Drought, Birds, and Money

Working my way through one of my favorite bird hunting spots I felt that somehow this year was different. That unlike the previous years birds were not flushing up from their usual hangouts and that despite my best efforts to find new sign I was coming up empty. Even the brown dog, jumping out of the truck as if he’d just sucked down one of those high energy drinks, was soon looking at me as if to say, “Hey, where the hell are all the birds?” Beginning to ask myself the same question I bent over to look at the ground and as I examined the grasses I started to realize that my fears from the summer were coming to fruition. That the birds, along with the moisture, had gone away some time ago.

The drought and dry season that devastated the entire Midwest and extended itself over into Oregon was now showing its colors. It had first played a role in my deer season and I could now see that it was taking a hold of my bird seasons. Not a good sign. Oddly enough, before this past month the effects of the dry seasons were only seen in small doses. Living so close to the mountains and having reliable river flows through our county this area was kept under the relative cloak of normalcy. Only our fire conditions mimicked the Midwest which, in and of itself caused many difficulties. But now, as I’ve headed out to bird hunt and enjoy my fall I’ve found myself seeing what the lack of rains really did to our rangeland.

It has been several weeks since our opening weekend and I have had little to no luck on either of my outings. With such success on my grouse hunts earlier this fall I had the silly notion that I would pick up right where I left off last year. Wrong. As I walked around on opening day I saw not only a plethora of hunters out which was odd, but also a very different landscape than the previous year. A landscape, that due to job and financial difficulties for me, I had not been out to in some while.

Walking the landscape I could see the damage our rangeland had to endure. A lack of water not only stressed our native grasses but the invasive weeds that intermingle their way through our countryside had taken full advantage of the stress; finding a way to survive where others could not. And while there were many native grasses that did make it through the season, much of the green sprouts utilized by upland birds at this time of year were nowhere to be found. It was in a word, depressing.

To top it off I can only imagine the strain young broods will have likely had to endure and while I really have nothing but my general knowledge to go off of, I would assume this was a tougher year than normal. On the other hand, that does not mean that every brood was decimated. There are very likely other broods that did succeed and as such, I believe that given the right landscape and conditions, there are most certainly areas out there holding the birds that I seek. Now the challenge becomes finding those areas, evaluating the habitat, and changing my search parameters.

If there is one thing I have prided myself in over the years it’s my ability to find those areas. To bounce from here to there and begin to cue in on the smaller things in life, or in this case, a bird’s habitat. But this year I find myself in the other unfortunate position of being squeezed by money troubles harder than I have ever been squeezed before and in a time when I should have put in at least half a dozen hunting days in I have been limited to two, having but one bird to show for it.

Part of hunting is getting out, exploring new locations, and marking them down on your map for future reference. Sort of a way to create a running tally of birds seen during which months so that heading into the next season, that same map, posted up on your wall, gives you detailed information about what you saw and where. And while I am still young and remember most of these things off the top of my head I know and understand that it will not always be that way. So, by developing this habit now I may in fact provide myself with some discipline later on in life…or at least one would hope.

However, as I mentioned, money troubles have made life difficult for me and this means that from here on out my decisions will have to be much more map based as opposed to driving around and looking at the area with my own eyes. Not really the best way to do business but, that’s just the way it is.

I will concede however that some of these spots did not really heat up for me until the first week in November and we are admittedly, a few weeks away from those days. So I keep up hope and face the upcoming challenges with excitement and trepidation, never really knowing what I’ll find myself in should I arrive at a new spot. But on the bright side, this is how we learn, how we find those spots that no one else has tried and as the markups on your maps continue to grow we know that when another dry season comes around, our chances of early success will be improved.

When all is said and done I welcome the challenge and with a full season of grouse hunting already under my belt I don’t feel quite as pressed to be out every day. However, soon enough, with the fall winds blowing in from the north, I’ll have to begin sacrificing home needs for gas and practical life purchases for shotshells. A tough move but above all, I consider myself a bird hunter and I can’t let a little thing like money get in the way of me and the dog getting out into the sagebrush.

Perhaps that’s wishful thinking. Even optimistic. Glass half full. Ah, I’ll keep telling myself that.