Last hunt with a good friend
Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:45 pm
Once again, as it often does. Daydreams of the uplands of Idaho turn into e-mails, phone calls, pm's, begging of the wives for permission, and eventually you start to get a plan together for another exciting adventure. This one would be special, the kind of hunt that you take the time to laugh about misfortunes and mistakes. The kind of hunt that you reflect on hunts past, tell stories of bird dogs who are no longer with us, and the kind of hunt that you excitedly talk about up and coming bird dogs and ones you hope to have in the future. Yes this will be the last Idaho trip for me and my hunting partner of over 12 years. He is moving to North Dakota to take a role as the upland biologist for the fish and game. And although we know we will cross paths again, with gun in hand, this is the closing of another chapter in our endless pursuit of gamebirds. We left from my house at around 5:00 am and started our travels heading north to the promised land of Idaho. Chukars and Hun's would be our quarry on the first outing of the day. We arrived in our spot at nearly 10:00 and started the long hike up the hill. The fresh snow on the ground left evidence of the prey lurking nearby. I had taken the lower path below some rimrock and the walking in the new ice made it so slippery that I didn't even hear the gunfire from above. I noticed two birds go whizzing by me and I figured that my partners dog had bumped a covey. I hiked up to him to get the details and I found that he had shot a triple out of a covey of five! I was so busy trying to keep my footing that I hadn't heard the shots. After a five minute search the dog's had found all the birds and brought them back. The rest of the day was not so fruitfull, however we did see a lot of birds and got some great dogwork and points, we just failed to hold up our end of the deal as we hiked down the mountain with only one more bird in hand. But this is the type of hunt that poor shooting and bad luck was not discouraging, nothing was going to get to us on our last Idaho trip. The next day we would pursue quail. We tried a couple of new spots and got to run all five dog's throughout the day. Including a puppies first hunt for wild birds. Unfortunatly the puppy had never seen a barb wire fence before either and had to go back early with some pretty bad cuts. In the three spots we tried on this last day together, we found quail, chukars, hun's, and pheasants , all on public land , all wild. This is why Idaho is the chosen land. All the pheasants flushed were hen's and left me short of my goal to get all four species in one day, but that page will turn when the time is right. (like early next season, hopefully) We still ended up with three species in the mixed bag in one day, and just had a good old time. A perfect way to end a long time companionship of following bird dog's chasing wild gamebirds. Except of course for the once or twice a year that I will visit North Dakota. I only have pictures from the second day. My english pointer, Videl pointing quail.
The spoils of day two, nice mixed bag
The spoils of day two, nice mixed bag
And with birds like this out in N.D. I'm sure I will get out to see him once a year or so. He is already planting the seed in my wifes head to plan on me being gone each year for a few days during the christmas time, cause he will be in town visiting his family. This shot was opening day, it took us 20 minutes!!!!!!
