The Opener

[Brush Buster]

Well ,opening day finally arrived ,Sat. The 16th of Oct ! I had been anxiously awaiting it . I have been having a lot of hip pain the last few months and knew I wouldn't last long afield ,but planned on hunting three small coverts ,that are on the small side and would give me sit down travel time between them ! The morning started out a little later than usual ,since I planned on the short day .
The temp. was great, Blue Bird skys around 40 degrees with a slight breeze ,perfect weather for my nine year old pointing Dog ,Chip .
I finally put Chip on the ground around 8:00 Am and we started out at the old Zimmerman Place ,two small ponds secluded back in among a small lot of Quaken Ash ,to my suprise we never moved a bird in the bottom or had any Birdiness from Chip ,I guess no one home ,crossed the old dirt road to catch a small area of grape vines and small dogwoods ,and immediatly Chip was stretched out like a cat ready to strike ,the Grouse broke cover on the other side of a cluster of grape vines and I just caught a glimpse of heading into a small stand of young poplar about a hundred yards away ,the next flush was a repeat and he seemed to have left the vicinity ,There is another small pond on the other end of the property and with my hip as sore as it has been ,I was close to the Jeep so I loaded Chip up and drove the mile or so to the other side ,normally I would have walked the distance but usually its vacant of game other than an occasional Ring Neck ,which aren't in season in Pa. yet .
I started around the high side of the small pond on the west end of the old farm and looked down to my right where I had last heard Chips bell ,he was on point ,but with less enthusiasm than the previous point ,normally he appears as if his eyes are going to explode right out of his head ,he then started to creep very slowly and would stand and creep ,and stand and creep ,I knew he had one moving in front of him ,I started to circle to my left to try and get in front of Chip working to get up the little rise in front of me , the Grouse broke cover to my left off of a small crown at the top of the rise he flew straight and then banked right at about 30 yards out ,without even thinking , the little gun was shouldered ,106312 barked and I saw the bird crumple and drop to the ground ,I marked the spot and called Chip in with " Hunt Dead " and it wasn't but a minute till we had the first bird of the season in hand ! All Totaled Chip and I moved the Two Grouse and Ten Woodcock in the three coverts in less than three hours ! It was truly a wonderful Day afield ! I Thank God I live in the greatest Country in the World ,where we are still able to take our fine old guns and our old dogs and enjoy our time in the field ! Russ