5 years ago
• The opening day of dove season, September 1, is the popular beginning of the fall hunting seasons and expert dove hunters say it is going to be a good dove season.
According to long-time dove hunter Riley Colson, from Mississisppi County, hunting action should be good from opening day onward.
Colson is still in high school, but has more dove hunting experience under his belt than most hunters three times his age. (Bill Cooper)
• “We need to take students to Missouri!” said Aaron, my Houghton College colleague. “There are 49 other states to choose, hell-bent on Missouri?”
This was a really odd choice of words as I was momentarily to discover.
“Because Missouri has the Ozarks. And the Ozarks have everything. Even hellbenders,” he retorted with a reptilian gleam in his eye that only tenured herpetology professors can muster. (Dr. Eli J. Knapp)
10 years ago
• I am turning off the blacktop onto a gravel road, pot-holed, dusty and hazy in the summer heat. I have traveled this same, unchanged road for the last 58 years of my 70-year span.
I am on this road for the same reason as the first trip, which is a smallmouth bass fishing expedition. I have with me two of my four grandsons, all of whom are my fishing buddies. (Don Herzinger)
• I ran unusually late that morning. “Early, early, early” is my normal battle cry when waterfowl season is open.
However, that morning happened to be the first day of the September goose season.
Not many people hunt geese in September and geese are not early risers.
Therefore, I conjectured that my late arrival should coincide with goose flights perfectly. The parking lot at the boat ramp looked like the Maytag repairman’s office — empty.
I would have the lake to myself, although I did hope for the company of passing geese.
Planning is always an important part of any hunting adventure. On the other hand, first trips of the year, or of a given season, reveal the forgotten extras learned from the previous year’s excursions. (Bill Cooper)
