Celebrating the holidays, the outdoorsman way

Twas the day before Christmas and a lot of creatures were stirring. One of the caveats of my prenup was about to kick in, the one about Christmas Eve, but technically speaking that really wasn’t until like sunsetish.

I sat at the computer in the predawn light working on my New Year’s resolutions. I got stuck after the first one: hunt and fish more.

Then it dawned on me, why wait for the New Year to start working on your resolutions. And technically I created two if I altered the grammar and syntax.

1) Hunt more 2) Fish more Allie looked at me with the: “You’re a genius, boss” look on her face. I just needed to get home in time to make the pheasant fettuccine alfredo. The boss picked up the parm, cream and butter a few days prior. So, thirty minutes later I started driving to a grouse covert in points north for a solo grouse hunt.

Here, once again, I feel the need to point out a societal change. I grew up and for like 45 years called this a “grouse hunt.” But if you want to stay with the times and stay relevant, you need to keep up with the younger, more savvy folks, so going hunting, fishing, camping, or hiking by yourself must now be called “solo something” making this a “solo grouse hunt.” Don’t want to live up to the old saying that old hunters don’t die, we just smell that way, so I try to keep up. And technically I hunted with my dogs, so why do they call this “solo?” Back in the day “solo” referred to red cups.

At the first spot I turned around and just while putting on my vest thought I saw something cross the road about 50 yards behind me. Gray, low and furry – I just glimpsed it in the dreary light. Then a second appeared and a third – wolves.

Hold on, before your repeat wolves with your own batch of expletives that we often hear combined with the word “wolves,” I took this as a good omen on this day.

Both dogs still sat in their boxes so I didn’t need to worry. I was less than a minute from putting down Allie and if the wolves felt like being territorial or predatory this might have gone bad for my all time favorite.

Instead, I knew where the wolves were. Mighty cooperative of them. I wish all wolves did this. I just drove to another covert. Turns out most of the birds lived there or so it seemed.

The birds were on the ground, under conifers, close to food. Water fell from the sky like rain, dripping from the trees. My weather app said “Sunny” for today – I think I need a new app. Allie pointed five grouse in an hour’s walk, I bagged two of them. Kenzie moved four birds in just under an hour’s walk. I talked with her about pointing the bird before it flies.

I thought of hunting another covert but responsibilities and prenup obligations needed honoring.

The weather predicted through the end of the year looks a whole lot better for hunting than any of the last many years. Think about last winter. We knew that a lot of deer wouldn’t survive that winter by this time last year.

I recall another holiday season time like 30 years ago when the temperature rose to about 60 degrees on the New Year’s Eve Day. I grouse hunted that day too - with some friends - back when we called it a grouse hunt whether you hunted alone or with friends. I just think that in a time of the year when we get less than nine hours of daylight a day, any time outside soothes the soul and what better way to do that than hunting squirrels, rabbits, grouse or deer? A little walk in the woods feels good. No snow to tromp through, just a nice walk and if you bag something for the pot, good for you. The old timers always talked about hunting snowshoes without snow after the snowshoe’s fur turned completely white. I might need to partake in that this year, just to say I did it. My last chance took place about 30 years ago and I didn’t do it. But please remember, Safe Hunting is No Accident!

I wish you all a Happy New Year filled with good health, prosperity, and good hunting!

Through a

Decoy’s

E

ye