Ready. Set. Stay.

[swellcat]

Snow is the dogless hunter's friend, so the Winter Wonderland forecast for 19-20 December (coinciding with a couple of weeknights off) got my attention. I bought the 2012 license. Printed out and numbered a dozen 2011 WIHA Atlas pages. Viewed maps. Considered destinations, routes, drive times, and logistics. Reviewed winter survival kit information. Packed clothing and some groceries.

For hours. Then fell asleep and didn't go.

For me, it's a seven to eight hour drive just to get started, and being a night worker/day sleeper certainly pinches time and complicates things even more. My guess was there'd be 300% more driving time than hunting hours.

Some of the blizzard hype about impassable drifts (and we do need to use those least-used little roads) was intimidating. Fierce, blowing snow might just keep many birds stationary for awhile and quickly cover the tracks of any that did move, thus taking away that part of the snow advantage.

Not trying to be Buzz Killington here. There are other folks who have to travel great distances to hunt pheasants, and surely others who work for harsh, inflexible, punitive companies from which it is extremely hard to get away. What kinds of mental calculations do you make when deciding on trying to get in some time in the fields? Is the drive time/hunting time ratio valid? Hurry up so you can relax (quickly!) and then hurry back?

 

[Toad]

I do that a lot. Poor dogs... Also as a night worker/day sleeper, it is easy to think "I can always go tomorrow."

I find that if I can go hunting immediately after work, I have a better chance of following through. As in, having the dogs sleep in my truck and driving straight from work to the hunting spot... If I go home first and help get the kids ready, and then run an errand or two... I never end up hunting or fishing, or whatever activity it was I wanted to "sneak in". I always start thinking about the drive time/hunt time ratio, and think about how much torture it is to work at night on limited or no sleep.

It's a tough deal, man, and I feel your pain totally. I wish there enough hours in the day to do it all. If I didn't waste so much time sleeping, I would be unstoppable.

On the other hand, it is very satisfying driving out of the parking lot at work at 7:00 AM with the dog box in the back of the truck or towing the boat. I can only imagine what the day workers must be thinking in May when they see me pulling out for a morning of fishing just as they are getting to work. They wave as they pass, probably muttering, "You lucky SONOFAB****!"