There’s lots to be thankful for in Wyoming

I know, a show about giving thanks on Thanksgiving is pretty predictable. But it doesn’t feel right to overlook the importance of this day. However, because this is a program about the outdoors, I’ll just talk about the things in the outdoors I’m thankful for. There’s plenty of it. Especially here in Wyoming. We’ve got it in spades over a ton of other places we could have wound up.

Take the big game seasons, for starters. We can pick up a general license and go hunting in more than half of the areas. On top of that, we can hunt for the better part of two months, or in some cases, three months. That’s assuming we don’t get our critters on opening weekend. With the numbers of animals out there, getting your elk, deer or antelope early is certainly possible – as long as you’re a better hunter than I am.

And in some states, getting a moose or bighorn sheep license, if it’s even possible, is a once-in-a-lifetime limit. But here, if you live long enough, or if you’re lucky enough, you can get another crack at either of them.

Then there’s the fishing. I can’t think of another state with as many fishing opportunities as Wyoming, with the exception of Alaska. If you’re a trout fisherman, Wyoming is heaven.

And you can fish here all year long. I actually know some people who have had 365-day streaks of fishing. They didn’t miss a single opportunity to cast a line over the course of an entire year.

Upland game bird hunting here may not be as exciting as it is in some other states, but what we lack in bird numbers, we make up for in low hunter numbers. And our Game and Fish Department does what it can to help out with the bird numbers. Wyoming’s one of the few states that stocks pheasants on public land so the average hunter can go out and harvest a few.

And of course, there’s my favorite activity of all – waterfowl hunting. Again, other states have more birds, but they also have more hunters. It’s pretty easy to find a place to hunt here where you don’t have to worry about birdshot raining down on your head every time a flock comes in. You may have to put up with worse weather than you’d have in Mississippi or Louisiana, but you don’t have to have a $10,000 lease or a duck club membership to do it.

Yeah, there’s plenty to be thankful for if you live in our fine state. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go take advantage of the bounties we’ve been given.