Ask any wild turkey hunter what season it is, and they’ll all agree it’s mud season. Springtime in Wyoming isn’t the beautiful time of rebirth and new growth it is in other parts of the country. We do have those things here, but they’re overshadowed – or completely buried – by mud.
Make sure you have your tire chains handy. And keep your FroggToggs rainsuit where you can reach it in your truck. I almost never wear my FroggToggs to keep me dry in the rain. Our rain around here usually doesn’t last long enough or come down heavily enough to justify getting out the rainsuit. But I use it all the time for putting the chains on my tires.
Not necessarily to stay dry, but rather to keep the mud off my other clothes. I don’t care how good you are at chaining up; you’re going to get completely covered in mud if you’re putting chains on this time of year. If you put on your FroggToggs before you get out of the truck, though, you can just peel the rainsuit off when you get done, and you’ll be relatively mud-free for your drive to town.
I just wish there were something like that rainsuit for the dogs. I spend half my day this time of year cleaning up the house. I suppose I could just leave the dogs outside until they dry out, but that would mean kicking them out until July. And what’s the point of having dogs if you can’t scratch them behind the ears while you’re watching Longmire on Netflix?
But the mud issues are about to get even worse. Spring turkey season’s coming up, and you can’t go turkey hunting without dragging two tons of mud back home with you. Even stuff I don’t take hunting will be muddy by the end of the season.
But it’s worth it. No matter how much cleaning I have to do when I get back, it’ll be good to get out to the forest for a few days. I just hope I remember my FroggToggs.
