Thank goodness for non-hunting spouses. If it weren’t for our better halves, most of us who hunt would be completely unprepared for fall holidays. Halloween is certainly one of the days that would be far less exciting if there weren’t people in our households who think about other things besides late-season deer, ducks, geese, pheasants and turkeys.
A lot of us still wind up trick-or-treating as Elmer Fudd, though. There’s just not a lot of time to put together a good costume when we’re spending all our available hours in the woods or on the marsh.
The kids are decked out in fancy Spiderman or Barbie costumes, and we’re tagging along wearing our old chest waders, a ragged flannel shirt, and grandpa’s old ear-flap cap.
The nice thing about trick-or-treating in the hunting gear is that it’s warm. And tonight we might need warmth. Depending on where in the state you’re doing your tricking and treating, you might have some early winter weather heading your way. It might not be a bad idea to dress the whole family in hunting costumes for the outing.
Don’t force ‘em, though. If you have any hope of getting the little ones interested in hunting and fishing, you don’t want to make ‘em wear warm camo clothes tonight if they don’t want to. My parents dressed me up as a clown one year, very much against my wishes. I wanted to go as Elmer Fudd, but they made me wear a polka-dot outfit and a big orange wig. To this day, clowns creep me out. Worse than snakes. And I really don’t like snakes.
So get the kids outfitted in their costumes, but you might want to give ‘em a layer or two of thermals under the ninja or princess garb. If you wear your goose hunting outfit, you won’t even have to change before you head out to the blind tomorrow morning.
