Last Gasp
 

It seems the end of the season is always intertwined with weather, and this year was no exception. We ended our Iowa season with snow drifts above our knees, and our finale in Oklahoma was in 60 degree weather that was preceded by torrential, flooding rains. I felt for the birds, and we took only a "trophy" bird from the coveys we found in both states.

After walking in deep, crusted snow, and then slogging through quagmires of Oklahoma mud, we felt like we had been on a challenge course. The one constant throughout these last days -- the wind. Still, it's always hard to leave the field on what you know is the last day of the season. The older I get, the more I mourn that last day.

Photos:

1. While working a ditch in cover, Aspen put his nose up and cat-walked across 80 yards of open field (those are his tracks). Before he could make the fence line, about 20 pheasants erupted and sailed off the property. A good sign for next season.
2. You can find yourself mesmerized by reading the snow. There was plenty of pheasant sign on this farm.
3. One of the singles that gave me a chance. Coveys usually do not hold in deeper snow cover, but singles will often bury themselves and need coaxing to get up. It's hard on the nerves -- the dog's and the hunter's.
4. Alder had this single nailed down, or so I thought. I just knew the bird was in front of her, but, as you can see in Elaine's photo, it managed to sneak out behind me and directly toward Elaine (you can just see it flushing behind my left leg). We both saluted its luck...or ingenuity.
5. A "trophy" Bob. One bird for an outing is perfect this time of year, especially if you only have the right barrel to clean when you get home.
6. Winter skies are distinctive -- and memorable.
7. Oklahoma was warm and wet. Bird numbers where we hunt were down from a poor hatch and an October ice storm. Aspen pinned this scattered covey, but they got up wild offering no shots.
8. If you look closely at this photo, you can see that my gun is pointed down. The bird Aspen pointed flew over the edge of the creek bank (hidden in the photo). Fortunately, I was able to make what is normally a poor shot for me. Unfortunately, the dead bird ended up across the creek, inaccessible to us. Aspen had not seen it go down, but I don't know what he would have done about crossing the creek. An unrecovered bird is one of hunting's biggest regrets.
9. One of many nice things about hunting in warmer weather is that you can spend time on the tailgate with the dogs. Elaine said that Alder looked like "The Hunter Whisperer" in this photo. What she whispered is our secret.
10. Afternoon sun on the last day always makes images more poignant.

Thanks for letting us "tag along" on your season finale, Garry.

Great stuff Garry! Thanks for bringing us along.




.

Very enjoyable as always Garry.

great job again Garry, I look forward to your hunting trips. Picture #7 looks like there is a bird up in the tree above your dog?

Thanks guys!

Ed, that is an eagle nest much further off in the distance. The photo makes it appear like it's above Aspen. We saw a pair of Bald Eagles at the nest earlier. Apparently they were scoping it out prior to nesting. It was a really huge nest. Funny how the photo portrays it in the distance.

BTW, it's -8 degrees here this morning. I hope you all are warmer...but I doubt it (except maybe Reggie?).

It's 6 degrees here. The boys and I all wish we were back in Georgia hunting quail.

Yikes, Rich, that's cold! Did I miss your pictures of your Georgia hunt? Need me to post them?

There on my phone and I don't know how to get them from there to the computer.

Email a couple to me and I'll post them here. My email is:

g.g2@aol.com

Here are some photos from Rich. His "Last Gasp" hunting trip, obviously warmer than 6 degrees. (BTW, snow all day here and the temperature peaked at 0.) Really makes you long for those late winter days down south.

Is that Rich in the kast photo???

Coulda fooled me. :shock:




.

Rich will need to caption those photos. I just know those are his "boys."

And handsome “boys” they are!





.

Gary thanks for posting the pictures for me. I am technically challenged. These were all taken while hunting at Morrison Pines in Moultrie Georgia the last week in January. This was my 7th year there and it's fantastic, it's the one hunt I won't give up. Ike is the white GSP and Duke the dark one. They are almost exactly a year apart. Ike turned 3 the first part of September and Duke turned two the end of the month. This is the first time they have been hunting since the end of October. They are "My Boys" and I'm damn proud of them.

Fine looking GSPs Rich! Which one did you get from Mr. Brunner?

Gosh, Rich, what in the world do you do with those "Boys" from October to January? I'll bet they were chomping at the bit when you got to Georgia.

Great looking pups!

They probably are chasing grouse in the UP if I were a betting man!

Reggie Duke came from Chuck. From the end of October to the 15th of September they get spoiled. Thats why the January quail hunt is so important to me. I get out of the cold and snow and the boys get to hunt.
This is only the second time they have hunted together, the last time was also in Georgia last year. It's way to difficult for me to keep track of two of them grouse hunting.

I used to have difficulty running two fairly big running dogs at once while grouse hunting. That is until I got a system down pat. I got two bells that are loud enough to hear at a distance but with different tones. Always run the same bell on the same dog. It did not take long till I knew which was which just listening to the bell. Add to that a Garmin gps collar and it solved all the problems. Numerous times I had both dogs on point in different directions at the same time. No problem, go to the youngest first and then to the old guy. He'll be there when I get there, no matter how long it takes. I've come to like running two at once. It is marvelous to watch two dogs vacuum a section of cover.