The dance has started up here

[Lloyd McKissick]

http://i.imgur.com/4Y9mTogh.jpg (https://imgur.com/4Y9mTog)

http://i.imgur.com/glJ9Grjh.jpg (https://imgur.com/glJ9Grj)


http://i.imgur.com/UucfUfih.jpg (https://imgur.com/UucfUfi)

http://i.imgur.com/9VZBTQ3h.jpg (https://imgur.com/9VZBTQ3)

Not a Parker, my apologies.

[Andrew Sacco]

That sure is a big bird or a small gun in that last photo ; )

[Daryl Corona]

Where is "up here".

[Lloyd McKissick]

Northern Minnesota.

We have a small home on the Lake of the Woods. The gun is a smallish, 5lb14oz Brummie boxlock that really fits.

The Parker hammer will come out after the freezer is happy.

[Ken Hill]

Lloyd,

I’m in Minneapolis for my nephews wedding. It’s in the 80’s and muggy. You sure it’s going to get cold? :)

Ken

[Lloyd McKissick]

Mr. Hill: Well, sure it will, but maybe not today. Too far north for it not to.

We've had frost here already so... this is technically Indian Summer up here now, but the leaves are rapidly turning and some are already falling. It won't be long now.

http://i.imgur.com/AMITayJh.jpg (https://imgur.com/AMITayJ)

[Lloyd McKissick]

Another part of the dance up here (when it's too-warm to hunt) ...

http://i.imgur.com/mCS0lxsh.jpg (https://imgur.com/mCS0lxs)

[ur

http://i.imgur.com/T107MaRh.jpg (https://imgur.com/T107MaR)

l=https://imgur.com/xAux5oa]http://i.imgur.com/xAux5oah.jpg[/url]

http://i.imgur.com/D9Uxrzeh.jpg (https://imgur.com/D9Uxrze)

About a 16-inch fish. Not huge walleyes but... good table fare

and when it finally cools off here again, more of this:

http://i.imgur.com/bOTyuLqh.jpg (https://imgur.com/bOTyuLq)

[Garry L Gordon]

We’ll be there for the last two weeks of October. I hope your hunts are in cooler conditions, and that you get those hammer guns exercised. No dogs?

[Lloyd McKissick]

Only the dogs that other folks bring. Our dog has aged out and we're not ready for a new one just yet. FWIW: I've killed lots of birds up here without a dog. A dog is clearly better but not absolutely necessary, at least not here.

[Erich Bretschneider]

I used to hunt west of Roseau from the border to 20 miles south some days we'd limit on ruff and sharp-tail grouse hunting the forested areas for ruff and old peat marshes for sharp-tails. Spend a couple winters trapping south of Warroad living in a tarpaper shack for the winter.

[Lloyd McKissick]

Oskar:

A tarpaper shack up here in winter would be tough going.

You're clearly from good stock.

[Lloyd McKissick]

http://i.imgur.com/7SckiDKh.jpg (https://imgur.com/7SckiDK)

Good day here. Neither are Parkers I'm afraid...

[Lloyd McKissick]

http://i.imgur.com/BRfaNFRh.jpg (https://imgur.com/BRfaNFR)

This was out my kitchen window last friday afternoon...

[Lloyd McKissick]

http://i.imgur.com/hRZJcBlh.jpg (https://imgur.com/hRZJcBl)

Ruffed grouse cock and a Spruce grouse hen and so easy to get fooled (sprucies don't eat so great).

Anybody home here?

[Rick Roemer]

Clearly I need to get to Minnesota. You are very fortunate.

[Lloyd McKissick]

Thankyou Mr. Roemer.

I am fortunate and I try to remember that blessing daily.

[Jim McKee]

I sure miss those days in SE Ohio!
Lloyd I remember thinking the birds we saw and harvested here were just normal and expected it to continue during the 1970s-thru the 2000s.
I was badly mistaken!
Enjoy and appreciate every day they are there!!!

[Lloyd McKissick]

Jim: I know it can't last but I try to make every Fall count. This has been a very good year (not all are).

[Lloyd McKissick]

Well, the dance is almost over here.

http://i.imgur.com/lk7fxBeh.jpg (https://imgur.com/lk7fxBe)

I've been up here for nearly 2-months hunting and fishing. It really defines what I do to "recreate" for a number of reasons (it does recreate me into somebody that is healthier, happier, and more calm). My goal every day is 10 thousand steps and two birds, which has been surprisingly easy this year (good hatch this Spring I suppose). I'll be closing the place down again for another season in a day or two and then loading my guns and gear into my rig for the long drive back across the Great Plains. I'll be 68 in a few short weeks and I've tried to make the last few autumns count as much I as I could. This one has been a peach, for sure.

I've been blessed with two type of hunting this year, forrest and "the plains" (I made a short side trip to North Dakota mid-October). It's hard to compare them but both can be simply wonderful.

http://i.imgur.com/Nls6ngnh.jpg (https://imgur.com/Nls6ngn)

http://i.imgur.com/TmUHUWah.jpg (https://imgur.com/TmUHUWa)

The yields for all of my time afield have been spectacular...

http://i.imgur.com/5oKXm1ih.jpg (https://imgur.com/5oKXm1i)

http://i.imgur.com/01K9ww2h.jpg (https://imgur.com/01K9ww2)

It'll be hard to go home and then just sit around, so...I leave for an elk hunt next weekend.

I do hope that I die with my boots on.

[Lloyd McKissick]

Forgot to add some pix of the Parker hammer (it is in other posts here) but, here you go:

http://i.imgur.com/BEzn1OLh.jpg (https://imgur.com/BEzn1OL)

http://i.imgur.com/ZDD3MTlh.jpg (https://imgur.com/ZDD3MTl)

http://i.imgur.com/ZhxWQKsh.jpg (https://imgur.com/ZhxWQKs)