OUTDOOR Adventures

By Brian G. Schommer

It is happening again, just like clockwork from year to year. “Hallowthankschristnewyear” is upon us, and the retailers are letting us know. Just like Fall is the time for retailers to lump all the holidays into their aisles at once, for people who enjoy outdoor activities during the fall, it kind of happens too, especially for hunting enthusiasts. When the DNR offers additional hunts to the mix, such as youth and “early” hunts, many seasons crossover as well. It is bound to happen when multiple opportunities exist, especially if an entity or various entities are wanting to capitalize on them, which in this case, capitalize equals monetize.

At a recent high school football game, I engaged a fellow hunter regarding his results on the duck opener. “I didn’t even make it out,” he said, citing too many things going on with a higher priority. He added that his son was going the next day.

Another bystander joined in the conversation noting that he and his buddy shot more clay pigeons while having a couple beers on the opener. “It was 80 degrees and any of the ducks around have been hunted for a few weeks already with the early Teal season and youth hunts,” he explained. The ducks are all locals right now and there was a good chance that they had been shot at a few times already by the time the “opener” came around. “I might just sell the stuff and stop duck hunting,” he added.

This sadly seems to be a common thread for many duck hunters who grew up with later Fall openers that did not have precursor type opportunities ahead of time. Let’s be honest, when you go out on any hunting opener, it is your hopes that the game you are chasing are not any wiser than you. That level of “wise” certainly differs from one hunter to another. While we may be more advanced in intellect than our prey, they generally have us beat in instinct and, it should be noted that we are in their habitat. Personally, I will take any advantage I can get. There is no doubt that the DNR does study upon study regarding the right, wrong, and otherwise aspects of everything outdoors which often drives me to wonder if many of the opportunities out there suffer by paralysis by over analysis? As was discussed at the football game, just because Missouri has an early Teal season does not mean Minnesota should have one, yet we do because a lot of people ask for it. I just know that I hear a lot of long time, dedicated waterfowlers talking about selling their decoys and switching to fall fishing.

Are the earlier options for duck hunting offered so that the “I want to hunt everything” crowd is afforded the chance to do just that? Maybe, and as someone who enjoys upland hunting as much as waterfowl and, as much as deer hunting with small game and fall turkey options in there as well, I guess I fall into that crowd. There may even be more of a systematic problem involved here, and while I am no psychologist, hear me out if you would. There are a lot of us in the world who never seem to be happy or content with what they have… I mean, we have. Some of us may need a little reminder from time to time that, as the Rolling Stones eluded too, “You can’t always get what you want… but if you try sometime, you’ll find, you get what you need.”

What if I don’t get out pheasant or squirrel and rabbit hunting this year? What if it is another year that I don’t get the duck boat out on North Lake in pursuit of a few mallards? What if I only get out a couple days during deer week or the fall turkeys live to see another day because I did not get out there? What opportunities, responsibilities, or other activities took the place of the hunts that did not happen? Maybe instead of a duck hunting, I was on stage opening for two national acts at a fundraiser for an extremely worthy cause, bringing smiles to the faces of numerous attendees of the event… which is exactly where I was. Maybe I will be hanging out with friends who need some fellowship that does not include tromping through the fields chasing the elusive ringneck pheasant or even watching a Gopher football game with family? I want to go hunting, and I am sure that I will do plenty of it, but if I do not do it all… if I don’t do all of what I want, is it the end of the world? Not so much.

I truly wish that the retailers would just put Fall décor and Halloween stuff out during the month of October. Then, in November, they would put out the Thanksgiving items including the myriad of Turkeys that seem to catch my brides’ eyes now more than Christmas stuff and don’t get me started on Christmas stuff out in October. When you have a family member that puts up their Christmas tree in early November, you have become accustomed to gun jumpers. It really is what it is… and no amount of complaining is going to get the retailers to slow their roll anymore than asking the DNR to drop the early hunts and go back to “how it was.” The Stones were right, and if you try sometime, you just might find, you’ll get what you need. Now “Get Out and Enjoy the Great Outdoors.”