browser icon
You are using an insecure version of your web browser. Please update your browser!
Using an outdated browser makes your computer unsafe. For a safer, faster, more enjoyable user experience, please update your browser today or try a newer browser.

The 2014 Hunting Season is Here

Posted by on September 3, 2014

As I posted earlier last week, hunting season has snuck up on me this year. The normal preparing for hunting season over the summer did not happen. The summer was spent traveling locally on the weekends exploring new places close to home. After living in the same Atlantic Coast state for over 40 years, one would think, I’ve seen all there is to see within a 500 mile radius. I found that not the case. I visited several new places just outside my own door. From the remote beaches of Portsmouth Island in North Carolina to the Old Growth forest and waterfalls of Rickett’s Glen in Pennsylvania, it was a great summer of exploring locally.

Swallow Falls

But as the years behind me increase, the time between seasons grows shorter. The long wait of summer as an eager teenager shooting his bow and shotgun daily waiting to take to the woods, now seems barely enough time to wipe down the shotgun after a late winter goose hunt before taking to the field dove hunting in the scorching heat. So, in a frantic run to Bass Pro Shops, I purchased a few things like ammo and arrows, and even a new camo sweatshirt, to begin another hunting season.
September 1, 2014 began my 36th year of hunting. Where has the time gone? I felt a change within me on this year’s beginning. The opener started at 3:30 am, when I awoke to the siren of the same alarm clock I started high school with in 1980 and ended at 9:00 pm sunburned and tired.

My journal entry for September 1, 2014 reads as follows:

Up at 3:30 AM. Stopped at Sheetz for gas, breakfast sandwich and Mountain Dew. The front of the truck was pulling hard to the left. The tire was low again. Tried to add air at Sheetz but pump not working and ended up with the tire even lower than before.
Met up with Rick at boat ramp. We were first ones there. Several trucks arrived as we paddled out to the rock I’ve used before to hid behind and kill Resident Canada Geese on the opening morning. It’s a trick I learned several years ago. I let the increase in boat traffic push the geese around, while I hid behind a small rock in the middle of the river. The geese fly over low and I shoot. Not a traditional style goose hunt but it works.

Canada geese on the monocacy river
Rick and I watched the day arrive. A fog blanketed the river and mountains. Hunters, fishermen and recreational kayakers filled the river as the morning fog burned off. Rick and I talked of past hunts and our plans for the long season to come. My shorts were wet from standing in the river, but the water felt good. I hope I never get to old to wade a river in old shoes and shorts. I always feel a special connection to the river when wet with its water. We never saw a goose. There was more traffic on the river than I have ever seen before, but it is a holiday and opening day. I used the air pump my daughters gave me for Christmas to fill the front tire that was totally flat.  I love those girls.
More boats arrive. I leave the river and head over to the girlfriend’s for lunch. She had a large salad waiting for me. Still in my wet shorts, we sit at the kitchen table enjoy lunch and she hands me two sandwiches when I walk out the door for the next hunt of the day. How nice it is to have people around me who understand my quirks.
I pull into the old familiar farm eager to be back hunting this place. Not so much for the farm, as the dove hunts can be slow at times and the geese may not always decoy, but when they do and the hunt is filled with game, it those who I share the hunt with that make the place special.

dover opener

Opening day of dove season a few years ago. This year I found myself at the same place enjoying the day with the same guys.

I sat and talked with old friends rekindling friendships under the hot September sun. It is almost 4 PM when I finally take to the dove field. The corn was not cut yet and there is not much action. I join an old friend who I had not seen in two years. Under the shade of a tall oak, we stand on the edge of a freshly cut field of weeds. I fired three shells at passing doves never connecting on a bird.
The first day of the 2014 season ended without me killing a goose or a dove. Ironically, I think that is a first in 36 years of hunting. I may not have always filled my limit, but those years have been packed with many heavy game bags.

Andy with geese n deer 2009

September 2009 with my early season bow buck and a limit of geese.

I begin my long drive back to the city and my weekday apartment with a sandwich and ice cold water. It has been a good beginning to the season. As the number of seasons behind grow, I believe I have begun the transition from eager young’n pushing hard to succeed and kill, to one of those old farts who just enjoys getting out and spending time with friends. I’m not quite there yet, and I plan to fill the freezer again this year with as many dove, geese, ducks and deer as it will fit. But I’ll also take the time to enjoy those who I have the privilege to share the experiences with. For those are the memories that last and the people we have around us are more important than the weight of any game bag.