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It’s bright and early on Labor Day and I’m laboring to find some photo opportunities. There’s weather stuff in the bag, but I’m prowling for a hunting scene.

I’ve driven by a man who just put his chocolate Labrador Retreiver — complete with blaze orange safety collar — back in the pickup, but there’s no other evidence of hunting. So I drive on.

I pass the airport and head farther west. Suddenly, I’m hearing shots fired and see a telltale V pattern and a bird falls.

I turn the truck around and pull off to the side of the road, grab the camera and go. Two men are standing at opposite ends of the field and two boys are running to retrieve.

Monty Nelson, son Eric, and his sons, 11-year-old Payton and 5-year-old Rylee, are enjoying Labor Day morning with one of their favorite pastimes — hunting. The other, reveals Monty, is fishing.

The family is decked out in camo or hunting T-shirts — Browning rifle (sigh. no relation) and Bass Pro Shops.

Payton is still at the BB-gun level and has yet to graduate to shooting game. You can tell Rylee is pretty new to the whole hunting thing – he’s complaining about getting bird blood on his hand.  There is a dog on the scene, but house dog Tammy, a Chihuahua, is smaller than the birds she’d be trying to bring back so the boys are performing the duty. They’ve had a busy hour, there’s close to a dozen birds there.

However, I’ve jinxed them and nothing flies over while I’m there. As soon as I head out, though, I hear shots firing again and hunting season’s opening day resumes.

Anyone else have a hunting story to share? Do you think the crazy spring and summer weather has affected the bird population?