What's in a Number?? Miles

803.3    That's a big number any way you look at it I guess.  Today that number represented the miles I drove in search of Snow Geese in North Dakota.  (I don't want to know how that corresponds with miles per gallon and doll$rs per gallon, ouch) Why the heck would I put myself through this back-wrenching ordeal, all for the possibility of shooting some tundra killers?

The first answer is I'm obsessed.  There's really no other way to describe these actions beyond that - obsession.  I'm addicted to hunting.  It's not the killing part (take a hike P.E.T.A. freaks), but rather the whole experience; finding birds, setting up what I hope to be a good decoy spread, dealing with mud, snow, rain and mud, being outside in the thick of things.  I thank my dad for instilling this desire in me since before I can remember.

The other reason would be two weeks ago.  I was out here in NoDak exactly two weeks ago and had an awesome time.  There is nothing quite like witnessing the spring Snow Goose migration.  Seeing tens of thousands of birds in the area gets my blood pumping like nothing else. 

And then they're gone.

Gone in the most gone of ways.  Gone to the fields and waters of Canada on their way to the Artic and Sub-Artic.  These little tundra munchers work their way up from Texas to places I've never seen, every single year.  You've got to give them credit, for surviving the onslaught of bird shot across North America to their breeding grounds is an awesome feat.

But getting back to today.  What a day.  I saw pretty much every place in North Dakota that is accessible by road.  Accessible roads this time of year are hard to come by in the Dakotas I might add.   
1260.  That's the mileage I put on two weeks ago out here in the plains.    
257.  The number of snow geese we brought home with us from that trip.    
1. One banded bird shot on that trip.  A prize that will hang on my call lanyard and always remind me of that specific hunt.

0.   The number of birds shot today, the number of decoys I set up today, the number of shells I loaded into my repeater today, the number of pictures I took of a successful hunt today, the number of square footage of tundra I saved today, and most importantly, the number of regrets I have for trying to find whitey today.


1.  One great photo from two weeks ago that drove me to come out to NoDak by myself with a loaded truck and trailer today,  to try and get one last crack at them before the long days of summer.