Reflecting back on the fall hunting seasons

It’s over now.

It was what it was, nothing more and nothing less.

It all started back in September in short sleeves with sweat soaking through clothes and mosquitos buzzing around our heads. It ended in full battle dress and icicles forming on our eyebrows and beards from freezing breath.

Extra time needed to put on bug dope and lighting Thermacells turned into extra time pulling on layers, bibs, pack boots and lighting Mr. Heaters.

It starts chasing doves, teal, geese, and bear. It ends chasing birds, bobcats, and deer. Over four months long, the fall hunting season’s a marathon with some sprints in between like the traditional nine day gun deer season. But even by the end of that, those that hunt the whole season and hunt it hard feel like they finished a marathon.

At times I welcome the break. Time to prepare those special meals with the game from the field. Time to work on projects and things around the house not thinking about losing hunting time. But at other times I long for the hunt, lamenting the long wait for next year’s season. Bittersweet, that’s what the end of the season is.

The deer season for us ended well. Plenty of venison. A full freezer. A full freezer makes everyone feel happy, wealthy, and wise. I got a couple recipes from a new wild game cookbook I want to try with the venison.

For some the deer season might not have gone well. Where I hunted for the nine day and around the house I didn’t hear a lot of shooting. Same for the muzzleloader season. Around here I didn’t hear a lot of shooting during the statewide antlerless hunt, but where I hunted that season, I heard a lot of shooting.

From one season to the next, things change, sometimes dramatically. One year the area you hunt you are in the ‘have’ column and the next the ‘have not’. We are talking about hunting after all.

A large part of the state has lived in the ‘have not’ column for a long time now. The northern third of the state keeps asking why. They feel they know the answers. They are told those are not the answers. But if they’re wrong, why doesn’t the population rebound a little bit?

The waterfowl season for me, I rate ‘below average’. No one thing, just below average. The mild, warm weather with predominantly south winds lasted well into October. Ducks didn’t migrate much. When they did, they moved into the area on days I couldn’t hunt, and moved out before the days I could hunt came around.

On several days that I could hunt, the wind blew hard enough that my partners opted out for safety reasons. Ten mph winds force the birds to land predictably, 15 mph sets things up even better, but both make picking up decoys difficult. 20 to 25 mph winds with gust into the 30’s, things can get sporting pretty quick on those days. The big push of mallards came through after our northern season closed, and that hasn’t happened in a long time. Yet I know some guys that had a great waterfowl season. The grouse season – my all-time worst season ever. Not from days afield. Not from the birds contacted. Several hunters killed a fair number of birds over my dogs; I didn’t. I didn’t get a single high percentage shot at a grouse the whole season. I never had so many grouse flush so close to me that I never saw as I did this year. I never had so many grouse flush when I stood in cover so thick I couldn’t get the gun up and if I did, couldn’t swing.

I never had a season where foliage stayed on the trees and shrubs as long as it did. The dry woods meant carrying a lot of water and those warm, dry conditions burned out dogs and hunters. Normally if you keep hunting, things turn for the good – normally. Not this year. Next year almost has to be better. I keep telling myself that. And I am mostly thankful that we still have grouse to hunt. I could live someplace that the grouse and quail are gone, like the pheasant in most of Wisconsin.

The hunt was what it was, nothing more and nothing less. That’s all we can hope for. It’s why we call it hunting and one of the big reasons we love it so much.

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CHUCK K OLAR LOCAL OUTDOORSMAN