Charlie has the first fetch of the day with Orso as escort
Mitch, my best hunting buddy and patient husband
AJ, my devoted constant companion
Tag: nature
Our Sunday Hunt
While Saturday was cold and raw, Sunday was just brutal. The high temperature for the day was at 4:30 in the morning when I took the dogs outside after they ate. It went downhill from there. By the time we got out of the car to start the morning hunt, the temperature had dropped to about twenty degrees with twenty-five mile an hour winds out of the northwest. I seriously doubted our sanity. I had on a turtleneck, button up shirt, insulated vest and an insulated field coat on top and pants and insulated over-pants on the bottom. I also was wearing silk glove liners and insulated shooting gloves. It wasn’t enough. That wind just cut right through me.
Shaking my head at our insanity, I grabbed my camera and headed out with Mitch and the dogs. Trying to catch a scent of any birds in this wind was going to be sheer luck on the dogs’ part. AJ flushed the first bird which Mitch shot and AJ retrieved it with Orso in hot pursuit. Maybe there would be birds in spite of the bitter conditions.
As we rounded an out cropping of trees that opened up to a small field of knee high prairie grass. I walked on the outer rim while Mitch walked along the tree line. As I got to the middle of the field I noticed that all of the dogs were with me (sans gun) and Mitch was nowhere to be seen. I thought to myself, what was the number one rule of hunting? Stay with the dogs. I hoped that the dogs wouldn’t find any birds, because I sure wasn’t going to kill a bird with my mind. I kept calling the dogs back to me hoping to stall and Mitch would miraculously show up just as the dogs flushed some birds. But no such luck. Charlie flushed one into the tree line at the edge of the field and I found myself running to where the quail flew despite the fact that I only carried a camera. Old habits. Mitch finally showed up just as AJ flushed a small covey of about five quail. Mitch shot two into the trees when a third one flew out over my head and as Mitch swung around for the shot I quickly dropped to the ground to avoid either being shot or slapped in the head with the gun barrel. He got the bird, by the way.
So far the day was shaping up to be a very fruitful harvest. The only drawback was the bitter cold. I headed down into the draw to try to escape the wind, but by then my hands were too cold. They hurt so bad even with the gloves on I was afraid that I could cause some permanent damage so I told Mitch that I was going to head back to the car and warm up. Walking back to the car I heard a noise behind me so I turned to look back and there was AJ, who lives to hunt, walking along with me. He had had enough too.
I think that AJ and I are the wiser of the bunch. But that’s not saying much since we all went out there to begin with.
Orso Finally Got It!
We went hunting in Central Nebraska this past weekend. The original plan was to hunt pheasant but there were no pheasant, so it was decided that we would hunt quail instead. Pheasant are not an especially hardy bird at the best of circumstances and with the severe drought have not fared well at all. Now since it was determined that quail was the only option to hunt I decided to forgo carrying a shotgun and carry a camera instead. I am not fast enough to shoot quail. On the occasions we have flushed a covey of quail in past hunting trips, I was always startled at the delicate fluttering of birds and as soon as I realized that I could shoot at them, the birds were way out of gun range. So I figured I would stand a better chance of getting some shots of the dogs and Mitch with my camera than hitting a quail with my gun.
Saturday was cold and cloudy, with temperatures in the forties with a mild breeze, making day seem pretty raw. The dogs headed out with Charlie ranging a bit too far in front as always. We have to call him back often otherwise he’ll flush a bird three counties away. AJ wandered a lot slower and more methodically this year, his age showing. Orso as usual headed off lumbering along just happy to be out with everybody bumping into the closest body to wherever he ended up in the field. Charlie was the first to flush a bird and Mitch actually shot it. I was shocked. I didn’t really think that any birds would get shot the entire weekend. Charlie fetched the bird up with Orso sniffing away at this new creature. He has shown no interest in pheasants at all. But this new one smelled pretty good to him.
Orso started off and actually put head down and used his nose to search for a likely scent. This was a bird he liked and wanted to find. Who knew? Orso wandered farther into the field head down, stopped for a brief moment then lunged forward catching a bird in his mouth before it could fly. He came trotting up to Mitch with the bird in his mouth, its’ little white head poking out to the side. He did this not once but three times. Orso had great success at quail hunting. He only needed us to carry the birds after he caught them.
Maybe there is hope for him yet.
Where Did I Put My Night Vision Goggles?
Oh wait; I don’t have any night vision goggles. I really needed them this morning on our “normal” pre-dawn walk, though. As always, the dogs will walk and sniff sedately for most of the walk, to lull me into a false sense of security that nothing will happen. Surprise! You would think that I would learn by now that something always happens when I am least prepared to deal with an unpleasant surprise, such as being the boat anchor behind three charging dogs.
We were walking on the long dark stretch of road that I refer to as “The Lake Road”. That’s not what the road is actually called, but that’s what I call it. It’s the road that leads to the lake, hence “The Lake Road”. There are no houses on either side of that particular stretch of road, just a ravine on one side and a hill on the other side of the road. Anyway I digress; we were on our way back home when the dogs all converged on one spot for a group sniff. Nothing unusual about that, they do this all the time, we call it huffing. The group sniff lasted for a few seconds when all three lunged at something in the underbrush with Charlie and Orso growling at the unseen threat. I jerked back on the leashes not seeing anything and hoping that whatever was hidden in the dark would stay hidden in the dark.
As soon as my heart returned to normal rhythm I looked back to make sure we were not being followed by whatever it was that they wanted to eat. I picked up the pace just in case. I really was curious as to what made them act that aggressive toward the unseen “whatever” it was.
Now I know what I want for Christmas.
My Hunting Buddies
These are my best hunting buddies! All four of them!
Pike’s Peak Photos
At the Summit – there isn’t much air but what a view
It’s a long way down
Tight turns up and down
Such beauty
I Am Such a Sissy
We just got back from a long weekend trip to Castle Rock, Colorado to see my best friend in the whole world. Castle Rock is located on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains about 2 hours or so from the foothills. It has been decades since either Mitch or I have been to Colorado. So we went sightseeing to some of the areas attractions. On a whim the four of us decided to drive up to the top of Pike’s Peak. My parents had taken me up when I was a child but I had forgotten anything about it other than going.
Pike’s Peak has an elevation of 14,110 feet above sea level, 31st highest peak out of 54 so it’s no slouch. For some reason though, I didn’t think that 14,110 feet was so high, I don’t know, maybe I was suffering altitude sickness or just that impoverished model of reality that I live in. Because for someone that is not a fan of heights I thought that driving up a winding narrow two lane road in thin air sounded like a great idea. The ride started off nicely with great vistas of the mountains in the background and dramatic cliffs climbing all the way up to heaven.
We hadn’t even gotten half way up when one side of the road was a huge drop off with no shoulder. The side of the road just ended and there was nothing but space. I was terrified to look out the window and over the drop off for fear that the mere force of my body weight angled toward the car window would cause us to veer off the side and plummet down to our deaths. Consequently I found myself leaning over toward my friend trying to will the car’s weight and balance toward the middle of the road. Yes I know a truly rational thought.
When we finally reached the top of Pike’s Peak and got out of the car the second thing that totally surprised me was how cold it was. Yes I know, we just drove vertically 14,110 feet and the air should be colder, but at the base the air temperature was 68 degrees why was it now 28 degrees and I was not dressed for 28 degrees. Plus I was shocked at how little air there was to breathe and I was sucking in as much I could get, but there wasn’t much to go around.
Once I finally decided to quit being such a baby I marveled at the height we were at. We were two thousand feet above the tree line with only tundra and rocks scattered around. The view was magnificent, which as a matter of fact, was what inspired the song, America the Beautiful. After warming up in the visitors’ center, we loaded up and headed off back down the mountain. Lucky me we are going to be hurtling out of control down the mountain at break neck speeds around fifteen miles an hour or so. Woo hoo.
An Early Morning HIke
AJ taking his time enjoying the new trail.
Charlie does not stop running.
Orso looking for something to chase.
A pretty early morning view.
The Weremoth
I had no idea that danger was lurking waiting for me this morning as I went through my morning routine. I took the dogs for their early morning walk, where we dodge deer, raccoons and loose gravel (you have no idea how dangerous the lone piece of gravel is until you step on it in the dark). Thankfully, the morning walk was without incident, for a change.
Coming back home, the dogs got their carrots and I jumped into the shower. After my shower, I started putting on my makeup, totally unaware of the danger just waiting for me. I pulled out my makeup drawer reached in and grabbed my moisturizer smeared it on my face, and then went after the eye cream when I felt the ever so slight flutter against my hand. I jerked my hand back just in time to see the rare extremely dangerous weremoth make its escape to the back of the drawer and into the dark recesses of the cabinet. I just narrowly escaped with my life. Not sure what a weremoth is, well they are big, huge, black, white or maybe purple, it doesn’t matter. They strike just when your guard is down and you’re totally relaxed, like putting on your makeup. I knew without a doubt that it would fly out of the drawer and latch onto my neck and suck out all my blood.
Having only just started putting on my makeup I had no choice but to finish as quickly as possible keeping one eye on the mirror and what I was doing and one eye on the drawer hoping the weremoth wouldn’t sneak out and stage a blitz attack on me. Where was Charlie when I needed him? He always loves to eat moths.
I just hope I remember that it’s in there waiting and lurking for the perfect moment to fly out and kill us all in the middle of the night. Maybe Mitch will find it first…
I Don’t Have Time for This
I should have known something would happen this morning on our walk. I should have seen the signs. We had a full moon tonight, plus it was an orangish red color. I think that is what some call Blood on the Moon. Full moon and weird color must mean something. Mitch said that he thought it meant a storm was coming. I now think it meant weirdo coming.
Our predawn walk started off normally, dogs sniffing the air and scanning the dark looking for something to charge after to see if I will be the boat anchor dragging behind them. I’m always on guard for any possible intruder in the dark just to make sure I don’t become a casualty of the charge. As we came over the top of the hill a bluish light shining at the top of one the utility poles caught my eye. There has never been a light there before. I looked around turning a complete circle looking for the source of the light but saw nothing or no one in the shadows. The light went out then came back on causing me to look around again looking for the source. No luck.
I considered all of the possible solutions to this and came up with three possible answers. Option A – some creep hiding in the dark trying to scare me. Option B – an extraterrestrial from some other world making first contact on earth. Option C – a great big honkin’ lightening bug. As much as I believe that there is intelligent life out there in the universe, I really don’t think that ET would make first contact with a woman and three dogs in the Midwest. All I could offer him would be directions to someone who could help him. And even though I believe that we have worked extra hard at screwing up our planet, I just don’t think that I saw a great big honkin’ lightening bug. That leaves the only logical explanation for the light. Some creep hiding in the dark trying to be cute.
If he is trying to scare me, guess what? It didn’t work. But I can tell the little creep this; if he does it again and I figure out where he’s hiding, I might just let the dogs off the leash. I really don’t have time for this in the mornings.
A woman's view of hunting...with men 