Feels like hunting season

Although it was the middle of July, the breeze carried with it the promise of fall and all that entails. And like a warm zephyr on a cool night, it made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

I was filled with a feeling of dread that hunting season was starting without me.

I’ve had that dream before, but this time I was awake, fully aware of what time it was and it wasn’t time to go hunting.

“Feels like hunting season,” I said to my wife.

“Kinda does, doesn’t it?” she replied, not looking up from the book she was reading.

I’d risen from my chair on the patio to look around the corner of the house at the approaching weather, half expecting to see a snow squall blowing in, but was greeted instead by a clear sky.

My panic subsided. I wasn’t missing a thing.

Yet.

There are less than six weeks left until the opening of bird season. That sounds like plenty of time, but I know how quickly it will pass. After the Fourth of July, summer always seems to speed up, each day shorter than the one before until all of a sudden it’s gone.

I used to lament the passing of summer primarily because it meant school was about to start. Now I look forward to its end. The cooler days are easier to handle than the heat, and the crowds are gone. No more wake board boats on the lake, no more crowded trailheads, fewer cars on the road.

It’s also time to hunt, to follow the dogs, to carry a gun again.

In the meantime I’ll fish, swim and complain about the hot weather.

But there‘s little chance that hunting season will start without me. While I may immerse myself in all things summer over the next few weeks, hunting looms large in my thoughts. I won’t miss its start and I won’t miss summer because of it.

I usually start thinking about hunting season when the prairie grass turns yellow. This year, however, because of all the rain, much of Montana is still green. It doesn’t look as late as it is.

Had the wind not carried on it the essence of fall, I might still be in summer mode, enjoying that small window of sultry weather we get in Montana to counter the long winters.

Instead, I’m restless and uneasy. I worry hunting season will start without me.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]