Wonderful morning down by the lake.

[Rickstir]

Sunday, Mar. 9

I was 5 minutes late when I walked out of the house this morning. The switch to daylight savings time got me mixed up. As I started down the hill to the lake I could hear a pair of Canada geese honking close and getting closer. I stopped as they crossed the road to my left. As soon as they cleared the cedars they were flying into the wind and switched to landing mode. Wings cupped, heads erect and landing gear down; they were on the glide path and sailed the final 200 yards at an angle that put them square in the middle of the lake. This is my favorite scene in nature, geese landing.
Their congratulatory honking changed to alarm however as I made my way to our peninsula island. They did not like this at all and were up and off struggling this time because they were going with the wind. But they made it right over the house.
I carefully creped out onto the island and checked the snares. I guess I should tell you I am after river otters that are killing the fish in our lake. Two days ago we found the head of about an 8lb. channel catfish they had eaten. I shot one on Thursday morning but there were more. Yesterday the morning vigil was fruitless but in the afternoon I discovered that an otter had been in a snare but broke it. That is one big otter.
So here I was back at them. Seeing no action around the path they use to exit the lake, I got my stool I had stashed in the weeds and took up the hunt, sitting at the very end of the island.
I enjoy being out before sun up. After I got settled the owls started hooting, about 3 of them. Then a turkey gobbled off to the west. High over head snow and blue geese were flying south; "wrong way" I said to myself.
Spring is coming fast to NE MO. The redwing blackbird males have taken up residence around our 3.5 acres lake. I noticed a willow tree had split under the strain of winter's ice and one large branch was now completely blocking the front of the island preventing any fishing until it is removed. It is a great spot to fish and was the place I caught the very first fish from our new lake almost 10 years ago.
After about 45 minutes I heard a "thump" on the island about 8 o'clock behind and to my left. I silently clicked the safety off of the Remington 870C Police 12 gauge loaded with 8 rounds of 00 buckshot. A few seconds later (seemed like minutes) there was some thrashing and I saw some bushes move down on the edge of the water. I had to get up and creep three or four steps, gun at ready and peaked over the edge. There he was, boom went the black shotgun. He thrashed a little and then became still, dead still. Then I noticed he had gotten hung up in a snare.
He was a small one though, the big guy is still out there, and so will I.
ps: It is legal to hunt otters if they are causing damage to your ponds. This is probably one of the biggest mistakes the conservation department has made, re-introducing these pests. Just ask any farmer about otters.