By Doug Leier
The window between Thanksgiving and Christmas has always been a reflective time for me. While we all have challenges in life, the truth is we need to intentionally look for points of thanks even in the storms of life. Down the list from your health, family and work would be hunting, fishing and time outdoors. For most its more of a diversion from the cold hard issues of life.
So, while some hunters didn’t draw a deer tag (again), others may have secured the tag but missed the shot. Pheasant numbers are up but that doesn’t mean some pockets didn’t produce like they have in the past for hunters.
Comparing hunts and seasons is something hunters are known for. But for so many past seasons comparisons the weather plays a crucial role in most of the good and not so good.
You don’t have to be a meteorologist, hydrologist, agronomist or even biologist to realize North Dakota’s weather in early 2023 was remembered for mostly the wrong reasons. Even going back to last year when the deer season was met with a nasty beginning to winter of wind, cold and snow that basically stuck around until Mother’s Day.
Winter lasted too long. Spring was too slow to arrive and as it would seem some places didn’t get enough rain. Others too much at the wrong time. For those of us who’ve spent our life here, the only consistent thing about our weather is the total lack of consistency.
Our memories can at times erase the bad, for the most part, which is good.
Do you remember 2019? That was when an October snowstorm hit much of North Dakota on opening weekend of pheasant season, which turned this treasured weekend into more of an exercise in dealing with snow and closed roads rather than chasing birds in some places.
That was quite a contrast to the pheasant opener on Oct. 10, 2015, when the daytime high was 97 degrees – a record high for the day, and the entire month in West Fargo. Hunters that year were worried about heat stress on dogs and taking care to not spark a fire on tinder-dry grasslands.
This year the high temperature in eastern North Dakota on Oct. 1 and 2 was near 90 in many places and some places 95. The first weeks of October were good for fishing, farming, hunting and just about anything outdoors.
Such is life on the prairie, we tell ourselves. We enjoy Thanksgiving and look for the good, while realistically knowing that the coming winter and next spring could bring additional sets of undesirable circumstances.
Even so, when it comes to weather extremes and wildlife and fish, there is often some sort of silver lining. We just have to look for it.
What will winter do in 2023-24. Honestly, we can listen to all the predictions in the world, but the truth is we’ll find out in due time.
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