The Countdown To Fall

60 days until fall!  Think about it: cool breeze, pulling out that sweater you forgot about, running the bird dogs a little more, and maybe shooting a little trap to get ready for BIRD SEASON.  YESSSSSS!

It`s time to up-grade.  In this slow economy I hope you have socked away a little money to get yourself something nice for the upcoming opener.  After all, if you read this you are like me and live for the bird season.

Its time to start shopping.   Whats it gonna be?  A new dog collar, perhaps?  Fix those chaps?  A few new long sleeve button ups from the LLBEAN catalog?  Or, likely, finally springing for those Under Armour long johns that everyone raves about...  Maybe, just maybe, this is the year you saved all those quarters and unmentionables to the point (heh, point) where a new SHOTGUN may be in your future come Halloween weekend??!!

For me, the latter.  Yes friends I am finally upgrading from the old Mossberg 20 gauge pump action I was given as a teen to a very worthy Browning over/under Superlight Feather 12 gauge.  28" barrel to be exact.  AHHHHH.  I have been saving and waiting for soooooooooo long.   I had to scrape and scavenge for this one, but thanks to gunbroker.com it is finally going to be a reality.  YESSSSSSS!

So, enough of me bragging of my new shotgun...   Time to get scouting for the big grass.  Yes, the fabled CRP of the elderly farmer that only gets touched during the week long deer season of my home state of Nebraska.   Last year was a gas and totally ruined a pair of double tinned, but thats just not enough.  I moved here from New York City (forgive me) to walk endless, scathed, cat tailed brush until my hip gives out.  I have recently aquired a seemingly endless supply of the afore mentioned CRP (NOT the CRP/MAP, mind you...PRIVATE) within a 2 mile radius of my home here in sleepy Burt county.  YESSSSSSS!!!  This all happened by meeting some good folk at the local steak house near our home.  Scouting sometimes happens at the local bar.  Sometimes a glass of sweet and cold red wine to the guy next to you will pay dividends.

I want to mention also that lately I have been told that I am 'Young" to be doing this.  Having reached my 36th birthday on the hottest day of july this year, that seemed to be odd to me.  Heh.

Friends.  Get to it.  Run the dogs.  A cold front is headed this a way!

soon,

AP

Early January

 At this point everything is frozen and drifted over.  The temperature is an average of 5f with a wind chill of -15f.  The CRP fields we hunted weeks ago are now Un-passable.  Opening day is now officially a memory.   The walk is twice as far and twice as labored.   I don`t know how the birds live through this.
Something about carrying a gun and following a bird dog makes it easier.  I don`t know why.

 I have since vested my dog on these days, making the necessary adjustments to her new garment.   She does`nt seem to mind or resist.  She is just happy we can still go out.  So am I.

 This point takes the frigid air and fatigue out out of my bones and mind.  I snap into an alert position, with my icy fingertips tickling my safety and trigger guard.  After all of the things we have been through this whole season, I trust her now.   It`s her show.  I have been waiting for this since I picked her up at the kennel way back in the sultry month of june.  Totally worth it.

 She dug so far into the snow drifted grass...  "Hello, anybody home?",  The wind carried over our backs.

 This photo was taken after my dog crossed a creek in -15f weather.  This collar worked the whole time.
An end to a cold cold day of hunting.

Late Late Season

 We slipped out of our work schedule to finish the final three days of the Iowa bird season for 2010-2011.  We traveled lengths of 100+ miles to discover new ground.  During these three days a heavy winter storm joined us.  Snow, wind, lightening (during a snow storm), and a short wind from the North and sometimes East was with this hunt.  We geared up (and re-geared up) and prepared to chase the last of the veteran roosters that made it thus far through this season.   Tho noticeably tired in the kennel throughout the three day hunt, the dogs ran tough and true.. motivating me to hunt harder and farther than I normally would have gone.  We are merely along for the ride, or to drive them, rather.  I am privleged to hunt with them.  This is dog sport.

 The storm came up.  I surveyed the newly found hunting spot.  We were at the foot of these amazing hills that were carved by a glacier.  For a minute as my fingers chilled to a recognizably numb place,  I was able to grab my camera and snap a quick photo.  The dogs carried on past me, away into some of the thickest reed and cat tails I had yet encountered this season... pulling me away from this.

 Old roosters.  Elusive.  I think I like the late season better than the early season.  The late season is where the bird dogs really excel: flash points, tricky old birds that mess with your mind.  I grab for my hood as the wind changes direction.  My fingers are once again numb.  Happy.

 This guy was found far away from where I shot him.  Old rooster.  He raced a good 200 yards behind us before Darlin` found him.  I let her run wild on his trail after the shot.  I was so happy when she found him.  200 yards!  Behind us!

The Dead Rooster Clan.  2010-2011 Iowa season complete.  Nebraska is next.