Isn’t it funny how an object or scent or even a sound can bring back a memory?  Tonight I was sitting on the couch after work and I caught sight of the tuft of pheasant feathers Don hung above the hutch and it took me back to the Sunday hunting trip he and I took late last fall.

As we were gathering the things we would need, he suggested I bring the camera as he was sure we would see some shots worth snapping as we searched for pheasants and then he said something about having the pickup window down a lot which triggered an overwhelming desire in me to dress warm.  As I was deciding on the number layers to wear I remember him saying some other things too but apparently, I was not listening with both ears.  I found out later that only half listening to those other things he was saying could have put my future hunting adventures with him in jeopardy but when all was said and done, he still loved me.

With that being said we headed west and south and east and north and then south again and before long, I was lost.  It was a very chilly and windy fall day so the pheasants weren’t out and about like they are on the nicer days.  Our eyes searched many miles of fields and road ditches and finally we spotted a bird!  Don drove ahead and then turned around, grabbed his gun, hopped out of the pickup, ran down the ditch and POW!!! The pheasant dropped from the sky and immediately Don headed into the field to retrieve it.   I was totally amazed by what I had just witnessed.  If I had tried this I would have fallen out the pickup, stumbled into the ditch, forgot the gun and scared the pheasant into the next county.   Due to the fact that it was Don that did the shooting I received the opportunity to watch him grab the bird but rather than head back to the pickup he started walking away and before long he was out of sight.  It wasn’t long after he disappeared that I saw several pheasants flying over but knew I had no way of telling him he was heading the wrong way so I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures.  I could hardly wait to tell him about my pictures!  I knew he was going to be thrilled.  A while later I heard a gun shot which told me he found some pheasants but I was a bit distracted with the camera.  Eventually I glanced in front of the pickup and saw him walking my way.  I’m not sure why but some of the words he had mentioned earlier were sort of sinking in.  I snapped a few pictures of him as he looked so cute in his hunting clothes but then I thought, he might have said something about me driving the pickup ahead if he should end up walking as it was very cold.  I quickly hopped out of the passenger seat and as I began my walk around the front end of the pickup I heard him say, “It’s a little late!!!!”  Oops, I had waited too long.  He was really close.  When he got back to the pickup I remember seeing someone that would remind you of the cartoon character you would get if you threw Yosemite Sam and The Tasmanian Devil into a blender.  His ears were nearly frozen and the gun shot I heard was to get my attention and I had blown his plan completely to heck!  One thing I love about this man is that when he’s mad, he’s mad RIGHT NOW and when it’s over, it’s over.  The rest of the trip went really smooth.  His butt didn’t leave the pickup seat until we got home and when I zoomed in on the pictures I took of him walking in that ditch half frozen, torqued to oblivion but looking really cute and the one I took of him holding his dead pheasant when we got home, they almost look like the same guy!

I suppose it’s good the next pheasant hunting season is a spring and a summer and half of a fall away yet which will give Don’s frozen ears plenty of time to “warm up” to the idea of giving me another chance to go hunting.