Early this fall, my good friend Shawn Wayment sent me the book "UPLAND AUTUMN" by William G. Tapply. It's a collection of entertaining short stories about New England Grouse Hunting. Most nights when I'm here alone (and when Lizzie is here too) before turning off the light for the night, I'll read a story or two.
After yesterday's poor shooting, Lu was sulking and I was feeling bad. How could I have missed 4 birds flushed in front of perfectly handled points. Now I know.
Last nights story was "HOW TO MISS A FLYING GROUSE". Mr. Tappley says he looked over 45 years of his hunting journals and confirmed it by studying the journals of others that "Over the long haul, you'll shoot one out of every twelve grouse you encounter and there's nothing you can do about it". So he suggests, the real question is how do you handle the eleven birds you missed!
"What grouse hunters really need is a repertoire of explanations and alibi's to account for a 92 percent rate of failure" and "so as a service to grouse hunters old and young, I've scoured my journals and consulted my partners and other expert grouse missers and compiled a compendium of excuses which, I am confident, any grouse hunter can adopt to his needs".
So you see Lu, those four misses were not really my fault. On the first I pulled up because I thought I saw hunter orange out in front of the bird. On the second I accidently had put in a "popper" training load instead of a #8, on the third my safety stuck momentarily as I had forgotten to oil it and on the fourth I knew he was too far away but I shot anyway.
Thank you William Tappley and thank you Shawn.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
LU WANTS A NEW PARTNER!
Lu wants a new hunting partner who can shoot!
Today was the absolute perfect day. It was overcast, 50 degrees, no wind and the leaves are down. Even the birds cooperated. In less than an hour Lu had two perfect finds on woodcock and one find on two grouse. You guessed it, I missed them all!
Today was the absolute perfect day. It was overcast, 50 degrees, no wind and the leaves are down. Even the birds cooperated. In less than an hour Lu had two perfect finds on woodcock and one find on two grouse. You guessed it, I missed them all!
In the picture below, Lu slammed into point and as I approached her I was certain it must be a woodcock. I took the time to snap the picture, closed my side by side and walked in. To my surprise two grouse boiled out and gave me a clear shot. You guessed it, I picked the bird going away and slightly left and missed it with both barrels. Lu gave me that look that said you dummy, what more do I have to do?
Click to enlarge
Oh well, it was a great day and I'll try to do better tomorrow. Hopefully she'll give me another chance.
Monday, October 12, 2009
WORKING MISS DAISY
My friends Peter & Chris Delcollo sent me a young pup to take to LoBank and get started on birds. "Daisy" was a pick of the litter from Pete's 8x Champion SugarKnoll Buckshot and Joan LaBree's female out of Ch. Elhew Fibber Magee and born last May. I'd forgotten just how much work a puppy is but it only took about 10 minutes to fall in love with her.
Daisy is incredibly smart and fit into the routine with ease. Molly Bette and Lu are her big sisters and Daisy follows their every move. She's affectionate and loves to curl up in my lap. The second night she slept with us and never stirred.
Daisy's First Woodcock
Daisy's on quail
In the field, lets just say Daisy is not very concerned about where I am. According to her, there is a whole wide world to explore and I think she tries to cover it all in one cast. We're using the check cord and showing her that she'll have more fun if she stays with me.
We've introduced her to birds and the 22 blank gun. She seems to have a great nose and has outstanding intensity on point. I've checkcorded her on our training quail and put her into cover where she pointed her first woodcock.
We're not sure what's next for Daisy. I'll continue to work her thru early November and then its back to Virginia for the winter and their long quail season. After that we'll decide where Daisy will be best suited. In the meantime she's being spoiled rotten and having the time of her life.
Daisy is incredibly smart and fit into the routine with ease. Molly Bette and Lu are her big sisters and Daisy follows their every move. She's affectionate and loves to curl up in my lap. The second night she slept with us and never stirred.
Daisy's First Woodcock
Daisy's on quail
In the field, lets just say Daisy is not very concerned about where I am. According to her, there is a whole wide world to explore and I think she tries to cover it all in one cast. We're using the check cord and showing her that she'll have more fun if she stays with me.
We've introduced her to birds and the 22 blank gun. She seems to have a great nose and has outstanding intensity on point. I've checkcorded her on our training quail and put her into cover where she pointed her first woodcock.
We're not sure what's next for Daisy. I'll continue to work her thru early November and then its back to Virginia for the winter and their long quail season. After that we'll decide where Daisy will be best suited. In the meantime she's being spoiled rotten and having the time of her life.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
MY BUDDY DICK STRAUB
Dick Straub (right) shows Mike Spies some typical Michigan Woodcock cover
A few days before Mike Spies arrived at LoBank, my long time friend Dick Straub and his cousin Bill arrived from Pennsylvania. Dick brought his dog "Smoke" to get him into birds before the Pennsylvania and Grand National Grouse Championships. Dick and I have been close friends since the mid 70's. After leaving LoBank last fall, Dick had a major surgery and frankly I was worried about him. He's fully recovered though and I am grateful for every opportunity to get together.
I often wish Dick and I lived closer so we could share more time together but I'm thankful for having such a good man for a friend and cherish what time we have.
A few days before Mike Spies arrived at LoBank, my long time friend Dick Straub and his cousin Bill arrived from Pennsylvania. Dick brought his dog "Smoke" to get him into birds before the Pennsylvania and Grand National Grouse Championships. Dick and I have been close friends since the mid 70's. After leaving LoBank last fall, Dick had a major surgery and frankly I was worried about him. He's fully recovered though and I am grateful for every opportunity to get together.
I often wish Dick and I lived closer so we could share more time together but I'm thankful for having such a good man for a friend and cherish what time we have.
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