7/25/2023 0 Comments Lac qui parle dakota tune tempo“BARK,” “BARK,” “BARK!” Guinness finally calmed and I had my head on a swivel.ĭucks were crossing all over the sky. He wasn’t so sure of the whole arrangement. As I climbed lower, I pulled and Guinness had to inch forward. I pulled out the leash and wrapped it around the ladder handles going into the pit. I quickly settled into the pit my compadre, partner, and buddy, however, was not too sure about this pit contraption.Īfter many minutes of him barking and me coaxing, we were still at stage one. I’d hauled my own two dozen in on my back so I set all three dozen up. The DNR was nice enough to have a dozen dekes in the pit. The cornrows closest to me were being inundated with mallards/snow geese/Ross’ Geese/specklebellies/mallards, and honkers/honkers/honkers! There were lots of birds in the air as I frantically set up. Rules were read and only six shells per day, per hunter were allowed for the Lac qui Parle’s controlled hunt. I thought a pit would work well for Guinness. I was chosen second out of five guys for the drawing and I picked pit blind #46. Large bay windows looked over giant Lake Lac Qui Parle, which is a widening of the Minnesota River. Now this gets a guy’s blood pressure going! Lots of taxidermy mounts of many different species were inside the DNR building. You could see black lines off in the distance whichever direction you looked. That is a lot of geese! Waves of geese were buzzing over the parking lot returning to the lake after feeding. I looked twice and put in the comma - 112,000 - 112K! One Hundred and Twelve Thousand! I felt like I was signing a check that is given to a lottery winner. The giant sign on the outside of the building read 112000. I shifted into park and held that posture for 5 seconds. The DNR check-in facility looked brand new, and I was right on time - a half-an-hour before the 10 a.m. Instantly, I was brought back to my youth Honker hunts at the famous Horicon Marsh in southern Wisconsin. The Canada goose in-flight etched onto the black granite of the “Appleton” sign made me crack a smile. The Appleton city limits sign was a welcome sight. Nevertheless, we plowed headfirst down the road into the early morning darkness. The “Blind Board” for Lac qui Parle controlled hunting zone. These kinds of temperatures produce the waterfowler’s nemesis: Ice. Paul temperature near where I lived offered up a balmy 17 degrees. The radio said Madison, Minn., was the coldest spot at minus 3 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill many degrees below that - I’d never heard of this town and didn’t want to find out where it was located! WCCO 830 radio weather greeted me with news of record lows for this day in Minnesota history. This was especially true for the temperature. Within 15 miles from home things seemed to be going downhill and quickly. I had a better start then Guinness, however, as he proceeded to throw up right onto the middle seat. Guinness and I began our day early and on the road. I hoped to hear some of these same voices just as the Dakota had for centuries before me. Lake Lac qui Parle is the French translation of the Dakota Indian language, which means "lake of voices." The geese we were after were on that same lake. We were going to hunt Lake Lac qui Parle in the Lac qui Parle Wildlife Management Area in western Minnesota - right next to the famous stopping grounds of the Dakota Indians. I’d packed all week with Guinness, my 6-month-old black lab at my side, gathering decoys, calls, camouflage clothing, goose shells, and warm clothing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |