A lot of years back when White Center had the IGA Food Basket grocery we asked owner Ed Minnis, If he wanted to go pheasant hunting with us near White Swan about 15 minutes southwest of Yakima.

"You bet," he said.

We also took King County Commissioner Ed Munro and two dogs. Our circulation manager, Bruce McKnight, drove us over to a motel that night. We got to bed early. After a quick breakfast we got our gear ready and headed out.

The fields were close by. We went exploring for likely pheasant hunting areas. The first place we found was a marshy field loaded with cattails. Lots of likely spots for birds to hide.

Cattails like their feet wet but not me. I had standard issue, ankle-high hiking boots. They’re made for dry land. I was nearly up to my knees on the first step as I slogged through the marsh.

Both the Eds were smarter than us. They offered to stay at the far end of the huge cattail patch while Bruce and I were expected to make noise and thrash through the cattails.

Our job was to drive the birds out while our buddies lay in wait with their shot guns loaded. They planned to pick them off as they flew by.

Easy pickins... Right?

Wrong. After fifteen minutes in the cattails, which were exploding with seeds, Bruce and I came stumbling out looking like abominable snowmen. We were covered head to toe with cattail fluff. Our buddies would have shot us but they could not stop laughing.

That was not a pleasant pheasant hunt. We never saw a bird but we came home with a great story for the kids.