Red Letter Day

[Jack Cronkhite]

After a most relaxing tour of several medieval towns on the Mediterranean coast, I found myself back in England looking out the coach window at various sights not to be missed but I was seeing more than the guide was pointing out. With no rifle, bow or shotgun but a nervous trigger finger none-the-less, I followed the movement of a very large fallow deer stag. Magnificent, but only I saw it. I had seen lots of crows but then I started seeing pheasant. They were plentiful, even though "Glorious August" was already two months back. That is the local term for the opening of the season (August 12 I was told). This was the morning of Oct 22 which began for me at 0400 but my body had been deceiving itself for a while. In home time it was Oct 21 2100 hrs. So after the hunter's lust set upon me, I then boarded one of those new fangled contraptions that have no propellers and eventually fell out of the taxi at 2330 hours of Oct 22 at home with a body believing it should be 0630 Oct 23. I snoozed for a while but jet lag did not allow me to totally succumb to what I needed. I putzed around and finally picked up CHARLIE and KYRA from the dog sitter. Wide awake I decided the only intelligent thing to do was to take the pups hunting. Due to jet lag I forgot my manners and grabbed a Baker built Montgomery Ward & Co 12 ga and my usual back-up Winchester 1200. We tromped around for 6 hours. I think the local boys have cleaned out a lot of roosters. CHARLIE kept putting up hens and she was wondering if I had lost my mind. Maybe I did. When, after 3 hours of lugging the heaviest shotgun I have ever carried, a rooster finally flushed, I was on it in a flash. It carried on laughing at me. You know those darn safeties do work no matter how hard you pull that trigger. Okay, let's chalk that up to jet lag. I had grown overly tired of carrying the beast, so I opted for the much lighter pump. Hen after hen. I was now into the magic half hour after sunset and made it to a roosting spot I know. I was anxious but resolved and was greeted by hen after hen. I started the trek back to the rolling kennel, feeling certain that today I was going to be skunked. There was a bit of cover along abandoned rail tracks, so I decided to walk through that. I was less than 100 yards from the car. CHARLIE got birdy and flushed yet another hen. I could tell she too was getting disappointed. I encouraged her to spend a little more time in the weeds. Surely all these hens must have a few suitors left. CHARLIE got birdy and a big rooster exploded out of the weeds with that heart-stopping, adrenalin-rushing almost maniacal cackle for having been disturbed so near bed time. Well he doesn't have to worry about that now. He tumbled from the sky over the tracks and behind some brush. I had made my mark and when I topped the tracks CHARLIE was with the bird already. Now many of you know that CHARLIE has had issues with retrieving. The husky blood in her seems to have killed the lab instinctive retrieve. I stood on the tracks and just looked at her thinking it really doesn't matter if you don't retrieve - you find, you flush and find the downed bird. I am capable of walking the last 20 or 30 yards to pick it up. I stood and watched her for a few seconds and in my best dog speak I yelled "Take it" She looked at me tentatively and picked him up gently and then set him back down as if to say, I have done my job, come and get him. I told her again "Take it" - there's just one more thing I want to add to your job description. She picked him up again and took a couple steps in my direction. Dog speak flew rapidly and approvingly 'CHARLIE COME" "GOOD GIRL" Over and over again. Then she understood, trotted over and let me take that big old rooster from her mouth. And that my friends is a RED LETTER DAY in the life of a guy and his hunting dog. We came home and I slept for 23 hours and maybe today will find my body back in this time zone. Tomorrow I plan to let CHARLIE show me how much she enjoys the new task in her job description. I'll be taking a neglected VH. (I think that allows this thread to be posted here rather than in Off Topic) :)
Cheers,
Jack

[Rick Losey]

congrats on a good day out with Charlie and the guns - jet lag and all

BTW - the Glourious 12th opens the red grouse season - so that would not have endangered the pheasants, they often realeased ahead of time and are shot later in driven shoots.

[Jack Cronkhite]

Thanks, I continue to learn. Next thing I will have to try before I leave the planet would be to shoot a few English birds with some upstart American shotgun !!

[Rick Losey]

Thanks, I continue to learn. Next thing I will have to try before I leave the planet would be to shoot a few English birds with some upstart American shotgun !!

yeah - me too. I went to Scotland a few years back with the plan to do some walk up shooting for grouse and salmon fishing. We planned well ahead but the spring before the trip, the grouse population crashed, so the estate let me switch to stalking. Took a couple nice red deer stags, but I still want to go back for grouse.

[Jack Cronkhite]

So, how did the walk up shooting for salmon work out? :shock:

[Rick Losey]

So, how did the walk up shooting for salmon work out? :shock:


:rotf:

it might have worked better than the spey casting, I stalked deer on the hill for two days in pouring rain, which all ran downhill to the River Spey which at or near flood stage by the time I fished, so no fish were taking.

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Jack,

I've shot quite a few birds on that side of the water, most with upstart American shotguns. Oddly enough, the birds never realized the difference. A load of #5 shot will kill a duck no matter where you are.


Destry

[Richard Flanders]

Great story Jack. Have been wondering where you were for a while. Our bear dog in camp this summer was a yellow lab/husky mix and named "Gunner". He was procured from the pound after our 135# Rottweiler cross bear dog crossed over this past winter. Well, this new puppy-like dog seemed a dead loss as a bear dog at first but when he saw his first bear he went after it like he was going to tear it apart and ran right up and nipped in on the bum as it hauled ass through the brush! And he did that all summer. It was absolutely hilarious to watch. Balls of brass that dog! And he's a dedicated retriever with the nose of a lab. You could not throw a stick far enough into the brush that he couldn't find it and he loved water retrieving. Unfortunately, once he got ahold of his retrieving subject, his inner husky took over and he'd often shake and chew it to bits. He did know the game though and most of the time would bring it right back to you and would drop it at my feet if I did no more than point at the ground! What a great dog. I kept a pile of 'dog stix' at my office and in a box in the core shack and he knew enough to just go get one and drop it at my feet when he came around. Very smart dog. He looks like a lot like your Charlie. Next summer I have to take a collection of frisbees and such to keep him occupied. He loved to run beside my 4-wheeler also. He could run 30mph for short distances and up to 20mph almost indefinitely - that was the husky in him. What a great dog. I'm sure he'd retrieve ducks but I'd be afraid of what he'd do to them when he got them to shore.

[Jack Cronkhite]

Hi Richard: Good to hear from you. I no longer know who knows what but I went through the loss of my wife due to cancer. That was 9 months ago and you may have noticed I have not been a very regular contributor to the forums over that period of time. Have to say all the fun got knocked out of me. My little diversions, like guns and hunting seemed to feel somewhat inconsequential. That said, I started to get after some pheasants this fall and it felt good and of course very familiar. Off again tomorrow and Saturday and just may park my butt out there for a while. Anyway, that explains my absence for the last while. Regards, Jack

[charlie cleveland]

sorry about your wife jack....im glad your back ive missed all the stuff you came up with especially the old rusty car ands those gorgus old abandoned homesteads..and of course all of charlies atics...heh none of this stuff can replace a fellows lifeime mate but a person gotta do something till we meet our loved ones again..and what better way than a stroll threw that beautiful country side of your with parker in hand and charlie at your side... charlie

[calvin humburg]

Were's your usual most excellent pictures?

[Jack Cronkhite]

Haven't had camera in hand for a while either. Getting back into the swing of things. See what I can do out there again.

[Richard Flanders]

Sorry to hear about your wife Jack and glad to see you getting some things back to normal. Hopefully Charlie and some "Parker elixir" and the wide open spaces with all that fresh air and your camera will get your energy levels back up. We missed you.

[Dave Suponski]

Welcome back Jack. You were missed.

[William Maynard]

Great Story!