The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry,” from Robert Burns’s poem, “To a Mouse,” is known to be the genesis for the title of John Steinbeck’s famous 1937 novel. As I discovered the shivering little field mouse that occupied our pit blind in the middle of a Nebraska alfalfa field, Steinbeck’s novel came to mind. So I named the little mouse “Lennie,” an oxymoron if you are familiar with the character Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men. Lennie Small, you see, was a very large mentally-handicapped character while my Lennie the Mouse was a very small, and I am sure quite intelligent, mouse in a cold corner of the blind on a bluebird morning goose hunt.

After flying into Denver, Sioux Falls, Nebraska was our destination. Organized by Boyce Mann, we were scheduled to spend the next three days hunting ducks, geese, pheasant, partridge, and chukar at Grandview Great Outdoors, a Cabela’s endorsed lodge and hunting operation. Of course, we had to purchase hunting licenses, shotgun shells, and assorted other paraphernalia so a stop at Cabela’s in Sidney was part of the flight day plan. I can assure you, the Cabela’s management staff had smiles on their faces when the Georgia crew of Boyce and Payton Mann, Mike Maloy, Jim, Justin and Kirk Watson, Chris Kolgaklis, Steven Green, Judge Stephen Scarlett, Jeff and Wayne Rentz, Ken McCarthy, Frank Deloach, Gene Duncan, and I left the store.

Duck hunts begin early and our outfitter/guide, Dan Gueck, advised us after dinner that first evening that we would be awakened at 3:45 the next morning. Dan served a hunter’s breakfast at 4:15, and we were on our way to the duck blinds by 5:00. Mike Maloy, Boyce and Payton Mann, and the Steinbeck wannabe were paired with our guide Joe and his chocolate Labrador retriever, Doc. We were hunting a permanent pit blind adjacent to North Platte River. In the dark before daylight we helped Joe place the decoys and prepared the blind for the hunt.

Not far from our spot was a large reservoir where thousands of ducks roosted. Before daylight the ducks began leaving the reservoir and once it was light enough to see, the ducks continued to fly toward the feeding fields in huge numbers, possibly as many as 20,000 ducks that first morning. Lucky for us, some of them decided to honor us by having a look at our decoy spread. We harvested 21 ducks, including 19 mallards and two widgeon, and one Canada goose that first morning.

The next morning Mike and I hunted together in the goose blind with mouse Lennie as our granola-eating resident. Once again, Joe was our guide. Four unsuspecting Canadas flew close enough to become part of our morning bag, but most of the geese we saw flew by as if they were jetliners headed to parts south. They were not at all interested in the goose decoys we offered as enticements. Joe’s calling skills were quite good but when the geese have corn on their minds, a few dozen decoys in an alfalfa field get barely a passing glance.

On the final afternoon most of the group decided to hunt geese on a large bluff adjacent to a wildlife refuge. However, Jim, Justin, and I decided to take it easy and hunt around the lodge. It was definitely a good decision as we bagged some 20 birds, both pheasant and chukar, in just over two hours.

A front was scheduled to move into our area the next day so we decided to give ourselves plenty of time to make the three-hour drive to the Denver airport. Mine was the first flight scheduled to leave at 11 a.m. so we planned a 5 a.m. departure from Grandview, believing five hours was more than enough travel time. Unfortunately, we ran into black ice along Interstate 25 between Cheyenne and Denver, and in a 60-mile stretch we observed some 15 rollover accidents. I was worried that Burns’s words were an omen, and our best-laid plans were not to be. But Jeff did a heroic job keeping us on the road, and we made it to the terminal with no problem.

Despite the worrisome highway conditions, the travel plan went smoothly: our flights were on time, and we all returned home safely and on schedule. The quality of a hunt like this has everything to do with the people in the hunting party. These friends made a great group of men to travel, hunt, and tell stories with, and I look forward to our next trip together. I hope Lennie made it as well.