Birthdays and holidays are nice. But to me, the best day of the year Opening Day. Or I should say “my” opening day. Up in Maine, the ruffed grouse season opens on October 1. I’m rarely in my coverts then. My season starts a few days in, and this year that day is today, October 6th.
Puck and I will be in field looking for birds by the time you read this. My hunting boots will already be muddy, my old 16 gauge Lefever will already have been passed from hand to hand and shoulder to shoulder many times. With some luck I’ll have some empty shells in my pocket and a little extra weight in my game pouch.
Potential, possibility, hope — that’s a new hunting season. Discovering what will be while revisiting what is every year – the rank of wet, rotting earth, the blaze of red maple leaves against the blue sky, the cling, clang, cling of Puck’s bell. Thank God it’s here again….