A week later, the withdrawal symptoms have begun. Peat’s evening hotlaps have intensified. Angus seems more lost than his age and illness can explain, insisting on some daily me-time around dusk to see if any game birds have interloped on our plot. Leslie made the video. I’m having more meltdowns than usual, at least in my head (and seem to be sleeping much less). Arg. I hate the off-season.
But, as you can see in the video, it was a season worth looking at. All the numbers were better than ever, even if it felt like there were fewer birds than ever. The numbers say otherwise (that’s why it’s good to keep a log, to keep your memory fair).
So enjoy the video, and — if you’re anything like me — hang in there until next September.
We’ve had our sights set on Wednesday after school to launch our 2017 bird season. Leslie decided over the summer that she wanted to try hunting this year. She said that she wants to experience what I experience working with the dogs, that taking photos and video can’t capture the experience like actually doing it. I agree.
Two Benellis now in the family
I don’t want to make too much about this, but it’s interesting to note that before we met in 2001 Leslie had been a PETA member. I don’t necessarily have anything against PETA; at least they’re not running around with Confederate flags trying to kill people. But they really aren’t fond of the whole hunting thing. So it has always seemed a little odd that Leslie not only didn’t mind me hunting but she accompanied me frequently (thus the great photos and videos on this blog). I knew it saddened her to watch me dispatch a live bird Peat or Angus retrieved; as most of you know, it still saddens me to have to do that. But I rationalized her part in all this as mainly motivated by watching the dogs work. She volunteered for several years with the Greyhound Rescue of Idaho, which began her love for dogs, but also paved her way toward her brief membership with PETA. Life is weird. Now she owns her own Benelli Montefeltro 20 gauge.
The Natural Shot
And she can use it. She’d never fired a gun until a year or two ago. On New Year’s Day, she fired one shot from a neighbor’s shotgun when a few of us were shooting clay pigeons on his property. This summer, after she decided she wanted to hunt, she shot about 10 shells at our neighbor’s house, and pulverized 5 of the pigeons. I was excited. She was excited. Our neighbor was excited. So she got the gun, and it sat in our house most of the summer — we were too busy, then school started — until yesterday. We’ve shot the last two days, and she’s getting it. More importantly, she likes it and wants to get better at it. Check out her form in this slow-motion video:
We also decided that we’re both getting weaker as we get older, so we’re adding some strength training, something a bit more than hoisting a pint a couple times a night. The dogs don’t know quite what to make of it.
Leslie doing some flexing for the mutts
So we’re ready to go now. I’ve heard mixed reports on birds in our normal area, and glowing reports about areas lower in elevation. We’ll see. Oh, and we’ve still got boatloads of hats and t-shirts if you’re interested. Check the Shop page for those…
Tomorrow we begin again. This off-season has seemed longer than others for some reason. Maybe I can blame it on Peat, who continues to exemplify quintessential puppy-hood mischief by stealing and bolting with whatever he can get his chompers on, causing me to embed in my brain what is probably the worst movie theme song of all time (“To Catch a Thief“).
Or maybe I’m getting younger and time is passing more slowly.
Nah.
Or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been finding chukar in unexpected numbers and in unexpected places.
In any case, I’ll try to figure out something to do to make today pass faster, and try not to get my hopes too high for tomorrow.
But we’re ready. Are you?
This is what good bird dogs are reduced to during the off-season
