Dave Hrbacek’s father took him and his four brothers hunting and fishing throughout his life growing up. Hrbacek, staff photographer and writer for The Catholic Spirit, has continued his outdoor pursuits into his adult life, and his late father was a hunter into his 90s. In fact, his father shot his first white-tailed deer at age 89.
Hrbacek grew up squirrel hunting with his dad and brothers. He later became hooked on hunting wild turkeys.
He has introduced all four of his children to hunting. One son continues to hunt, a second does it off and on, and a third son and his daughter tried it but have not continued.
“It’s just fun to bring your kids out into the woods, especially,” he said. “I think a lot of dads out there probably understand exactly what I mean.”
Hrbacek recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley to discuss hunting, love of the outdoors and the intersection with faith.
While he enjoys the hunt, Hrbacek said hunting is more about the whole experience. “One of the things I love most about it is going into the woods in the dark before sunrise,” he said. “And I’ve had some wonderful experiences — like seeing the full moon has been just so captivating. And I’ve seen the northern lights coming out of the woods at night.”
Hrbacek recalled the many sights, sounds, smells and experiences of being out in nature. “There really is no substitute anywhere in our civilized world,” he said.
One year, Hrbacek hoped to hunt the last weekend of deer hunting; he had been empty-handed at that point. One son suggested he pray to the patron saint of hunters, St. Hubert. Hrbacek did so. He saw nothing in the morning and it started raining. After lunch the rain stopped. Hrbacek moved to a stand he hadn’t yet used that year. He sat for four hours in a 25- to 30-mile-per-hour northwest wind.
With legal hunting hours ending at 5:15 p.m., and not seeing a deer all afternoon, he started packing up. Just after 5 p.m., he saw a deer in the distance. “With five minutes left, this buck turns and trots all the way in to about 75 yards, and he turns and I see antlers,” he said.
Hrbacek shot the “enormous buck,” bigger than any he had ever seen. “He’s now on my wall,” he said. “I call him to this day ‘my St. Hubert buck.’”
One bit of advice Hrbacek offered deer hunters is, whether sitting in a stand or a blind, or even on the ground in a chair, recognize the opportunity for quiet, for silence, “for listening to whatever God may want to say to you.” Hrbacek said he spends hours in a stand or blind every year, calling it a wonderful time for thought, reflection and prayer — “whatever you uniquely want to do to connect with God.”
God is in that quiet time, Hrbacek said, whether or not a hunter gets a deer.
“I’ve had days where I’ve sat from dawn to dusk, didn’t get a deer and walked out of the woods with a smile on my face. And God is present, and it’s a blessing.”
To hear more of Hrbacek’s hunting adventures, listen to this episode of the “Practicing Catholic” radio show. It airs at 9 p.m. Nov. 5, 1 p.m. Nov. 6 and 2 p.m. Nov. 7 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. St. Hubert in Chanhassen is offering blessings to hunters after Masses this weekend: after 5:15 p.m. Mass Nov. 6 and after 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Masses Nov. 7.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Patty Rosno, who describes Elevate Life and its mission is to assist, equip and enable a network of pregnancy resource clinics, and Abe Gross and Connor Flanagan, who describe how they seek to harness the power of music for Jesus in founding the Dayton Avenue Music Label.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at
soundcloud.com/PracticingCatholic
tinyurl.com/PracticingCatholic (Spotify)
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