Packing

Plans have been made to head to the Great Falls area Thursday and Friday in an attempt to harvest a swan! It has been awhile since I made a multi-day trip to hunt waterfowl and I am looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to seeing some new areas of Montana, particularly the areas where waterfowl like to congregate. All of western Montana talks about the area, but I am usually left in the dark when they start telling me about the area.

Unfortunately, Laura won't be able to come along to partake in the adventure. Though I have a feeling she isn't too upset about it. She likes to hunt, but not all day like I do. When I hunt all day I usually just skip all of the meals until I arrive home and Laura likes to snack and not starve herself.

This morning I was up early to do some hunting once again. It was a great morning to be outside and enjoy a nice sunrise, however the duck hunting was less than good. After seeing so many ducks on Monday, I returned to the pond and there wasn't a duck to be seen all day! Nothing. I put the goose shells on the ice and stood around for an hour and a half until I decided things were not going to get any better. I drove over to see how the swan was doing that I had seen on Monday... Sad news, the swan was laying on the bank, frozen solid... I was in a rather remote area and didn't have very good cellphone reception so I drove down the road aways and called the local wildlife office. After a few transfers and people trying to figure out what I needed to do, it was decided I would take the swan to Seeley Lake and drop it off at the office so they could later transport it to Missoula. It was a little out of my way, but I figured it was a something that needed doing and I was going to take care of it. Being an outdoorsman doesn't always involve killing things.

I need to keep packing my things and getting ready for the big trip. It's a little rushed, but should be a lot of fun! Until again

-=Nolan=-