OK with not reaching tab, bag limit

A bird hunter from Arizona was caught earlier this fall in Malta with 65 sharptail grouse in his freezer.

He was fined and lost his hunting rights for two years.

Normally I would be glad to hear of such a bust, glad that a scofflaw got his comeuppance, but this was different. I’d met the guy a couple of times and liked him.

Al had been coming to Malta for more than 20 years. He stayed in a camper down by the river, ran English pointers, and had little interest in hunting anything other than sharptails.

I don’t know what he was thinking with so many grouse in his possession. He certainly should have known better, but it cost him dearly. Al is 72. He won’t be able to hunt again until he’s 75, and at that age who knows? He may be done.

I hunt nearly every day from the first of September through December and can only imagine how terrible it would be to lose that opportunity. There’s little chance, however, that I’ll end up as Al did. I’m not a very efficient hunter. I seldom bag my limit. If I shoot a bird a day I’m tickled.

I also eat them as I go so there’s never a surplus of wild birds in the freezer.

What I bagged used to matter. Now it really doesn’t. What matters is that I get to hunt.

One of the reasons I got hooked on upland bird hunting is that it offered a chance to at least shoot at something every time out. Big game hunting is pretty much a one-shot deal -- fill the tag and you’re done.

But I’ve also become an inefficient big game hunter. I love to hunt deer even though I seldom shoot one. They’re rarely big enough to warrant me taking a shot.

There was a time -- not so long ago -- that I’d be disappointed if I didn’t fill all my tags or bag my daily limit. I didn’t hunt as much then as I now do and wanted to make the most of each outing.

Now it’s the outings themselves that matter the most. If I come home empty-handed, there’s always tomorrow and the day after that. And if I mind my Ps and Qs, there’s always next season.

At least I hope there is. You never know. Just look at Al.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]