Northwest Sportsman – August 2019

128 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com

not 10 yards to our 11 o’clock.

This time, I don’t disappoint

the dog and do my part, albeit not

without the obligatory right barrel

miss. The port side of the Model 24,

however, is spot on, and the bird –

September’s first – falls among the

dandelions and blackberries at the

edge of the old road.

“Sadie,” I tell her, but the words

are unnecessary, as the Labrador pro

makes short work of the retrieve.

Act III. A laidback kind of

afternoon. There’s three of us – me,

my wife, and her brother. Four if

you count the black dog, which you

definitely should, as she plays perhaps

the most significant role in the drama

unfolding. Seats in the shade; a cooler

of ice, water, and Gatorade. Oh, it’s

hunting all right, but it’s as informal

and relaxing and social as hunting can

be. That is, until the first dove screams

in from right to left, intent, it would

appear, on landing in the snag to our

12 o’clock. The brother-in-law stands,

mounts the light over-and-under,

swings, and promptly misses. Twice.

We poke fun as he takes his seat;

it’s what we do. But Karma isn’t a

nice person, and I whiff on not the

next one or two, but the next three

in-your-face opportunities. I hear

chuckling down the row.

A grown man, I think to myself.

Giggling.

“Let me show you it’s done,” Julie

announces, and then proceeds to grab

three-for-three with her shortened

M11-87.

Sadie Mae scoops up each, bringing

them directly to her mistress. Not her

master, the guy who feeds and waters

and shovels. Oh, no.

“This is pretty simple,” my wife

says, snagging the only – only – cold

Pepsi from out of the cooler. “You two

wanna step it up a bit.”

YEAH. I KNOW. September in the

Northwest means a lot of different

things to a lot of different outdoorsmen

and -women. Archery deer. Archery

elk. Bear. Cougar. You drew a

mountain goat tag? Your season kicks

off midmonth. Bighorn sheep tag?

Same-same. Then there’s fall turkey,

cottontails, and snowshoe hares. And

September Canada geese aren’t as

dumb as they’re made out to be. Expert

Bill Saunders advises decoying them

with smaller family groups, and setting

your blind up with the knowledge that

incoming birds will not want to land

amidst strangers like winter honkers

will. (JULIA JOHNSON)