HURRY SPRING

We've been at LoBank the past couple days and trying to get some of our early spring projects completed. Its been a beautiful 50 degrees all weekend and believe it or not we've had 3 beautiful days of sunshine. Several have mentioned that the long term forecast is for more of the same. Some are even predicting Hendrickson's by mid April which would be a least 3 weeks earlier than normal . Unfortunately we're still not able to get out to work the dogs. There are some open patches of woods on the south side of hills but still 6-10 inches most everywhere else. The sun melts the top layer during the day but re-freezes at night and creates an icy crust. The river is considerably lower than we'd expect. This winters snowfall was much less than normal and the runoff will be minimal. We'll need some rain during March and early April to avoid record low depths and the resulting water temperature rise. The locals are concerned about forest fires during the summer but we grouse hunters know that "well contained" fires are actually healthy for the forests and help create new cover. Got a welcome call from Dave Hughes who told me "AL" is doing very well and he's looking forward to the springs first championship in Rhode Island. Then it will be on to the Ontario Championship before coming here in mid-April. Reports on Daisy indicate she's definitely going to be a horseback shooting dog and will probably go with Luke Eisenhardt for his spring/summer program and next falls futurities. The girls, Lu & Molly Bette, are anxious to start chasing woodcock. I'll try to get them out near home where there is much less snow in the next week or so. They've been jumping against the pickup all weekend and simply don't understand why we're here but not going out. We all say "Hurry Spring".