There are a variety of Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks programs designed to recruit new hunters and anglers. All efforts are in response to a declining trend in the number of Kansans who purchase hunting and fishing licenses, as well as the desire to see our outdoor heritage passed on. But the positive impact of teaching youngsters about the outdoors may go much deeper than merely passing on a heritage.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Optimism Required

The duck season closed Sunday and the pheasant and quail seasons close today. It hasn't been a banner season in this area for either one. Our pheasant and quail numbers were down due to last summer's extreme heat and drought. And while record numbers of ducks were forecast, the drought reduced the amount of water in this area, and we never saw any build of up of ducks. Oh well, the weather was mild, and I enjoyed my time in the field with dogs and friends. My hunting partners and I are already talking about next year. If we get just a little more moisture in the next few months and we can avoid severe storms in May and June -- just maybe our bird numbers will rebound. I've been around long enough to see pheasant and quail make amazing recoveries when conditions were right for nesting and brood-rearing. There's hope. And we still have spring turkey season to look forward to. I don't hunt turkeys nearly as hard as I used to, but one or two mornings in the woods will carry me over until dove season.

Optimism and hope are necessary for hunters. Every year is different, and so much of what dictates the quality of our seasons is out of our control. You have to have optimism. I was reminded of that this past Saturday. A friend and I decided to hunt, even though we hadn't seen many ducks lately and our waterhole was getting very low. We hoped the warm temperatures had kept the water open, and we hoped we see a few ducks on our last hunt of the season. However, hope waned when we arrived to find ice covering the pond and the water lower than expected. We broke ice and placed a few decoys anyway. After an hour or so, we sort of gave up and decided ducks weren't in the cards. Guns were out of reach and we were idly chatting when about 25 wigeon and mallards coasted in over the decoys. No shots were fired, and we cussed our lack of attention causing a missed opportunity.  Only a couple more birds were seen, and we each took a mallard drake, but we laughed about what could have been if we hadn't lost optimism.

We'll get 'em next year.
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