Kingdom. First was our conversation: Overall it was edifying, encouraging and uplifting. We didn't talk about a lot of negative things, sinful things, or tear each other down. Secondly, I enjoyed praying as I sat in the stand. Imagine complete silence, the smell of earth, the leaves and the trees after a light rain. I sit up in a tree above squirrels scampering around, birds chirping, an occasional turkey or deer walk by completely unaware of my presence. For hours in this tranquil silence I lifted up praise to one who created it all. As I thought of friends I prayed for them --friends who know Christ I prayed that they would grow in Him; and friends who are not believers that they would one day know the one who created them and the serenity I was enjoying. I was just able to talk with the Father and enjoy it! I also was able to spend spend some great time with my earthly father and brothers and talk with them and strengthen our relationship which I thoroughly enjoyed!