Cast & Blast: May 2009

May 3, 2009

2009 Turkey

I drew a 2009 Southern Utah Turkey tag. After sitting in blinds, trying to put one to bed, and scouting many nights, I shot this bird as I was driving out west one evening with my father-in-law. We were just going to go for a drive to see if we could see anything and this LITTLE Jake ran across a road perpendicular to us. I jumped out of my truck and went and shot it. Hunting is simply being in the right place at the right time.

Like many fly fisherman.....I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.

---Norman Maclean