That Time of Year Again
The Upland Almanac|Autumn 2024
Without doubt. The most idyllic form of hunting in Ohio is seeking the woodcock. - Merrill Gilfallan, Moods of the Ohio Moons: An Outdoorsman's Almanac (1991)
Bob DeMott
That Time of Year Again

Another opening day of Ohio's upland bird hunting season among a long skein of many such days: the temperature was 50 degrees when I awoke at 7 a.m., and the sky was blotted with streaky clouds, a good sign that, even if rain isn't in the forecast, the cloud cover might mitigate the warm sun, still strong on the second weekend of October. Over the course of a lifetime of upland bird hunting, first in my native New England and now since 1970 in the Midwest, this is always my favorite day, my most anticipated sporting ritual, with its promise of surprise, pleasure and delight.

The moment ranks with unforgettable opening days of fishing season on the second Saturday of April in my home state of Connecticut when I was a youth. The situation is different now because most states allow fishing year-round, with no pronounced start and end dates, which explains why the annual hunt opener is still a big deal to me. Back then, excitement and anticipation made it nearly impossible to sleep the night before the trout opener, but now, wizened, chastened, even humbled by age, an impending opening day fits more easily into a larger, more accustomed portfolio of enthusiasms, though it is no less vibrant and memorable than it ever was.

I have already enjoyed a couple of my annual midsummer preview dreams about woodcock hunting, which arrived unbidden but nonetheless in vivid technicolor some July nights.

"We feel the season long before it makes sense to even think about it," Steve Smith rightly claims in Woodcock Rising (2016), so by the time the long-awaited, dreamed-about and anticipated opening day arrives, a door opens on a whole new era of possibility, and the fresh season kicks off in the blink of an eye.

この記事は The Upland Almanac の Autumn 2024 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は The Upland Almanac の Autumn 2024 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

THE UPLAND ALMANACのその他の記事すべて表示
Tail feathers - STANDARDS AND PRACTICES
The Upland Almanac

Tail feathers - STANDARDS AND PRACTICES

\"An armed society is a polite society,\" the NRA says in one of its dicta, cribbed from Robert A. Heinlein, a 20th-century American science fiction writer.

time-read
4 分  |
Autumn 2024
Day's End - IN PRAISE OF FENCEROWS
The Upland Almanac

Day's End - IN PRAISE OF FENCEROWS

Driving north along the Hudson River, I gazed at a pastoral autumn scene: sere fields of faded yellow harvested corn, stubbly and broken amongst the clods of black earth, almost smooth from my vantage point. Spiky brown veins of wild growth marked barriers between plots. Occasionally, the gray bones of a mature oak rose among the brown shrubs to stand over the yellow fields. A sentry, keeping silent watch as white frost crystals slowly melted into invisibility.

time-read
2 分  |
Autumn 2024
That Time of Year Again
The Upland Almanac

That Time of Year Again

Without doubt. The most idyllic form of hunting in Ohio is seeking the woodcock. - Merrill Gilfallan, Moods of the Ohio Moons: An Outdoorsman's Almanac (1991)

time-read
6 分  |
Autumn 2024
I Don't Wanna'!
The Upland Almanac

I Don't Wanna'!

I'm an old hand at being retired, though - have been practicing for 25 years.

time-read
4 分  |
Autumn 2024
Hunting the Huns: Alberta's Big Sky Country
The Upland Almanac

Hunting the Huns: Alberta's Big Sky Country

The prairies of southern Alberta are vast, beautiful and full of prime bird habitat. Crop fields are interspersed with abandoned farms, rolling hills are intersected by coulees and creek beds, and Hungarian partridge and sharptailed grouse occupy some of the best and most picturesque habitat on the continent.

time-read
6 分  |
Autumn 2024
Side Dish - End of Season
The Upland Almanac

Side Dish - End of Season

Sporting trips are not only about sport, as many other experiences are discovered alongside. And my trip to Lakewood Camps in Maine was certainly just that.

time-read
4 分  |
Autumn 2024
AN EXTENDED STAY
The Upland Almanac

AN EXTENDED STAY

There is no reason to leave Michigan in the fall unless the opportunity of a cast and blast adventure at a historic sporting lodge in Maine comes calling.

time-read
8 分  |
Autumn 2024
KEEP IT HANDY
The Upland Almanac

KEEP IT HANDY

If you think shooting a ruffed grouse on the wing with a shotgun is tough, try shooting one in flight with a still camera.

time-read
6 分  |
Autumn 2024
A Longtime Love Affair
The Upland Almanac

A Longtime Love Affair

It's possible to hunt your favorite birds in a lot of different places, I suppose, but I don't do that.

time-read
1 min  |
Autumn 2024
Profile of an Artist: Harley Bartlett
The Upland Almanac

Profile of an Artist: Harley Bartlett

Harley Bartlett was born in 1959 near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. However, having lived in Rhode Island for most of his life he considers himself a Rhode Islander.

time-read
3 分  |
Autumn 2024