Furlough scare of 2013, I actually thought that the government was trying to shut us down, and why not we are The Best. Come to find out we hunt in a place called Lewis and Clark Park, not Lewis and Clark Refuge, which was closed due to Obama and his hate for guns and the working people. I wonder if he hates the "cans" too. First post of the season and I've already mentioned that we are the Best. So we overcome that. Next up, removal of a dam that floods the condos. Apparently Obama don't like no low income housing either. With the removal of the dam it floods the slough even more than usual, good right? Not when you have more hunters with less places to hunt from because of the flooding.
Clowns with Guns
Day One. Cliffy and I decide to leave my house at 5 a.m. Well, if we all know Cliffy, which we do, we know that the boy is punctual. 5 a.m. actually means 4:45 which is good cause nobody can sleep on the first day of hunting, nobody! I load up and the conversation of how this is going to be the best year ever ensues. Colder earlier, wetter, geese flying over my house in the middle of the night, Cliffy mentions the water is way down, colder, duck counts are up...What! Wait! Did you say the water is way low? What happened to the mass flooding? A river running through it? The perfect opening day on the island surrounded by water and green heads? I guess that it has to rain for that scenario which it has not for some time. Thanks Obama, global warming.
We pull into the lot. One truck, two trucks, turn the corner three more trucks. We are there two hours early to procure the island and there are already five trucks in the lot! Does not look good. Water down, five sets of hunters out before us, what the hell? After a 30 minute hike we make it out to the water, it all feels so familiar. The early morning light of Camas shining on the river, the silhouette of the surrounding trees, the cool air on my face after a long hike in. I stop a moment to soak it in, it feels good. Hello old friend.
We pass a few hunters on the point on the way to the island, we really don't have any hopes of getting the island. I see across from the island two guys setting up, I can see where we hunted last years opening day someone setting up, a large party on the point setting up, and an old man pushing a cart wearing sweat pants with a dog named Angel on the path out that we pass. I don't see anyone on the island! We wade out the 100 yards, this year more difficult than ever before. The new river has dumped a lot of silt there so every step you take you sink 8 inches. I'm the first to arrive, Cliffy still struggling with the silt laden water, and notice the water is going to be an issue, not enough. We set up in a spot we don't think we are going to get "rained" on by the other two groups around us. Our blocks look awesome, the water is going out fast and it makes our blocks appear that they are swimming. Our blind, an old one from last year is refurbished pretty easily and we look good. We're set.  |
| not actual picture of hunters |
Rituals are taken care of, now we wait. Being an hour early the rituals keep coming and coming. We toast to our fallen soldiers of the past and the future. We toast the Lord Heston and our Idaho chapter. We bless the beautiful blind. Morning breaks through the sky and the orange Mt. Hood light is turned on, it is time. Not too long into the morning cil time a set of ducks fly through. Good sign. Toast again. Then a set of merganser fly through, eluding us but headed to the clowns behind us. Seconds later it is raining down on us, no pouring down on us. I guess the early morning light played a little trick on our depth perception, the guys behind us are much closer than we thought. Cliffy mentions that if we should have to take a leak we should walk in the other direction, good idea. Well the clowns missed all three. Clowns because they are just that. They didn't know how to call and didn't know what they were calling at. After a few more fly by's it gets quite. We all know what brings them out though (if you read the blog you do) so we give that a try. This is where I let Cliffy lay some storyage on y'all. We give it a few more hours and pack it up and head back through the silt laden water. All in all a great day. We saw ducks, got the spot we wanted and a beautiful sunrise. We're meeting at Sauvies Wednesday at 4 a.m.
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