I don’t know if it’s been as windy where you are as it has been down in the southeast corner of the state, but I hope not. Granted, it’s Wyoming, so it probably has been. We’ve had a brief respite from it for a few days, but I won’t be surprised if it kicks back up to gale force again soon.
I went out to feed the horses a couple of Saturdays ago, and it put me in a foul mood. It was bad enough that I couldn’t get the hay from the stack to the feeder without it blowing off the pitchfork and disappearing instantly, but I had been hoping to go pheasant or duck hunting over that weekend.
There was no point in trying to go hunting. If I’d kicked up a pheasant, the bird would have been in Nebraska before I could have gotten a shot off. And it was uselsess to try to get my pup on some birds. Any odors left by birds out there were erased by those gale-force winds.
Waterfowl hunting would have been equally useless. I’ve been watching birds giving up on Wyoming for weeks, heading south in long V’s and big bunches. But when the wind’s blowing 50 miles an hour or worse, any duck or goose with any sense will be sitting tight on a lake or a river, waiting for the winds to die down. Or if they were heading the direction the wind was blowing, they were moving through at nearly the speed of sound.
A turkey hunt could be an option. There are plenty of places up in the Black Hills that are relatively sheltered from the wind enough to give a guy a chance to be outside for more than 10 minutes without going completely insane.
I’m hoping the winds aren’t bad this weekend. I’d like another crack at some pheasant and waterfowl hunting. If it’s bad again, maybe I’ll just stand at the state line and pass-shoot some pheasants as they blow by.
