General Outdoors
Northern Lights
By Jon Mills
Feb 12, 2004, 08:33

The Northern Lights

After driving for what seemed like days, we finally arrived at our cabin tucked securely away in a grove trees, next to the lake. We met up with old friends and some new ones and caught up on the past years activities. Tired from the eight-hour drive and the couple beers, I decided to turn in for the night. As I laid there in bed so tired from driving, sleep was going to be evading. The anticipation of what the morning would bring was too much for me to sleep my mind was racing. I laid there for hours listening to the waves lap against the rocky shoreline, the wind blowing through the trees, and making several different sounds that I thought might be anything from coyotes to bears or even a moose. When we arrived earlier in the day the owner said we had missed seeing a moose by one day. Come to find out the bear was on the top bunk. My friend Rick unwittingly was doing his best imitation of a growling bear in his sleep.

At 4:00am the alarm finally broke the silence of our tiny room. The room was just big enough for two bunk beds on either side of a door way and the walkway in the middle, seeing four guys trying to scramble out of bed and be the first one to the restroom was indubitably a sight to see.

In the meantime on the other side of the cabin Bob was trying with no avail to awaken the two younger guys in our group, whom had stayed up all night drinking. So with seven guys in one small cozy cabin and one restroom being first out of bed was essential.

Bob being the joker that he is got out his duck calls and asked "are we hunting big ducks or little ducks" then held up two versions of a duck call, one was twenty four inches in height and as big around as a wine bottle and the normal sized one six inches and as big around as your thumb.

After a short breakfast of hot black coffee and white powdery donuts were all in our trucks and off to find the ideal North Dakota pothole for opening day of duck hunting. Once we arrived everyone gathered their equipment and set off in the dark to find the perfect spot to set up for the day's hunt. When we found the precise spot with the wind at our backs we started to set the decoys. That moment was the first time I noticed the glowing light that illuminated off the water. It seemed as if someone was holding a lantern up for me to see the job I was going in a better light, but busy with the task at hand I continued to set decoys in the water. Once all decoys were placed, we all found a spot in the reeds for cover. This was our first chance to sit down and wait for the sun to rise. It was at that moment I truly saw the "Lights" for the first time in all of its grandeur. It was a magnificent shimmering greenish blue light that streaked across the sky and twinkled the stars m! ore than I had ever seen before or since. The clouds were the color of a pastel teal so light and delicate it reminded me of blue cotton candy.

As the sun broke the horizon the lights slowly vanished and this was our indication that the season had started so with a pop of my gun my first North Dakota duck crashed into the water. This is where all the training and hard work during the past years paid off. My dog Dakota stood frozen like a statue next to my left side shaking with excitement, I released her with a point of my hand in direction of the downed bird and a shout of "BACK" she was off into the frigid water. With powerful strokes she cut through the water to retrieve her first bird, unfortunately when she only two feet away from the bird it dove beneath the surface of the water. Dakota seemed confused as she circled the area looking for the bird, but then she spotted something. She lurched forward and grabbed the object and returned to me sitting down on my left side she looked up at me as to say "aren't you so proud of my accomplishment". But what she had brought back was the plastic plug from the shotgun sh! ell instead of the bird. I was a little disappointed but told her she was a good dog took the plug from her mouth lined her up in the direction of the downed bird and released her again. This time when the bird dove she did also. It was an amazing site seeing my dog under water after her prey. When I saw Dakota emerge from the water with the bird in her mouth I was elated, two years of every day, fifteen-minute sessions did pay off.

On day two the light show was even more spectacular than the day before. The lights were dancing across the sky lighting up the prairie for all to enjoy. We hunted the fields on day two and the ducks just dumped into our spread, flock after flock came to feast in this one field, as is every hunters dream. We even had geese landing in our decoys. Two geese were decoying into our spread and at the last second they flared to the left trying to escape their fate. But they had flown just within range, I raised my shotgun to take a shot at the closest one and to my surprise I dropped both with one shot. Not a common occurrence, but everyone congratulated me on a good shot; I think it was more luck than anything else. Seven hunter and all had our limit within an hour. The rest of the day was spent clean ducks and reliving our morning adventure.

I often wonder in twenty years will the lights fade away or will this memory be as vivid in our minds as the first time or will it be reminiscent of a old fishermen's story told over and over and every time the story is told the fish grows by two inches.

Growing up in the Midwest I have never experienced anything such as this, hunting the Mississippi River and watching the sun come up with its brilliant reds and orange covered sky is one of the reasons that duck hunting is so peaceful for me, but seeing the Northern Lights is what brings me back to North Dakota every year.



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