One of those bad times was when I was taken out hunting by my grandfather and uncle. We were sitting in the blind, when my uncle in the spotter chair called out that there was incoming duck. The bird came into range and we heard the phrase that we were all waiting to hear, "Take'em!". I stood up and fired once missing, so I started following the duck trying to get a lead on it. That age, about 13 years old, my adrenaline was pumping and I got tunnel visioned. I went to go pull the trigger when my grandfather pushed my gun way left. I didn't realize why he did it at time, but it didn't take me long to figure out why. In the moment, I didn't realize what was in front of my barrel. It was my uncle's head. If it hadn't been for my grandfather paying attention to what I was doing, my uncle wouldn't be here today. We were all shaken up from the incident. I got lucky, it could have turned out a lot worse. It was valuable lesson I learned that day, a hard one, but to this day, I am very aware of what is around me; also makes me very angry when I see jackassery going when I comes to guns and hunting. Just because someone doesn't get hurt that one time, doesn't mean you should do stupid shit. I beg all of you to call out your fellow hunters when you see it happen. In the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I have say about that".
As I got older, I stopped hunting. I was teenager with a job, a car and women on my mind. At the age of 23, in 2006, I joined the Air Force. I was sent to Montana, always thinking about getting back into hunting, but the regulations here confused the hell out of me. Never realized that I could but tags over the counter, always thought you had to apply. After six years of being here I got back into hunting, learning big game hunting from a friend, but getting back into waterfowl hunting. Like big game hunting that year, I wasn't too successful. During the offseason, I did research, I bought decoys, a new shotgun, etc. I did a little better in this year than the previous year and I was able to take my old troop out with me and teach him to waterfowl hunt. Unfortunately that day on the way out, we hit a deer with my jeep that I have only owned for 2 months.
The next year I went out waterfowl hunting with someone I use to work with, Collins. We decided to put in for the tundra swan tags, since Montana is only one of five states that allow swan hunting. We both drew our tags, but after we looked I applied for the pacific flyway and Collins applied for the central flyway. Mine was valid to use at the Freezeout wildlife management area where we wanted to hunt, it was unfortunate for Collins. Freezeout WMA has one of the biggest populations of swans during the spring and fall. The day of the hunt came and we headed out there. We got there well before sunrise and hiked in on one of the dikes. We didn't bring any decoys since most shots out there are fly by shots. We could hear all the swans on the water and we could see the white masses under the full moon shining down on us. It was cool out but not freezing, surprising for early November. The sun rose and gun shots started ringing out all around us. We were in a good spot, just not the best. I turned around to see a flock of ducks coming right at us in range. We got to our knees and took the shot, just dropping one duck out of the flock. About ten minutes later another flock did the same thing, and we turned to take the shot. My gun wouldn't fire. We dropped back down into the weeds, unloaded my shotgun, stripped it down. We inspected every part with no reason why, so we reassembled the gun, put one round in and I took a shot out over the water. The gun fired fine, leaving us scratching our heads.
We sat there on the bank in the weeds watching flocks of swans flying over the dike but about 400 yards down the dike. We watched as someone down there dropped their swan. Made me itch to fill my tag. We waited, watching the flocks flying all around us. Then we noticed one flock of swans coming right at us. I got my gun up and ready to shoulder. They came over and took all three shots in my gun, not a single hit. What made us more confused about that flock is the group of six hunters 40 yards away from us, all of them shot at the swans. Don't know if they were a lucky group of friends that all pulled a tag or if they just didn't know any better, the tag draw rate for that flyway is about 50%. We stuck it out for most of the day, but after a few hours, nothing really flew. It grew quiet around the WMA. We left we just one bird to show for the trip, so we made a plan to come back out once it got cooler. Collins went out there the following weekend, but I tied myself up big game hunting. I had already taken a yearling mule deer doe for the season, but I was trying to fill my buck tag, but that's a story for another time.
I went to head back out to Freezeout WMA solo, since Collins had some stuff come up the day before. I get out out there after a cold front moved through that night. I was quite the cold front indeed and I understood how that WMA earned it's name. It was quiet when I hiked in and it was just me and one other hunter in that parking area. When the sun came up, we figured out why. The lake had literally frozen over in one night. No open water except in the middle where you couldn't get to. I spent the morning there, but left due to the conditions. I got home, figuring that missed my chance on filling my swan tag for season. I almost ripped the tag up, but I thought, what the hell, I will hang on to it.
For the rest of the waterfowling season, Collins and myself concentrated on goose hunting, field and over water. We did well in the fields but over the water on the Missouri River, we ended up having one of our best days. There is a fishing access site along the Missouri River that we enjoyed hunting at. We dragged about a dozen goose decoys and a dozen duck decoys in that morning. That area has a creek entering the river, and also has a little back water eddy that sucked ducks in, if it has enough water in and not frozen over. It was a super windy day with the coming from the south at our backs. Normally here we build a temporary blind next to the eddy, but we figured to try something different this morning since the ducks come in fine to it, but the geese always flare away. So we took the camo netting and made a corner blind against the bank of the eddy and the creek, since the eddy was frozen over. Our plan worked out perfectly with the birds crossing over us from one field to the other, with a few choosing to come in, not seeing the blind at all. We ended up taking four canada geese that morning. Unfortunately, we did lose one goose that got clipped and landed on the other side of river. One our four geese died too far out in the river for us to retrieve but luck was on our side, we watched the wind and current push it against the bank next to the highway, so I left to my jeep, drove down the road and walked down to the bank and picked it up. When I was walking back to the blind, I heard what sounded like a thunder clap right behind me. I almost pissed myself. The wind had caused a dead tree to snap in half and fall. The geese stopped flying so we decided to get out of blind and sit on the bank in front of the blind to stretch our legs out since we had been kneeling all day.
Luckily we had our guns with us, just in case. We sat still was we watched four big birds come in. We thought they were geese at first, but they were just dead silent flying in. They landed in the river about 40 yards in front of us. They were swans. It surprised us since it was towards the end of November, most swans were way south by this point. There was one all white swan and the other three were bluish color. I remembered that I still had my swan tag and we were still in the hunting district for it. So I aimed down at the all white swan and shot. The shot went right over it's head. They all looked around, then went back to feeding. So I chambered another round and aimed again only lower. Pulled the trigger and watched the swan's head fall sideways into the water. Both Collins and myself ran out into the water before the current and wind could push it away. I grabbed it and brought it back to blind so I could put my tag on it, all the while thanking God for not letting me rip up that tag. After that we had a few more flocks of geese fly over without a shot at them. We decided to call it a day early so I could take the swan to the taxidermist to get mounted. I put half down on the mount since it was going to cost $960 for the mount, but it was a mount well worth it. The taxidermist was surprised when I walked in with the swan, since he has never heard of anyone taking one this late in the season. Six months later I got the mount back and hung it up on the wall. I haven't put in for swan tag since but if I do, I will shoot a blueish colored swan for eating since they are younger and taste better than the older white swans. It was one of my most memorable hunts and I love the fact that I am one of the few people that have a swan mounted in their house. Everyone that has been over has been surprised by the size since it looks smaller in photos.
Me holding my tundra swan up after tagging it.
Our canada geese and swan for the day on the hood of my jeep.
My swan hung up on the wall above the couch, when me and my wife stand under it, the beak almost touches our heads.
Need help in boosting your YouTube videos go to https://www.tubebuddy.com/onthewaterflies
Website created using Wix. Create your own website at http://wixstats.com/?a=12682&c=2252&s1=