It’s officially spring. The standout attribute of spring is that it heralds the return of heavy coats to the closet. Not put away, mind you. There’s still a healthy snow squall or two before us. But the worst of winter (below-zero temperatures) is behind us.
Still, it remains my least remarkable season. It’s mostly about mud.
I’m not against spring, mind you. There’s no summer unless there’s first a spring.
Off-highway travel is limited to need-to-drive status. If you need to drive an unpaved county road to get to work, of course you need to drive. But if you’re just cruising around, hoping to spot shaggy wildlife that survived winter, that’s not a need, it’s an annoyance. Needlessly driving on muddy roads in spring means the same road will be a rutted mess come summer.
This is a tricky time of year if you’re an ice angler. You may think you want to pull a few more fish through the fish, but that’s risky this time of year. I think waiting for ice out is the pro move, but you may have some high-elevation spots that remain safe.
There was an interesting post on the Flathead Valley Fishing Report Facebook page last week by angler Tyler Hicks. He did well through the ice at Rogers Lake and shared a beautiful shot of a grayling as it was released back into the water. The colors on that dorsal fin would be right at home on a concert poster for a 1968 psychedelic rock festival.
Unfortunately, Hicks reported that he picked up a 5-gallon bucket of trash off the ice. On that, we must do better. Outdoor slobs will ruin things for everyone.
He also reported solid ice but the replies included comments that the conditions had since deteriorated. That sounds about right for the first week of April.
If you’re considering testing solid water, repeat after me: “Wait for ice out! Wait for ice out! Wait for ice out!”
Be careful regardless.
My English setter Jade always gets a little stir crazy this time of year. For months she’s been content with brief forays into the backyard, long enough to take care of business, then ready to come right back in. That’s changed in the last few weeks, especially when we had a week of high temperatures in the 60s, and even the 70s a day or two.
I have a narrow window for dog running in the spring. Ticks are a problem here, so bad that in the next few weeks it will no longer be advisable until fall. So, for now, most of her exercise will come from pulling me down the jogging path. It’s not ideal, as I’m way too slow for her to get proper exercise, but a low-stress workout is better than none at all.
One thing I’ve never done in the spring that I’ll regret if I don’t finally get to it is visit a sharp-tailed grouse lek in spring. I’ve been a voyeur on sage grouse leks and it’s a hoot.
Compared to sharpies, sage grouse are lumbering blowhards on the courtship grounds.
Male sage grouse lumber about, blowing up yellow air sacs on their chest to create loud popping sounds as they release the air. For the right bird, it seems to work. All About Birds reports most females choose the same one or two, dominant males. In one instance, scientists documented a sage grouse male mating with 37 females in just 37 minutes.
Then the hens then wander off to raise their chicks on their own.
Male sharpies, on the other hand, strut about the lek like flamenco dancers, sometimes racing at one another like charging bulls. Fancy charging bulls. The male sharpies have flashy golden eyebrows, called superciliary combs, and inflate violet air sacs for their courtship ritual.
Unfortunately, they are no better fathers than their sage grouse cousins.