Hunting in North Dakota and Thanksgiving in South

I had owed my brother a visit to the Dakotas to go pheasant hunting for about three years, so finally made good last year.

And after this post, I will be less than 12 months in arrears on blog posting. Which I get a lot of crap from from just about everyone I know. Constant criticism for my failure to update the blog with the breadth (and depth) of all the fantastic activities in which I take part almost constantly. I sicken even myself with my lassitude.

At any rate, my brother lives in SoDak, but his hunting property is in NoDak. It was like a three-hour drive or something along those lines. It’s apparently cold there in mid- to late-November.

My view on the ride up.

What else? Not much else. When we stopped to get gas, I saw this old car.

I guess that could’ve been plural. Then, my brother’s place where you walk around carrying a shotgun while watching a dog run around looks like this:

So anyway. There were a lot of high weeds and the ground is covered in a thatch of old grass such that walking in it is akin to walking in soft sand. Somewhat taxing. Also, you kind of can’t keep you hands in your pockets while holding onto the shotgun, so you get to go through a fun freezing-numb-burning-okay again process with your exposed hands.

I didn’t catch anything. I think I only fired one or two shots at an actual pheasant (male, not female). I had a pretty good shot at a snowy owl, but I don’t think they’re good eating, even if the actual pilgrims did eat eagles at the first Thanksgiving. Which (probably) wasn’t even a feast of thanksgiving.

Drove back to SoDak for n+1th (n–1th?) Thanksgiving. Then back to NoDak for walking around in fields and following a dog. Then drove back to SoDak. Flight got canceled after I arrived at the airport. The flight the next day also got canceled. Then I got them to put me on a Delta flight, which didn’t get canceled, which, oddly, is the coolest thing United has done for me in the last several years.

After one of the cancellations, went to lunch and took this photo.

Which I like because of who the only person was that was courteous enough to look at and smile for the camera.

Then I flew back to OK and probably taught a class or something.

bad