Wasn't directed at anyone in particular Harold. I will take a drink too please, and I want to see that gun!

Is there a line forming for Harold's drink buying? I have dibs on the spot behind Andy...

I'm going to be there a while...

Harold just sell me the little straight grip and we will be all good. :cool:

Good luck Reggie. I tried getting that away from him several years ago. He once told me he didn't shoot it well IIRC. I need a grade 3 16. I foolishly traded a nice Damascus gun for a 30 inch A grade Fox. The Fox was a nice gun but I didn't shoot it much and sold it to a friend. Now I don't have either of them:banghead:

Nice thread Andy, it really gets me to thinking about stuff. The upper peninsula is almost a different "world" compared to lower michigan in many respects. I really do love the upper peninsula. I am more worried about wolves than anything else hunting up there. My brittany often ranges out over 100 yards if we are in an area I am familiar with. We have coyotes down here and I think they could probably be just as dangerous in certain situations. I saw Garry post a picture of a wolf track when he hunted in Minnesota earlier. I am talking to a couple of guys in the upper peninsula as we speak about the hunting up there, the wolves, bird populations etc. I won't know until I try it out I guess. I would urge anyone who has never hunted grouse or woodcock over a bird dog to try to find someone to hunt with. And go out as many times as you can, its quite an experience. I am addicted to my "walks in the woods" watching a good dog do what he was put on earth to do. There is nothing quite like it. As I get more time off from my work, I would try my best to help anyone who has not experienced bird hunting to give them a chance. Its as much as an "open" invitation that I can give under the circumstances. I also have a buddy with 2 really good bird dogs his dogs are getting older, so he hunts them an hour or so apiece and the other can rest a little and go again. I bet he would enjoy taking a guy out to experience bird hunting. I wish you the best Andy in your search, heck I have a nice house on the water for sale coming up soon:) were close to two nice size towns about 40 minutes from each one. Andy I know you could buy my house, yeah thats it, I might even raise some quail or chukars for my buddies with bird dogs and you could probably get in on that too:) My new hunting buddy moved to Utah, and built a nice home, one of their daughters live just a few minutes from me. They lasted a year out there before missing their kids. A lot to think about as we get older. Good luck again Andy.

Gary,
Atlanta is one of the many many places I want to try hunting, its about an hour away. There is another place about a half hour north of me, a glass customer gave me a book his neighbor wrote called "ghost" by Capt. Tony Petrella, it was quite a nice book to read. Tony used to donate a hunt every year to the ruffed grouse society. His dog I heard was quite a bird dog, the guys would go crazy bidding for the chance to watch his dog hunt so they raised a lot of money for that society. Tony used to plant trees for the grouse all along the manistee river where he lived. Tony passed away, there is a plaque on a tree commemorating him, someday I hope to hunt that area and find his plaque, after reading his book, that would really mean something to me.

Back to the OPs original question, for many years I was looking for my retirement home in a small town in south eastern Washington, near my favorite Quail and Pheasant hunting. However, by the time retirement arrived, the reality was that with increasing age and family health issues, the Spokane area with a real airport and real hospitals was a much more viable option and put up with driving a ways to my favorite hunting.

Ed thank you for the "invite" : ) I'll go wherever one invites me if I find the time. Dave, that's the issue I know we have to consider. I'm 56, and in ten years things change a lot. I realize an eight hour walk at 66+ is going to be tough, but if I'm close, a few short jaunts to keep the soul alive is probably wise. As my dog is now older and we have kids entering college, it's lucky I get out more than 3-4 hours at most "boots on the ground" time. I'm pretty tired after that. I guess we don't want to admit that time catches up, at least I don't.

Andy,
I am 67 years old, a half day hunt suits me just fine if I have decent leather boots on. Wearing rubber boots a half day is hard on me, your right the next 10 years you will notice a difference. We have a lot of state land around here, the department of natural resources is constantly selling off small tracts of timber much to our delight.