It's Fall... Finally!

A cool, dry wind surreptitiously forms in Canada and slowly eases its way across the border and down towards the Midwest. The sun has already begun it's southern descent, falling a little more each day until it ultimately reaches its winter perch. The tall shadows of late afternoon quietly arrive a little earlier each day as does the crisp blanket of twilight. The autumnal equinox comes and goes but the humid air of a spiteful summer lingers for just a day or two more, dying hard in the fading sun. Then, maybe overnight, a north breeze begins to blow. A cold front bullies its way through the northern plains then down to the Missouri river and Ohio river valleys, pushing the sultry temperatures far down into the south. Fall has finally arrived!

The first few days are almost sinful. After a long summer, a person manages to forget just how pleasant 68 degrees, in the middle of the day, feels on the skin. You feel superior and a little melancholy at the thought of how some people live in climates where there are no obvious seasonal changes; how do they reinvigorate their souls, how do they recharge their batteries? The nights are very cool now, forcing all but the most hardy of souls to shut the windows before sliding into a chilly bed. You shiver for a minute or two until the bedsheets absorb your body heat, a smile runs over your face in the darkness. A few tinges of yellow and red hues begin dotting the landscape's palette now, but soon entire forests will burst brilliantly with autumn foliage, inspiring deep sighs everywhere even in the most cynical of us. There are days where the sun will coalesce with the changing leaves to envelope the world in a golden aura and there will be gray days where fog gives way to a steady rain that patters lightly on so many leathery leaves; and both will be beautiful.

With so many things in life that fail to live up to the hype it's comforting to know that there are some things left that never let us down. Fall is simply the best time of the year for so many reasons. Enjoy this season and all that tickles your autumnal fancy: Whether it's high school football on a chilly Friday night; that first pot of chili; post season baseball; the sound of migrating wings cutting the air; huddling with friends and a cocktail around a bonfire; or laying wrapped up in a blanket for an entire Saturday while watching college football in between naps. Just be sure to revel in fall's majesty while you can, for not only is this the greatest of seasons, but the most fleeting as well. Before long we'll all be sipping egg nog, gnoshing on turkey & stuffing, and wondering whatever happened do those glorious days of fall.

Well, go on... Start reveling!

Picture Post

Dad and Ruby @ 8 weeks old

Nellie and her rendition of a triple lindy

Dad & Ruby, chilling

This is a piece I like to call: Dumbass, mid-flight

Keeping an Eye on Rita

Hopefully, the destruction that hurricane Rita will wreak upon coastal Texas will be minimal; but I am selfishly hoping that when it develops into a tropical depression that it will pass over southwest Missouri like many experts are predicting. In 1998 when hurricane Frances hit the Texas coast and headed north through Oklahoma and Kansas, many areas in its inland path received up to 14" of rain. Springfield reported 2" of rain from hurricane Frances even though the bulk of the storm stalled out around 200 miles to the west in central Kansas. It doesn't take an expert to realize that a 9" to 14" rainfall wouldn't exactly be great for the area, especially here in flood-prone Springfield, but at least it would most certainly set our rainfall ledger even for the year after our significant summer drought. However, it is hard for the soil to soak up that much rain in a short amount of time and undoubtedly the bulk of the rainwater would be diverted to our ponds, waterways, and reservoirs. This is obviously great news for us duck hunters. Let's say we can get even 10" over a widespread area in a 48 hour time span; not only would it immediately raise our local lake levels to power pool and above, but the soil would be so saturated that any concurrent rain in the next several weeks would not be able to be absorbed and would therefore flood the rivers and reservoirs.

I have come to realize that actual duck population estimates that the USFWS spend so much time on have little to do with hunting success. Local habitat and weather conditions are the key difference makers in any given year no matter the flyway. Last year's hunting season could not be a more convincing argument for this theory. Duck numbers were down all across the board, but our (western Missouri) habitat couldn't have been better; which resulted in most hunters having one of the best seasons of their lives.

First, let's hope that hurricane Rita will not take one human life and that it will have a limited effect on property and the environment. From there maybe it will deliver the toad-strangler we have needed for a while; a good two to three day rain might set us up for another memorable waterfowl season.

Until next time.

Pheasant forecasts are out

You can check out a state by state pheasant forecast here: pheasant forecast

The way it is looking almost every "pheasant state" should experience an increase in birds and therefore harvest success, but the big story once again comes from South Dakota, the undisputed capital of ringnecks.

South Dakota's pheasant population is at a 40 year high, surpassing the record set in 2003. The count (which is conducted by the South Dakota game & fish dept.) is determined by driving out predetermined routes throughout the state and simply counting the number of pheasants seen and then averaging the numbers. There was an average of 6.63 pheasants per mile this year, which is 74% more than the state-wide 10 year average. This is a remarkable number considering there are parts of western South Dakota that are all but devoid of pheasants. This number was slightly greater than the record 2003 brood, a year in which SD hunters took an estimated 1.8 million birds. With that in mind, it is possible that the 2 million bird echelon might finally be reached this year! To put these numbers in perspective the pheasant population hasn't been this strong in South Dakota, or anywhere else for that matter, since the early 1960's- the golden era of upland bird hunting.

I personally hunted in South Dakota in 2003 and saw more pheasants in a few days than I had seen in my entire life in Missouri and Kansas. I don't know how hunting could get much better than it was that year, but I am sure eager to find out. In 2003, we (Me, my brother Travis, Todd M., Lance, and Lance's dad) killed 20 roosters in basically 3 days, which may not sound like a lot of birds, but when you consider we only killed one on the first day and that we hunted almost exclusively on public land that number starts to sound a little better. One also needs to consider that the number of total birds taken was probably 30% less that it should have been for a variety of reasons. We lost more than a couple of birds due to the terrible ballistics and knock down power of steel shot and we lost at least 3 roosters because of dud shells. Then, of course, there was the obligatory complete misses as well as a few opportunities that were missed because of improper set up and being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but then again that's all part of pheasant hunting.

2005 is shaping up to be a remarkable year for pheasant hunting, especially in South Dakota. Even though gas is through the roof and a nonresident hunting license in SD is up to $110 I will be making the road trip this year and it will be money well spent.

Until next time.

175 mph wind vs. Oil rig

This is what a category 5 hurricane can do to a multi-million dollar oil drilling platform. Just one of many. Not only was the wind greater before Katrina hit land, but the waves measured 30, 40, 50 feet high. A wave measuring buoy, located 70 miles SW of Dauphin Island, AL, reported 47 foot waves! I've been at sea in 6' to 8' foot waves and they were probably 12' to 15' wide at their base; how big are the bases of 47' waves you think?! It's going to be awhile before the crude starts pumping in the gulf. The bottom picture is obviously the same rig before Katrina:

Flooding & Destruction of Plaquemines Parish

Check out these amazing and awful pictures taken 8/30/05 over the Plaqumines Parish area in SE Louisiana at this website:

plaquemines parish pictures

This is near the area where we took out of (Venice, LA) while deep sea fishing this past spring. I just hope all the great people I met down there evacuated the area, especially Captain Kevin Beach, a fellow Mearle Haggard fan and duck hunter in addition to being one hell of a saltwater fisherman and captain of the PALE HORSE.

This area is also the operating hub for the majority of offshore oil drilling in the gulf. Every major oil company was represented in Venice Harbor and there were at least 3 or 4 different helipad airports where workers departed and arrived at all hours of the day & night.

There are a lot of working poor down there with nothing more than a flimsy trailer for a home. I seriously doubt they could afford the gas to evacuate if they even had a vehicle in the first place. I would be surprised if there were many survivors. God bless the people searching for survivors right now.