I haven’t written too many stories in the last year. The reasons are several. I battled pneumonia through the early part of last winter; that sort of alters a person’s focus for a while. Then there’s “social media.” It’s a lot easier to make a few silly key strokes at Facebook than it is to write a decent 500 words. Finally, my interests have shifted just a bit in the last several years, such that I now spend less time dreaming of new guns than I do of a new and streamlined Federal tax code, for instance. I’m not alone lately in recognizing the value of legislation that supports my causes, outdoors-related or otherwise. When I received my first TU magazine about 30 years ago, it actually concerned itself with catching fish. I am not criticizing the magazine, or its sponsoring group, when I claim that it’s now all about winning legislative battles over this dam or that power plant. However, I promised myself when I fired Cold Duck up that I’d never go beyond a comfort zone of you and me sitting in front of a warm fire, the dogs snoozling underfoot, while we talked hunting and fishing over a wee dram. All this taken together, I didn’t have energy, time or topic to write an outdoors story I’d be proud to save at Cold Duck in the last several months.
Happily, things are brightening up, and I now have some decent story lines percolating away. They’ll probably start arriving here after woodcock season ends. One of them considers the delicate question of whether size matters. Hint: bird hunters already know the answer.
Meanwhile, I’ve decided that it’ll be fun to webLOG Gordie’s fetches for the season. I don’t care about my own shooting (neither would you if you saw it), but I’m always quite pleased when my dog hunts well and then delivers a critter to hand with a happy tail. So no matter who shoots ‘em, if Gordie brings ‘em back, I’ll log it here. Away we go:
October 3…… 1 wc…... 0 grouse…… 0 ducks…… GC Cover
We had no flushes at all on days 1 and 2, and today didn’t start very promising either. In 70 minutes of hunting, we found no birds, no splash, no nothing for 68 minutes. But in about the second last bush that we might have given a sniff, Gordie flushed a bird that came right at me. I let him get by, but then had to shoot fast before he disappeared. I fear I cooked him in the air.
October 7…… 1 wc…... 0 grouse…… 0 ducks…… EOM Cover
It's a lovely warm & dry sunny day better suited to golf. Gordie hunted hard before heating up a bit at 45 minutes.
If the weather remains like this, we'll head to Allegany County tomorrow to look for grouse.
October 9…… 1 wc…... 0 grouse…… 0 ducks…… BWF Cover
Even warmer and drier than Friday. Gordie put up two birds right away, and I bagged the one that presented a shot. Well, two shots. He very nearly overheated in the first 20 minutes, so I picked an easy route for the rest of our hour.
November 4……
Gordie, his vet and I went woodcock hunting yesterday. He
scared up a bird or two, but that’s not the story. He’s been battling a nasty
infection – actinomycosis, or lumpy jaw - since early September. He’d gotten so much better recently that
we thought we’d try putting him down in the redbush to chase the little russet
fellers.
But hair still has not regrown in the affected area just
behind his right eye ; and yesterday the exposed skin opened up in the pulpy
redbush. The vet remains optimistic about Gordie’s complete recovery. But we
agreed that there’d be no more hunting in such cover until the cushioning hair
has completely returned.
Until yesterday, Gordie hadn’t chased woodcock in almost a
month (since October 9). That’s one reason there’s not been much activity
lately at Cold Duck. I’m hoping he’ll get better real soon, but actinomycosis
apparently is quite stubborn. At least he’s systemically healthy, and he’s
enjoying long romps in grassy cover almost as much as he would hunting. Since I
have his long-range interests at heart, he’ll just have to be a patient
patient.
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