Parrothead
10-17-2005, 08:25 PM
Well, normally, I am not a superstitous person. I am not sure what to make of the situation that happened this last Saturday, October 15, 2005 the North Zone Opening Day for duck & goose.
I spent most of Friday evening getting things ready for the hunt. I have been hunting dove, early goose & teal already so things aren't too disorganized.
I wake up when the alarm goes off at 3:45am.
I get dressed and pack up the truck.
I leave on time heading to meet up with the first group of guys to then go meet up with the second group before heading to the wildlife area.
I get about 5 miles from home and get the begeejuz scared outta me as a black cat darts across the road in front of me...BAD LUCK RIGHT????
This is where things get weird.
Like I have said, I am not normally a superstitous person but this cat just gets me thinking.. what could go wrong today? I did the mental check of everything. I had no lead shot, I had gun, waders, decoys, bug spray, extra clothing. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks....WHERE'S MY HUNTING LICENSE AND STAMPS?!?! I remember that I did not see them in my pile of stuff the night before. I continued about 1/2 miled down the road to turn around to get them. I come back to the point the cat had crossed the road in front of me...DANG CAT!!!!!! It runs across the road again. Now, had I seen him soon enough the frist time he would not have made it across the road. I did not figure him to try again.
So now this BAD LUCK BLACK CAT has crossed my path 2 times in less than 2 minutes. What is my luck now? Is it double bad luck or is it taken the first bad luck away?
Hoping for the second I make mental list of everything to see if I had just mistaken not having my license and stamps. NO such luck.
I get home and wake the dogs and wife up AGAIN..not a good thing.
I turn the house upside down looking for the pouch of valuables...no luck.
I have already called and told the guys I was running behind due to the license. I told them to go ahead and I would meet up later after I found them.
That soon changed to I would meet them IF I find them, then, If I am not there by 8:30 I aint coming so good luck and let me know how the hunt was.
So, after getting the wife and dogs back to sleep and catching a few minutes of zzz's myself I continue the search to no avail.
The clock turns 8:30 before I know and obviously have decided to stay home on this day. Shortly before 9 I receive a call from one of the guys asking if I had found them yet. Of course the answer was NO and he replies telling me that I had not missed anything. The moon had been bright all night and the sun came up bright and shining all morning. The ducks did not fly well after first light. They had packed up and headed out before 9am.
Now I find myself in a situation that I don't know whether the black cat was a good thing or bad thing.
If I had not seen that black cat:
1) I would have been out in the field without my license and stamp. I know I had bought them but the federal stamp they can't find out if you have purchased because they don't keep track of that like the electronic license and I could very easily have received a ticket for failing to exhibit a license, wetlands habitat, and federal stamp (Probably good luck there)
2) I would have gone 45 miles to hunt on an unproductive morning so I got more sleep (more good luck?)
3) I missed opening morning which I hate to do and only miss on a rare occassion like being out of town on vacation or something crazy like that. (bad luck?)
4) I never did find my licenses and have had the duplicates issued already costing me another $21 including the Federal stamp. (bad luck for sure)
Did the black cat crossing my path cause good luck or bad luck?
Did the second crossing cause more bad or good luck or did it cancel out the first crossing?
HELP!!!!
I spent most of Friday evening getting things ready for the hunt. I have been hunting dove, early goose & teal already so things aren't too disorganized.
I wake up when the alarm goes off at 3:45am.
I get dressed and pack up the truck.
I leave on time heading to meet up with the first group of guys to then go meet up with the second group before heading to the wildlife area.
I get about 5 miles from home and get the begeejuz scared outta me as a black cat darts across the road in front of me...BAD LUCK RIGHT????
This is where things get weird.
Like I have said, I am not normally a superstitous person but this cat just gets me thinking.. what could go wrong today? I did the mental check of everything. I had no lead shot, I had gun, waders, decoys, bug spray, extra clothing. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks....WHERE'S MY HUNTING LICENSE AND STAMPS?!?! I remember that I did not see them in my pile of stuff the night before. I continued about 1/2 miled down the road to turn around to get them. I come back to the point the cat had crossed the road in front of me...DANG CAT!!!!!! It runs across the road again. Now, had I seen him soon enough the frist time he would not have made it across the road. I did not figure him to try again.
So now this BAD LUCK BLACK CAT has crossed my path 2 times in less than 2 minutes. What is my luck now? Is it double bad luck or is it taken the first bad luck away?
Hoping for the second I make mental list of everything to see if I had just mistaken not having my license and stamps. NO such luck.
I get home and wake the dogs and wife up AGAIN..not a good thing.
I turn the house upside down looking for the pouch of valuables...no luck.
I have already called and told the guys I was running behind due to the license. I told them to go ahead and I would meet up later after I found them.
That soon changed to I would meet them IF I find them, then, If I am not there by 8:30 I aint coming so good luck and let me know how the hunt was.
So, after getting the wife and dogs back to sleep and catching a few minutes of zzz's myself I continue the search to no avail.
The clock turns 8:30 before I know and obviously have decided to stay home on this day. Shortly before 9 I receive a call from one of the guys asking if I had found them yet. Of course the answer was NO and he replies telling me that I had not missed anything. The moon had been bright all night and the sun came up bright and shining all morning. The ducks did not fly well after first light. They had packed up and headed out before 9am.
Now I find myself in a situation that I don't know whether the black cat was a good thing or bad thing.
If I had not seen that black cat:
1) I would have been out in the field without my license and stamp. I know I had bought them but the federal stamp they can't find out if you have purchased because they don't keep track of that like the electronic license and I could very easily have received a ticket for failing to exhibit a license, wetlands habitat, and federal stamp (Probably good luck there)
2) I would have gone 45 miles to hunt on an unproductive morning so I got more sleep (more good luck?)
3) I missed opening morning which I hate to do and only miss on a rare occassion like being out of town on vacation or something crazy like that. (bad luck?)
4) I never did find my licenses and have had the duplicates issued already costing me another $21 including the Federal stamp. (bad luck for sure)
Did the black cat crossing my path cause good luck or bad luck?
Did the second crossing cause more bad or good luck or did it cancel out the first crossing?
HELP!!!!