November 1st, 2010 What a difference a day makes
Opposite ends of the earth are just a day away. Our duck hunting excursion was interrupted by a terrible blizzard. Constantly howling winds at 45-50 mph were gusting to 86 mph. Freezing rain and snow blowing sideways pelted the face and exposed skin like millions of little needles. Numbing temperatures plunged into the teens and chill factors ran below zero. No place to be for man nor beast. The old farm house shook in the wind but kept us warm and poker and baseball became the call of the day. As we lay waiting for the storm to subside the avian world is moving rapidly south and millions of geese, duck and other waterfowl pack together and make the trip. As the wind subsided the birds caught the tail wind of the storm and the sky blackened with birds. Snow geese in their blue and white phases were in lines stretching twenty miles across the sky. Huge flocks descended in the fields blown clean of snow whitening the fields again. Ducks were in chaos and frantic to join the migration so they were feeding frantically in open fields fueling up for the long flight south. The next two days we harvested our limit of ducks in open bean fields. Big Mallards, Pintails, Widgeon, Gadwalls and Canvasbacks will grace the table for many meals this year. By Friday the storm was over and temperatures soared back into the sixties so I kept removing layers of clothing as the hunt went into the afternoon. When I was down to a single short sleeve tee shirt I tucked into my layout blind and waiting for the next flight beside me I could hear my dog still panting from the exertion of the last retrieve. The sun beat down and the 60′s became 90′s as I tried to fathom how awesome our planet is and how fickle mother nature can be. I imagined myself laying on a white sand beach when the waves gently lapping at the shore was overcome by the calls of my hunting partners enticing new ducks. It’s a good day today.