Worth a Read

[averageguy]

Hope this works as it is Worth a Read. Sure speaks to me even though I am not there yet, I can see it coming.


Leon Measures
1 hr
There will come a time.....
THE DOG PENS ARE SILENT
(For the first time in 62 years)
Today, January 25, 2015, I had to have 'Maverick' put down. He was the last of Measures' 'Grand Puppies'. He sired more than 100 pups that turned out to be gundogs. 'Maverick' was a tribute to a man named Ferrell Miller and his line of white dogs.
My uncle Harry Measures was as devout a duck hunter as ever lived. During the Great Depression, as a teenager, he and his cousin Tom endeavored to shoot 100 ducks every morning the migration lasted.. The ducks were sold in Mineral Wells, Texas, to the Baker and Crazy hotels and showed up on their menus as 'Peking Duckling”.
Uncle Harry loved duck hunting. He was 80 years old when he told me, “There will come a time when you had rather sit by the fire and read a good book than to break ice to set decoys”. I was astounded and remember thinking. “Surely this won't happen to me”!
I don't recall how or when it happened but my time has come! December 30, 2014 I was 81 years old. For the last 62 years I have had bird dogs of one kind or another. Like memorable hunting or fishing trips, I remember the good ones.
An English pointer named 'Herman' (1952) became Dad's best friend and protector. He kept Dad from being rattlesnake bitten more times than we care to remember. If I ever have the opportunity to meet him again, I will hug and kiss 'Herman' and beg for his forgiveness. I had worlds to learn about 'training' a dog.
'Babe' (1954)was five years old when I rescued her from the pound. The folks who gave her away said she couldn't be kept in a pen. They were right. She became my constant companion and one of the smartest dogs I have ever known.
'Speck' and 'Jack' learned to herd Blue Quail. I would need to ask Frillie, my wife, about when the Grandkids were born but I vividly remember March 9, 1964 as the day both dogs were lost and never seen again.
'Bud', the German Short hair retrieved everything from an egg to Sandhill Cranes.
Four English Pointers from the same litter..'Jack' the covey dog; 'Sweet' the gentle one; 'Bud' who did it all; and 'Little Man' who made me 'famous'.
'Ox', 'Sugar', 'Pete', 'Blondie', and forty or fifty more who deserve their stories to be told. Some of the stories are already written and some are still in my mind
I am grateful to my wife, Frillie, and the friends who were privileged to have hunted behind the dogs. I will always cherish the memories of good times and good luck. From the Texas Panhandle, to the Rio Grand, from New Mexico to South Dakota, the dogs did what was expected. Of course, there are some hunts where I wish I had stayed at home. Like the time eleven year old 'Babe' cleaned a carefully prepared 160 acres of at least 50 cock pheasant. Through it all nobody got hurt.
As I turn the reins of bird hunting and gundogs over to the next generation, I wish each of you Good Dogs, Many Coveys, Valued Friends, and Good Shooting!
With warmest personal regards, Leon Measures

[art hubbard]

Don't give up as long as your able. I just turned 87 this last Jan. I still run a couple of GSP'S. Of course I don't run up and down the Snake River canyons anymore chasing Chukars. but I do get to go down to a preserve a couple times a week weather permiting. Don't give it up, hang in there.

[averageguy]

Good for you, Art!

I will go in some form or another as long as I have a bird dog. The critical juncture that lies ahead for me is what does the world look like when I am in need of replacing my current dog.

Are there still adequate populations of wild birds and waterfowl on lands where we can still hunt them? Do the laws still allow it?

Very few people hunt squirrels, rabbits and raccoons where I live. The public lands all around abound with these game animals. It might well be that ease of access to wild game where I live causes me to switch back to a beagle and a track/tree dog as I have owned and enjoyed them both prior to getting my own bird dogs.

I waited too long for my first go at chukars but am not going to let that stop me and have plans to head west this coming season. I just finished working out an hour so that I can be the best I can be when I get there. Which will not be great, but with a lightweight shotgun on a sling, a telescoping trekking pole in my vest for when safety says use it, and God's Grace, we will get a taste of it before it gets further out of reach.