Saddest day of the year

[CharBroiled]

When the sun finally sets on today, it ends my (and I would wager many of yours) favorite time period. My gun gets cleaning and goes into the cabinet, lonely and waiting for the next time it is pulled out and loaded to take to the field.

This was one of our best years yet, having shot 38 roosters and 22 quail on the season, however, it could have been better had I not been laid up for all of December with a back injury. Getting older sucks. We saw tons of birds this sesaon, even when the weather was trash. The 1.5 year old pup got into birds, pointed his first rooster and the light went on. The 2.5 year old is a hunting fool, even getting challenged by the youngster in terms of retrieving, so he had to improve his work.

Lots of hens are still out there for breeding stock, so hopefully the weather cooperates.

I guess it's time to re-line the fishing rods and see if we can't catch walleye here soon. I hope everyone had as good as season as we did and I've already got a countdown to Nov. 10, 2018 rolling.

 

[Toad]

I'm going to go at least a couple more weeks with this year's hawk. I haven't shot my gun since November, but have hawked around 4 days a week since early December. It's a lot of fun, but doesn't put human food in the freezer.

This season I ate a tasty deer tag, and mmmmm, those duck stamps were delicious.... If I get a chance at some geese before the season closes, I really need to pull the trigger. My game freezer looks more like October than February.

 

[BritChaser]

Rather than sad, I was exhausted. Pup wouldn't settle the night before so the 5.5 miles I put in yesterday drug me down. Not sure I got a boost from the mountain oysters that were part of dinner. Best part was the tailgate bourbon and a trip down memory lane as my partner reviewed his journal that he's kept since '07. lol. Best season was '10 - '11 when he bagged 73 pheasants. That was the last good season.