I missed a half dozen rabbits only getting a shot at a couple. What a circus that was. I was using the new Siberian 223 semi auto but both times I didn’t get the clip in right. The rabbits got bored with me fiddling with the rifle. I thought I’d sorted it out at the range but not quite. When I finally had the magazine seated the first time it still misfired because I didn’t feed a cartridge into the chamber correctly. The second time I got the clip in correctly and had a shell in the chamber but couldn’t find the target in the new. Scope.. When I finally took the shot, I missed but couldn’t take advantage of the semi automatic because Madigan burst off the quad and gave chase, With the shotgun and grouse he’d waited till the release command but he could see the rabbit and the Siberian made a different louder noise. Back on the quad he was leashed in again. More training . But We had fun.
My RV storage place isn’t open on Sunday so I normally take Monday off to return the Camper and quad and trailer. Because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get away I was booked at the office. I’m going to work virtual for the morning I have the Starlink working fine and being on top of the mountain have good enough cellular coverage. I had even thought of working the week and going back next weekend but for the Starlink I have to run the generator. The quad takes a few gallons a day driving around the backwoods. I don’t have enough fuel. My water supply is low too. I took a shower. I have a toothache from a broken filling and would like to get into see the dentist. I already miss civilization.
It’s also 4 points season. I’ve never seen a 4 point in the woods in hunting season. Of the 30 or so deer I’ve shot almost all have been spike or two points, and one three point. Izek shot a three point this weekend.
Kevin had called to tell me they were camping and hunting in the valley. They were where I was bow hunting last weekend. I’d decided as it was dark and raining I’d come here where I knew I could camp not too far off the paved road. Alex shot a bear too. Im happy with the grouse. I just love watching Madigan retrieve them. The valley is where the game still are.
I shot two grouse out of three. Madigaan is a one grouse dog. He heads straight for the movement and then kills the still living Big Bird if it’s wounded. I worry about him but he’s all in it. A true bird dog. Then he comes right back waddling with the grouse in his mouth.
He couldn’t comprehend the idea that I’d shot two and wasn’t willing to leave the one I’d taken and put in a bag on the quad. With a whole lot of encouragement he went down the hill to where I’d seen the second grouse drop in a wood pile. Sure enough once he was down there he found the grouse and slayed it in an epic battle dodging the wounded grouse’s beak like it was a cobra snake. I wouldn’t want to be a partridge faced with a cockapoo. I realized later that my last cockapoo Gilbert would avoid the head by biting the birds butt. . I didn’t know why at first. Now seeing Madigan face off with the partridge beak I realize it’s an epic battle. This time he literally bit the head off and grabbed the bird by the belly and brought it back.
I imagine cats also have these tooth and claw episodes with their prey. I remember my bigger dog Shinto, cross Irish Setter and Springer spaniel would hold the bird down with his paw and bite the throat.
Mostly the bird is dead from the shot. I ran out of number 6 pellet for the 20 guage and shot these with the too light number 8 target load . I actually hit a couple of birds on the fly but the pellets just bounced off and the bird flew to safety.
Gilbert my last cockapoo would only fetch rarely. He’d find the bird and lead me to it. He’d also look to flush more birds and go with me to collect the kills. Shinto, my really trained hunting dog I put a lot o time in hunting with , would actually flush as many as he could for me to shoot, actually chasing them and getting them to fly for the me to take the perfect shot. We were a team. He’ also fetch all the birds and one after another bring them to the road where he’d drop them and go back and get another. He’d even lead me to the tree where a bird had flown away too. I suspect he followed the cooing having watched the flight path when it got away. I followed him a half mile through the woods on occasion to get a bird in a tree. I shot a whole lot of grouse with him.
I shot a lot or grouse with Gilbert too. He was the favourite dog when three of us went hunting and he flushed a whole lot of birds way up north,’
Madigan is learning, He’s at the stage where he dropped the first bird and when I coaxed him to get the seecond he brought it but wouldn’t let go of the bird. I could see his little mind going, “I brought you yours . Now this one is mine.”
We have 5 grouse. I’ll dice them at home, fry them in butter with some lemon or orange and honey and serve on rice. He’ll get a share. Last night we had barbecued pork chops. Madigan’s a good little dog.
Time to get ready for work and the trip home. I’m looking forward to the luxury and comfort of home.
I enjoyed the old gods of England in Dirk Slattery’s Wholistic Detective Agency, the series Adams had written after the Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy. I liked that Thor had given up sleeping out and had moved into a nursing home for the clean sheets and meals and starched uniform nurse caretakers. I’m getting older and even having the quad and camper is a major effort.
Kevin and Anna, Izek, Kendra, Alex, Billy and Bobby were tenting. They set up at night in the rain and dark then hiked into a blind at dawn. I used to always be set in ambush pre dawn. Now I’m afraid to walk off trail through the bush not wanting to slip and fall and break something. If I am to shoot something I have to be able to get it to a road with minimum effort. Gone are the days I carried a deer down the mountain on my shoulders .
My old friend Bill Mewhort was the master of ambush. A great hunter. He used to say novice hunters only saw game when they took a shit because that was the time they weren’t moving and might make the least noise. My dad was a great one for stalking. He loved walkin along deer trails in the back woods. They both stopped hunting younger than I am. They continued fishing years after. I’m wondering when I might go that way.
I’m a road hunter today. I think there should be a law against road hunting. Only us guys over 65 should be allowed to use vehicles but even young I’d road hunt grouse. With Dad and my brother Ron we’d drive the old truck down the trails to find the prairie chickens. They’d fly up and we’d get out with the dog and hunt them on foot knowing where the covey was. It still is a lot of exercise . Madigan and I still like the guarding and grouse hunting experience. The grouse sure tastes good when I cook it up or barbecue it.
What a weekend! Time to get back to work and back to the city.
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