Sunday, September 28, 2008

a fine little dog i've got

Saturday morning found us back at korpi road. I knew there would be birds in the alders, and wanted to start the day with some good finds. The brush was dripping with last nights rains and I gave the gun a good coating of oil and geared myself up with some waterproof chaps and boots.
It took Vera a
bout 45 seconds to lock onto her first bird of the day. She was amazingly steady for a young dog, never moving as I charged past. The bird, a woodcock, jumped from the ferns and began zigging and zagging away low to the ground. Hmmmm. I missed my opportunity waiting for the bird to climb above the cover as they are supposed to. This bird hadn't read the proper book evidently.
Woodcock fly in zany patterns. A common, fun belief is that their brains are upside down. When they first light, even they seem confused as to what's happening and climb and stall like an airplane with engine trouble. This often proves problematic for a shooter, trying to follow it's antics with the bead writing jibrish in the sky. The truth is they fly amazing migrations year after year, often landing in the same covers time after time. And if the gunner has patience, they do level out eventually, offering a decent shot for a decent shooter.
We found 6 or 7 birds in that cover, shot at some, cursed others who didn't follow the rules. It's a small cover, and we were done in 20 minutes or so. I could stay and continue to find them, they don't fly far, but choose to leave for fear of chasing them out. It's nice to have a sure thing!
We moved on to another cover I hadn't hunted in years. It belongs to a friend, not physically, but he did find it years ago when he was chasing his then-young shorthair around. She has since aged beyond the hunt, and a young lab now accompanies him. I didn't think he'd mind us making a sweep through and pulled off the highway. We found a grouse right-off, thundering away with Vera
in hot pursuit. Then a walking point, where Vera tracked a grouse with delicate steps. It erupted right where it should have, flew where predicted, stayed on course, and still walks this earth. Hey, this blog is about Vera, not my shooting after all!
We ended up finding 6 grouse and no woodcock (why I don't know, it was beautiful cover!) and pulled the pin as the sun pushed the temps into the uncomfortable range. Later that night the aforementioned friend called and asked if I would like to join him on a hunt Sunday morning. Of course I agreed!
We met at 7 a.m. at my house, loaded the dogs and coffee and pointed ourselves west to another of his magic spots. He had Lucy, his yellow lab with and was eager to find some birds for her. She has proven herself on big water, Lake of the Woods, retrieving ducks in all conditions and will soon demonstrate her breeds versatility flushing grouse and woodcock.

We set out on what was to become a 4 hour hunt in one of the many long-abandoned mining areas that dot northern minnesota. Every inch of ground is ideal habitat for grouse and woodcock, and we soon found many timberdoodles at home. Vera really came into her own today. I was a little concerned with how she would react with another dog running with her, especially one that is prone to flush rather than point. But she slammed her points and held them tight, even with myself stumbling past her and Lucy rushing in for the flush. She was focused, covering ground easily and working between the two of us. Never once did she show her age, it seemed as though she had been doing this for years.

We found many woodcock throughout the day, as well as a half-dozen or so grouse. I won't spill the beans on the total kill, but we each had weight in our vests at the end of the day. The only downer of the day was losing Gunther's bell. I'm not sure if Vera snagged it on something or what, but it's now gone. Pictures are a great reminder of a great dog, but that bell really brought him back to life. So, I guess I'll clear some room in the old noggin for a new sound, one unique to Vera.

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