Sunday, November 14, 2010

A Black Cat Crossed My Path...

I've never been the superstitious type, but I may have to reconsider in light of a recent event. Here's the story:

We were driving back from a hunting and fishing trip at Fort Peck Reservoir. Miles and miles of dirt roads...over 50 miles from our campsite to the nearest pavement. The trip had been fantastic. A week of wall tent camping with daily excursions for mule deer or a short walk down to the water to fish. By the end, our group harvested two mule deer, but the overall amount of wildlife we saw was amazing. The Fort Peck area is home to just about everything that walks or swims in Montana, surrounded by bountiful public lands...truly a sportsman's paradise. I digress, back to the story...

So here we are bumping along down this road in the middle of nowhere, and this black cat trots across in front of us, briefly pausing to ominously glare before running off into the sea of sagebrush. Honestly, at the time, the thought of it being a sign of bad things to come never crossed my mind. My last thought as the cat ran off was wondering why this kitty was roaming so far from the safety of a ranch house. Let's face it, it is a rough neighborhood out there with the likes of coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and eagles around.

Unfortunately, the first of the bad luck was not long in showing up. Although, the wrong turn was really a minor inconvenience, it did cut into our carefully rationed gasoline supply and left us sweating a little as we managed to get into Lewistown. After that, it was smooth sailing all the way through Big Timber and onto I-90 for the cruise home. It was this moment, however, that the evil kitty had portended way back on the open prairie. It came out of the darkness, just a quick flash as it suicidally tried to cross the interstate. And then we collided. A nice '93 White Ford Bronco (O.J. Simpson Edition) with a good size whitetail buck. Needless to say, it turned out worse for the deer than for us. Our radiator was still intact and not leaking, and after some repositioning of the bumper with rope we were able to drive the rest of the way home. With one headlight, naturally.

Damn cat.

6 comments:

  1. Matt,
    Just dropping by to let you know your blog has been chosen to be one of our Featured Outdoor Bloggers of the week! Congrats on a job well done here.
    Your RSS feed is now live on the OBN and the announcement post will be up within the hour.
    Rebecca and Joe

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  2. Hi Matt, just dropping over from the OBN. Congratulations on being a featured blogger! I am going to follow your blog as what I see here is really good stuff. I live in Idaho Falls, Idaho, so have had opportunities over the years to fish some in Montana. Your waters have treated me well!

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  3. I just joined OBN and found out about your blog. Great site and content!

    btw...I hope the cat doesn't change your luck for too long. It's gotta change back to good luck sometime!

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  4. Hi Matt, from Northern California Trout. Saw your feature on OBN too and thought I'd stop by. All through my posts, I talk about superstition and fishermen. I think you got one from the dark side.

    Mark

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  5. Me too! Waddled on over from OBN and I'm definitely going to add your blog to my favorites list! It's cool to see your progress in going after all those native fish! I don't know about game-fish, but I'm pretty sure I've caught every single chub, dace, horneyhead, and minnow my state has to offer! ;)

    I'll check back here often. I think your blog is one to watch!

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  6. last time a black cat crossed my path I totaled a ford pick-up and a 4 point Roosavelt... you got off easy!

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