"You got it," I quickly replied and with that had a Saturday saved for him and his buddies. "There are five doors in the blind so fill it if you want." I said before hanging up.
The Saturday rolled around and I was excited because there seemed to be some new snow geese moving into the area.
I was untarping the four wheeler when Luke rolled into the parking area.
"Ready for the day?" I said as Halibut the dog raced around our feet in pure excitement.
"Oh boy are we," came the quick reply. I met one of Luke's friends I'll call Henry (probably because that is what everyone calls him) and later a friend named Adrian... same deal with his name. I sure Wouldn't want to embarrass anyone here... oh wait, maybe I would.
We loaded decoys and batteries on the four wheeler, stacked guns and lots of shells around batteries and off we drove to the blind. We could hear the roar of hundreds, or maybe it was thousands of snows on their resting area ponds in the distance. It might be a good day.
We quickly set out the decoys and got the vortex machines spinning, cranked up the sound system (I promised the boys music all day, but failed to tell them it was snow goose sound tracks playing on the mp3 players)
Shooting hours found us a little behind. I had planned the morning with four of us setting up decoys and it ended up being three instead. One of the young men's dad insisted his son sleep in order to play baseball later in the day. I am impressed that there are still some great young men who obey their parents in their high school years. we hear so much about the trouble kids, but there are still some very good guys out there.
We were decoying geese and trying to guide Adrian to our parking area by cell phone, as he drove in Luke raced over on the four wheeler to retrieve him.
At last we had the blind in order and the guys ready for action.
The first bird in was a single the made the fatal mistake of circling right over the blind. A barrage of shotgun fire had our first goose of the morning in the blind.
It wasn't long until another single bird came sailing over wings locked on the decoys.
"Ok boys," I whispered get ready we'll take him on the next pass. The white goose was dropping quickly into the decoy spread and coming right over the blind. I didn't even reach for my gun, as I knew the boys had this one in the bag.
"Take him now!" I shouted watching the boys spring into action.
It sounded like a war broke out. boom, boom, boom... and boom, boom... the crash of gun fire seemed endless.
And the goose? he just kept flying! Right out of the decoys and into the happy distance.
I looked down the blind at the three young men. All stood in disbelief.
"No Way! Impossible! Can't be!" I kept hearing over and over as they reloaded their guns.
I had a good laugh at their expense. I would never tell them how many times I had a sure thing in my hands only to watch it fly away untouched. That is the thrill of the hunt. If you got something every time you pulled the trigger it would become very boring. It is never boring with me shooting!
The boys made up for it on the next goose that came in and had a pair in the blind.
Adrian had to take off just when the best flight time was beginning to make it to his baseball game.
"Hey, we'll think of you while we are shooting!" We teased as he headed to his car.
Luke, Henry, and I did our best to make Adrian feel bad about not being there. We shot as many geese as we could, just for him, of course!
The boys had a good shoot that morning. If I remember right the boxes of shells were looking pretty thin by the time they had to leave. We had shot and shot, missing more than we hit, but sure having fun trying.
We stacked the snows up at the end of our morning hunt and had a good total of ten with us not counting the two Adrian took with him.
I wish I could have taken the boys many more times but the season is so short and the boys had baseball starting so that was our time.
I hope times in a blind will ignite a fire within for the outdoors. It seems like they are starting down that road but there is so many distractions for our youth now days. Most of it is in sports like baseball, football, and then the endless computer games. Hunting and fishing seem to be placed on the back burner in favor of these other interests.
My life has revolved around the outdoors, so much that my entire living is made in the outdoors.
I must say it was a great day with the "Boys".
I feel confident that we have a great group of young men making their way into the real world.
Luke, Henry, and Halibut with the days harvest
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