It was a picture perfect day for the pheasant season opener in SDak. The temperature was about 60 degrees, there were a few fleecy clouds and perhaps a 6 mph. wind from the north west. Quite a contrast to the 30mph wind with gusts to 40 the day before.
One of my fields is adjacent to a large, perhaps 320 acre, state owned wildlife area. When I arrived at my field I noted a hunting party of 6 persons waiting for the opening on the public area. Pheasant hunting opens at noon on the third Saturday of October in SDak.
Both the date and the time are rooted in history. When the pheasant population grew enough so that there would be a hunting season noon was set as the opening hour. Noon was not chosen for any conservation reasons. Noon was an economic decision. SDak was a popular destination for out of state duck hunters and duck hunting is best done at dawn. Therefore, noon was chosen as the opening of pheasant hunting each day so that duck hunters would not miss out. The money spent by the duck hunters was important to the state so the pheasant season's daily opening time was set to accommodate them.
The tradition still lingers so the during the first two weeks of the season shooting begins at noon. For the remainder of the season hunting begins each day at 10:00am. Hunting ends each day at sundown.
I'd been hunting for about a half hour on Sunday when I realized what was missing. Like Sherlock Holmes' "dog that didn't bark" there was silence. Usually a few minutes after 12:00 the sound of gun fire sounds like a small war. A couple of times a I heard a few shots from the hunters in the next field and that was all. Predictions were that the bird numbers are down 40% from last year. A combination of a harsh winter and wet spring had taken its toll. The silence suggests the predictions are true.
You ask "And what about you?" Yes, what about me? My plan was to walk the fence line that divides my land from the states and post "No Hunting" signs so that hunters will know where the public land ends. Trygve had flushed a brood of young birds that hadn't even developed adult coloring, obviously a very late hatch. I had posted a couple of signs and was about to post a third sign on the fence next to standing corn planted as a winter food plot on the state land. I laid my gun carefully in the grass, turned around, took my sign and stapler from my hunting vest and two roosters flushed about 15 yards in front of me.
I once read an outdoor writer who said "Birds you miss fly forever." He's correct. Those birds remain in my minds eye flying into the distance. Did I mind? Not much...it's the proximity that counts.
1 comment:
So true, I still remember walking that field 15 years ago or so, and a bird got up and flew towards the "Sears house" and I could have easily shot it, but it seemed better to let it go rather than shoot at the house (even though there was not much danger). That bird flies forever in my mind. No regrets, always enough birds. Another that flies forever you remember, at Canova, I pulled up the big tuft of grass and the rooster exploded pout in my face - off balance, started and flustered, both 20 gauge barrels were let loose with no meaningful results. That bird too - flies on....
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