Birddogman
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 p.276 #6 · Sony RX1, RX1R, RX1R II and RX1R III Image Thread | |
mspencer1 wrote:
Greg- Wonderful set as usual! Happy to see that you are all out enjoying the new season. The first photo of Joy is priceless and you captured her expression perfectly! I always enjoy your photo essays of your adventures with Joy and Chase and look forward to more
Margaret
Thank you, Margaret - means a lot. I hope your pup and other family members are all well.
Pheasant season has finally opened here. For us, this is what it is all about. It’s why we take long runs every day, year ‘round to keep in condition, why I practice shooting clays every Sunday, why we train every day, etc. The weather is usually cool and crisp, the colors and uplands spectacularly beautiful and the quarry fast and wily. I can’t tell you how many times a bird with brain the size of a pea has outwitted two experienced dogs bred just to hunt birds and a man with two post-doc degrees.
This is typical pheasant cover in this area – miles of 6’ high weeds, so thick you can’t see your feet when standing in it and loaded with greenbriar, brambles and raspberry vines. Accordingly, most photos need to be taken where it is open enough to see the subject, even though the actual hunting is done by fighting your way through the heavy cover. Joy in the frosty early morning light:
My elderly friend, Chase, in a swampy area that often holds a bird or two:
This was the very first brace (there is a two-bird per day limit) of our 2016/17 pheasant season – taken with the fancy Famars sidelock.
Chase pointing what turned out to be a nice rooster with Joy honoring his point. Even after a lifetime of doing this, my heart still pounds when I approach a dog quivering on point, followed by the thunder of wings.
We bumped into this fine lady on our travels – Highlanders are a rare breed here.
At work searching for birds. The dogs work 100% by scent – they almost never see the bird before it is flushed.
Joy on point. There is more going on here than meets the eye. The bird is probably about 20-25 yards in front of her. When a dog goes on point, the dog does not see the bird. By scent alone, the dog gets just close enough to the bird that it is afraid to keep running and be discovered, but not so close that the bird thinks it has been found and takes to the air for safety. A classic Mexican standoff. It is a major flaw for a dog to accidently flush a bird before the hunter can get within range with his gun (about 40 yards, tops). The dog must then hold the bird in position for however long it takes the hunter (who could be a couple hundred yards or more away through heavy cover) to make his way to where the dog is pointing. The bird will hear the hunter approaching and flush into the sky when he gets too close for the bird’s comfort.
Last week, I switched from the fancy sidelock to the plain field grade 16 gauge Model 12 Winchester that my PA Dutch grandfather bought for me when I was 12 years old for getting all “A’s” in school. It’s one of my favorite possessions. Except for three years spent overseas as a prisoner of the US Army in the late 1960’s, this gun has hunted in my hands for 58 seasons now. I have a supply of 1950’s/early 1960’s paper cartridges to use with it. They still work fine.
This was an amazing retrieve by 14 year old Chase. Joy pointed and a cock pheasant thundered up not far from me, cackling - bright colors and long tail shining in the sun. It was an easy shot with the old Model 12. The bird came straight down in tall switchgrass about 25 yards from me. I saw Chase mark its fall and head out for the normal to-hand retrieve. He didn’t appear after a minute or two, so I waded into the switchgrass expecting to find the dead bird and Chase. No bird and no dog. Both just gone. The bird had obviously not been hit as hard as I thought it was and had run.
Joy and I stood around seeing and hearing nothing for close to 20 minutes – Chase was simply missing. Then I see him crossing a big, newly planted winter barley field toward me. My old buddy was soaking wet (had obviously swum across some waterway while tracking the running bird), he was covered with burrs, and bloody and cut up from the greenbriar thorns, but he HAD THE BIRD!! Needless to say, he received a big round of praise and loving-up. Maybe a treat or two as well....
The trout stream that runs around the base of “my” mountain is crossed by the old Union Canal (the first shovelful of dirt in its construction was turned by George Washington himself). In the 1800's, they built massive aqueducts to carry the waters of the canal, along with its canal boats, mule teams, etc, smoothly over the top of local streams. This aqueduct is one of the few that still stand:
Chase point, honored by Joy:
It is said (probably correctly) that the RX1R II is not an action camera, but I attempted to shoot this action with it because it was all I had. One day last week, I had gotten my limit of birds rather quickly, but the dogs and I weren’t ready to quit yet. Walking out of the field with loaded game bag and unloaded gun, we found a fellow complaining that there were no birds around – he had been hunting for days without seeing any, yaddadda. I offered to “guide” for him with the dogs. Since I couldn’t shoot any more birds that day, I was free to work the camera and didn’t need to gun. Before long, we hear Joy’s point beeper going off about 150 yards away and start to make our way very slowly (this fellow wasn’t in very good physical condition) through the brush to where she was.
As he approached Joy’s point he was getting more and more excited when suddenly, a rooster burst from the cover almost at his feet!! I yelled “Rooster!! Take him!!!”, but the fellow was so surprised he just fumbled with his gun while the bird streaked for the next county.
I noticed that Joy had not moved a muscle – she was still pointing. A second (!!) rooster thundered into the air by his feet:
Now he’s really flustered with two birds in the air and I’m yelling “Shoot!! Shoot!” as bird #2 joins bird #1 on its way to the horizon!
Finally, he gets himself together and fires both barrels. Boom! Boom!
Nothing. Sigh. He stands there looking stunned with an empty gun and does not reload.
I see Joy is still on a quivering point and two MORE roosters flush by his feet - as it turns out, Joy was actually holding four pheasants on point at once – something that is virtually unheard of!!. This time, even I was so flummoxed that I didn’t get any pics of the third and fourth bird.
Well, that’s enough for now. Thanks for lookin’
Greg, Chase and Joy
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