Regent, North Dakota is a favorite pheasant hunting destination. We hunt with Cannonball Company who always does a terrific job. Pheasant numbers were down this year, as they are everywhere, but there were plenty of birds to go around.
Here is an amazing pheasant sculpture just outside of town. These are huge, the cock’s legs are probably 12 feet tall.
Filed under Wild Bird Hunts
I was happily ignorant of this term a week and a half ago. I hope you never have reason to look it up.
A couple of weeks ago bird dog Rio was running at the dog park with her usual tail-wagging enthusiasm. I remember thinking how lean and athletic she looked, at the top of her game and ready for the next hunt of the season. Over the next few days her weight continued to drop and at some terrible point of sad demarcation she lost that ounce that took her from healthy-lean to skinny-sick. It took the vet about 10 seconds to find the mass around her spleen. The odds he gave us were not good – 2/3 chance of this being HSA which would take her life, 1/3 chance it being benign in which case removing her spleen and the mass would save her.
The 4 days until the surgery were a tough mix of fear, anxiety and love. I wouldn’t trade those days but don’t want to relive them either. Rio was extraordinarily affectionate, wanting to be in your lap, to be petted, to be near. I don’t think she was in pain but you could tell she was uncomfortable and had some trouble breathing. All this time she had that sweet spark in her eyes, her tail wagging as she chased our Chihuahua Jack and at times not appearing sick at all. We were optimistic for a positive outcome the morning I took her in, working hard to suppress thoughts of this ending badly. But the call was quick and clinical. The mass had spread to the lymph nodes and intestines. It was HSA, the odds had not been beat and Rio was “euthanized on the table”, as they put it.
I have never in my life felt such deep, exhausting grief and sadness (sorry Grandma & Grandpa). Common words like “gone”, “never again”, and “I’ll miss her” take on a terrible weight for a while. This is the time that the grace of God sees you though and I want to look forward to another puppy, to other hunts and happy days afield . . . but not yet. In due time.
Good bye, Sweet Rio. 6 years, 8 months and 9 days was just not enough time with you.
Filed under Bird Dogs
The workhorse of the Beretta line, the 680 series is the most successful over/under shotgun in terms of production and reliability that has ever been made.
That is a bold statement and yes I made it up, but now it is in writing on the internet so it must be true. Whether correct or not, it can’t be far from the truth. I can’t think of another, except for the terrific Browning Superposed / Citori line that might come close. These are wonderful guns and a very good value for the money. They look good, they handle well and are very reliable. I bought this 680 Skeet gun new 30 years ago and it has never malfunctioned. That “never” is unqualified and 30 years is a very long time. When someone asks what gun to go to for a solid target or bird gun, this is where I send them.
click to launch for a better view
Filed under Firearms
This has been an incredible year if you like the high country fall colors. The right temps, moisture, lack of moisture, sunshine or whatever; the color has been intense and enduring. Another reason why fall is the best season of all. These shots were taken yesterday near Kenosha pass.
Filed under Other Photography (not bird hunting)
After a skunk on Sage Grouse in North Park we headed 
for the high country to see if we could redeem ourselves on Ptarmigan. I had never hunted them before and wasn’t sure what to expect.
The country where these birds live is magnificent and ruggedly beautiful. Well above the tree line, the vistas and views are breathtaking. Had we not seen any birds, the hike alone would have been worth the effort.
This is a different kind of hunt. Most upland game birds stay well concealed in the bush and when you get close (and sometimes when you aren’t close at all) they flush providing an opportunity to exercise your finely tuned wing shooting skills. Not these guys. They sit out in the open and watch you approach with only casual interest. You can look at the covey and count them, pick out the one you want, take a picture and then push into them to get them to fly. Some will take off, which is fun, but others will just run a bit and then sit and watch.
Ptarmigan are beautiful and delicate creatures. They are much smaller than I expected. Their bodies are about the size of a large dove but their thick coat of down and feathers make them look larger. In hand they are incredibly soft and feel almost mushy. I don’t think they put out much scent or at least scent that dogs associate with game birds. Bird dog Rio never really lock up on them and the points we did get were sight points, I think. We had 10 or so right in front of us and she paid them little mind, she was off looking for something else. Possibly the altitude has something to do with that or maybe I had a defective dog.
We had a good time hiking at the top of the world but the hunting was not as challenging as hoped. Possibly if we hadn’t found birds in the first 30 minutes and had hiked all day I would have a different story. The biggest challenge on this hunt was to not scar an expensive shotgun as we negotiated some very rough terrain while operating on 25% less oxygen. We lucked out with perfect weather (a week later all this was under a foot of snow) and it was certainly great to be out there. Ptarmigan have been added to the annual hunt calendar.
These birds are perfectly camouflaged for their world. If they didn’t move it would be easy to miss them.
Filed under Wild Bird Hunts
This year it was a perfectly comfortable morning for the opening of dove season in northern Colorado. The day heated up fast but remained pleasant and bug-free if you stayed in the shade. We topped out in the mid-90s, which is hot for us but pretty nice compared to our sweaty friends in states south of us who hunted in 100+ degrees. Hope they kept their dogs watered.
In Colorado there is a reliable and unfortunate pattern to the dove migration around opening day. We see dove everywhere all summer long – perched on wires, cooing on roof tops, swooping from tree to tree and pooping on my truck – but sometime a week or so before 9/1 they disappear. This is usually attributed to a late August cold snap but this year it was hot up to the 1st and yet their pattern of disappearance still held true. I had not seen a dove for a week when we headed out on Thursday morning. We hunted with the nice folks at Longmeadow. They have about 4,000 acres and have built a really nice event center about an hour and a half northeast of Denver.
Though the number of birds were greatly diminished from a week or two ago, there were still plenty around for us to get our limit, which we did before lunch. It was not what you would call solid white hot action but there were times when we had more birds coming in than we could handle. It was a great start to the bird hunting season.
My hunting buddy enjoying a morning of truancy.
Filed under Wild Bird Hunts
Filed under Wild Bird Hunts
Filed under Wild Bird Hunts
A pair of Sage Grouse hens and a Spanish sidelock in the North Park of Colorado.
Filed under Wild Bird Hunts
Here are two Diana grade Superposed shotguns from the mid 1960’s A 12 gauge with 2 sets of barrels and a 20 gauge. They are lovely guns, especially the lively 20 gauge. Passed from grandfather to grandson these guns have seen their share of action but remain in excellent condition.
20 gauge
Filed under Firearms
Summer in Colorado is a wonderful time . . . fly fishing the Rockies, baseball in LoDo, sporting clays, BBQ on the deck, no bugs, no humidity. It is a great time to own a convertible! Summer is also the time to get the dogs in shape for the coming bird season. If you are partners with a bird dog, then you know that a walk around the block won’t cut it. These dogs need to run and run and run. I wish I had a section of land out my back door, as I am sure some of you do, but I don’t. Living on 1/4 acre allows me to keep my farming and ranching costs in check but I need a place to let the dog have at it.
Living in Denver we are fortunate to have a 69 acre off-lease dog park at the Chatfield State Park. There is a massive amount of public land in Colorado. If you live in town, little of it is convenient to visit with the frequency needed to keep your dog happy and in shape. This park provides a wonderful in-town alternative to let the dogs run to their heart’s content and is minutes from the house. Here are some pictures from our visits starting with a Meadowlark that sat still just long enough . . .
Filed under Bird Dogs
Double Mackinaw Cruiser
Filson has been making rugged outerwear since the 1890’s and is known mostly for their heavyweight wool and waxed cotton garments. Based in Seattle, they were suppliers to the prospectors headed to Alaska in the gold rush days and have a reputation for legendary durability. By today’s standards this is pretty low tech stuff but it’s as wonderfully tough and durable as they claim it is. Their Double Mackinaw Cruiser is an awesome coat but heavy as a boat anchor. I have two of them and love them in deer camp and in town but they are not the best choice for the upland hunter. What is good for the upland hunter are the waxed cotton chaps and vests. These are super sturdy, again on the low tech side – no hydration system, moisture wicking or Gore-Tex membranes, but they are totally functional and wear in with a nice rustic patina.
Filed under Equipment
When the limit of birds is off being plucked and the worn out
dogs are sleeping in their boxes, we occasionally head to prairie dog town for observation and ballistic analysis. These are wary creatures and must be viewed from afar, sometimes 400+ yards, but it is the distance that makes this interesting. There is a machismo appeal to the awesome technology of today’s optics and rifles. The ability to put 55 grains of copper and lead on a 12″ target a quarter of a mile away is exhilarating. Whac-A-Mole for adults.
Filed under Other Photography (not bird hunting)
Since turkeys are birds, hunting them must qualify as “bird hunting” but if you ask me its much more like hunting big game. Head-to-toe in camo you sneak into the woods, sit perfectly still and then when you get a tom in range you shoot him in the face with a shotgun. No flushing coveys, no dogs, no talking. Just like deer hunting except the spring weather is beautiful and later you get to de-tick your balls.
Joking aside, hunting turkeys is a blast. Being in the woods at day break holds its own magic – song birds erupt, a distant maniacal yelping of a coyote pack, the ungraceful crashing of a turkey flock coming off the roost and then the stirring, booming gobble of a courting tom. Exciting stuff.
Here is a Texas Rio Grande Tom, bizarre but beautifully iridescent. Talk to Mike Wyatt at First Shot Outfitters for a terrific Texas turkey hunt.
Filed under Wild Bird Hunts
Today is bird dog Rio’s birthday. It has been a wonderful 6 years. We miss her puppy days, as destructive as they were at times, but now she is at her bird hunting peak and sweet as pie.
Whoever said “Money can’t buy happiness” never bought a puppy!
Filed under Bird Dogs
Weather, moisture in particular, drives quail population more than anything else. If you hunt quail in west Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico or southern Arizona, this graph is a total bummer.
Also, Texas is on fire . . .
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shit.
Filed under Bird Hunting
There are two classic repeaters that we love; the Winchester Model 12 and the Browning Auto-5. Here is a late 1950’s minty Sweet 16. It is a gem.
Filed under Firearms
When I was a much younger fellow, I spent most Sunday afternoons at the trap field with my father. I have very fond memories of those days trapshooting with dad and my grandfather’s model 12. Back then I reloaded shot shells mostly to save money but really enjoyed the therapy of it all. Cranking through piles of shot, primers, wads and kegs of powder to produce thousands of rounds was fun then and still is today. I remember paying $7.50 for 25 lbs. of chilled shot. Things have certainly changed!
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Filed under Firearms
The Spanish Aguirre y Aranzabal boxlock model 4/53 has been in production since the 1960s. It is a utilitarian game gun that provides fine handling characteristics without the cost of a luxury finish. An appealing everyday working gun, this 12 gauge has the right configuration (imho) with double triggers, straight stock, splinter forend and 28″ barrels. It also has great dimensions with a 1 1/2″ drop at comb, 2 1/4″ drop at heel and a 15″ length of pull. If you try, you can find these for under $3k. A bargain for a quality double gun.
Filed under Firearms
Birdhunter 
