A bit of a close call, but not dangerous.

Yukon Mike

Well-known member
Yesterday I went out scouting for the opener, found a bunch of geese, picked out a plan A,B,C of set ups depending on the wind, and came home to get the gear out. Decoys were located and loaded in the pick up, gun oiled, clothes laid out - I was feeling pretty ready for the morning. Just before bed I got a call from farmer Steve, "You might be the only one shooting out there tomorrow.", he says.

"Great!", says I.

"No, Mike, check your calendar."

HOLY CRAP!

"... sorry your Honor I didn't realize we weren't using the Mayan calendar this year."

In 30 odd years of hunting I don't think I've ever screwed up on WHEN opening day was like that.

Mike
 
hahahah I did something like that too with my gator permit last year.

Coulda sworn my opener was on a friday.....turned out it was the saturday NOT the friday. Good thing we were having lunch with Scott and he was there to teach me how to read a calendar. WHOOOOOOPS.
 
Mike~

I once ALMOST went a day after closing - calendar error - but, upon reflection, couldn't help but wonder whether law enforcement would have been in bed, too......

All the best,

SJS
 
Me too, had a hard time figuring out why no one was out on the first day of a split. Didn't hunt but was planning on it.
 
I have yet to actually go out early or late, but there have been several times over the years when I did second guess myself. Where I often hunt, there are almost always several others out. When I end up with the lake to myself, I can't help but wonder if I goofed...

Jon
 
I had a client come in two years ago going on and on about how great his grouse opener was the weekend before...he was so embarrassed when I told him it was the coming weekend that his wife has brought the dogs ever since. Initially he got defensive and when I asked how many other hunters he saw it finally clicked.
 
Back when the goose season on the Atlantic flyway was re-opened and the season was split into two short periods, I may or may not have shot a banded goose on the wrong week and not realized the error until I sent the band numbers in by mail.......
 
I went squirrel hunting on a Sunday here in CT. We're not allowed to hunt on Sundays. Luckily, I didn't see any. Walked back to my truck and called my wife asking her what time the Auburn game cam on. Her reply, "Yesterday. Why?". It was that moment when the "Oh shit!!" went into effect.

FAR more careful now.
 
It always seems to be season's end that gets me. My son and I had a wonderful rig out in front of a favored blind, wind perfect, no one nearby and I had just got my first banded Canada the evening before. Somebody stood on shore honking his truck horn and yelling. We ignored him. Finally a guy in a kayak stalking geese (for which the season was still on) paddled by and told us that was the game warden yelling at us. Didn't we know the damn duck season closed Saturday? I all my years they had never closed the season on Saturday or the day before the end of a month. This was Sunday, last day of the month. I knew the game warden and he had a good time laughing at me but didn't write me up because it was the first time they ever closed a season halfway through the weekend and he agreed it was iike a trap for the unwary. A few years later they closed the season on a Wednesday! But I got my own back because I had been laid off as disabled and had Tuesday to myself. My arthritis had me creaking like the tin man without oil but I was out there for the close.
 
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