Atmospheric River Woes
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2023 9:53 pm
Turns out back to back to back atmospheric rivers are not conducive to late season bird hunting. We had to cancel the annual late season chukar rendezvous in Nevada due to heavy snow. So, I booked a local cabin near some of my favorite spots for the week with the family with the hopes of getting out a couple days during a break in the weather. Well, we didn’t get much of one. It cleared out just enough that we could get out this morning, started raining again and then cleared out again this afternoon.
We woke up to a spectacular sunrise, “red sky in morning, sailors/hunters take warning” and had a cup of coffee. Proceeded to jump in the spa for a few, had some avocado, tomato and salmon toast, laced up the boots and headed down some dirt roads. It was pretty soggy and the birds were really tough to make. The dog covered 12 miles on the GPS before we got fogged out. We found one nice covey, but they flushed opposite side of the tree over the dog on point and I couldn’t get a shot off. Saw another covey blow up well ahead of us when a hawk flew over them. We went back for lunch and found some fresh snow for sledding with all the nephews who came up for the day. Sometimes the trips without a bird in the bag are just as memorable as those with a tailgate full. Happy to start my 2023 with the family playing some high stakes Monopoly and Uno while we wait out the next round of rain/snow. We need it, but do wish it didn’t all come at one time.
Garrison
We woke up to a spectacular sunrise, “red sky in morning, sailors/hunters take warning” and had a cup of coffee. Proceeded to jump in the spa for a few, had some avocado, tomato and salmon toast, laced up the boots and headed down some dirt roads. It was pretty soggy and the birds were really tough to make. The dog covered 12 miles on the GPS before we got fogged out. We found one nice covey, but they flushed opposite side of the tree over the dog on point and I couldn’t get a shot off. Saw another covey blow up well ahead of us when a hawk flew over them. We went back for lunch and found some fresh snow for sledding with all the nephews who came up for the day. Sometimes the trips without a bird in the bag are just as memorable as those with a tailgate full. Happy to start my 2023 with the family playing some high stakes Monopoly and Uno while we wait out the next round of rain/snow. We need it, but do wish it didn’t all come at one time.
Garrison