We had a nice evening with Stan and Sharon. We learned a little about more about how they ended up coming out west. It was simple really. Just following a dream. That's the kind of people they are. It was interesting to me really as I'm much the same way and for month's now had been contemplating how to fulfill mine. Of course I was living out much of what I wanted to experience with the Setter's but actually changing your whole life was something quite different. I respected these people for what they had done being in a similar situation as myself with kids that left home and were now on their own. Suddenly life changes and it doesn't revolve around the daily role of a parent with children at home. So what now? What about us? Are the type of questions that you ask yourself. For Stan and Sharon it had been to live in the country they had spent so many happy times vacationing in over the year's. It was good conversation. I was an intent listener.
Friday had finally come around. Our last day at the ranch. We had befriended the lady doing the cooking at the cookhouse "Diane". Bribing her with some of the good things from Wisconsin we brought along, namely Wisconsin cheese thanks to my good friends the Buholzer's, Diane had let us use the big freezer in the commissary to freeze our birds every day. We dropped off the previous day's birds before heading up into the hills again.
Our destination was the area I had seen the previous day farther east than we had hunted so far. Again I took the southern rim of this bowl type area and Tom went North on the other side of the ridge. I had Tom drop me off about a half a mile away so I could work the pasture leading into the area. We worked the sparse cover with the Setter's casting in and out of the brushy area's they had learned to check for birds but to no avail. There was a fence up ahead with a large area between that had no cover. I knew the pup's would sprint across the no man's land so to speak to the next group of brush just across the fence line so I had them heel and walk with me to the cover. I got to the fence line then went to crawl under. When I got up I noticed the dog's standing as if they were still heeling and had stopped to wait for me. Puzzled for just a second I looked at where they were looking and realized there must be birds right in the brush I was standing next to! They were on point! All three lined up perfectly looking straight at the brush. Well here's the deal. Anytime you've got birds in the bushes the question is what side do I approach them on? I quickly surmised this situation. There was a slight incline on the back side so if I was to go low side I may be blocked out the other side. So I decided to stay on the high side for any sight advantage. I walked ahead slightly with the Setter's still intent looking straight ahead when this barrage of birds taking flight exploded. It was Sharptail. Bird after bird was taking flight. I could hear it all but couldn't see a damn thing because they were coming off low and flying out then up out of range when I finally took in the sight. If there was fifty there was a hundred! This was the largest Sharptail group I had ever seen. I hurried down in front and the dog's followed hoping there was a few stragglers out ahead. One bird flushed wild but was out of range. Amazing. I can't imagine what the dog's must have thought about so much scent in one place.
I continued on to my destination. The area I wanted to concentrate on was surrounding a bowl of brushy cover with a dry dam at one end filled with water. As I got there I could see the brush had been bulldozed sectioning it off. This was great because it made it possible to hunt the then narrower strips. Later I learned this was done so that it was easier to get the cattle out of it when it came time to move them. The term "Brushed Up" referred to the cattle that resorted to staying within these area's and did not want to come out of it. Horse's couldn't go through it so the Cowboys had dog's they'd use to drive the cattle out. The pup's got birdy right away but with all 3 on the ground in close cover they bumped a couple of birds competing for the honor's. Knowing the decision to run all 3 was mine I accepted the blame. But we'd find more and we did. Beau had a point along a narrow strip on the edge of this area on the south side. It was a double. I took one of the Roosters on my second shot but had to go into the brush to get it myself. On the way in another Rooster went up. I shot and missed struggling to get free of the branches around me. We headed around this south side as I was just following the dog's back and forth I could tell there were birds in here by the way they were casting about. Molly picked up a trail along the edge and we moved with her for about a hundred yards when she stopped focused into the brush. I moved ahead but nothing flushed. She moved ahead slowly. Stopping . Looking. Eventually we came to a ditch running east and west. She stopped again looking intent. Straight ahead. I walked ahead across the ditch and two Sharptail flushed. I fired at the bird on the right and brought it down missing the second bird. Molly had handled these moving birds perfectly and it was a joy to watch. We worked our way in a clockwise fashion now to the other side of this oval area. Molly again came on point along the edge of the brush. This time a single. Possibly the bird I had missed. I shot and it fell well within the brush and even though the dog's could hear it flapping about I had no takers on going into the "Trenches". So once again I fought my way through the stiff unforgiving thorny mess retrieving my own bird! Almost back to the truck now we hunted around some very steep ravines on the north edge and Mick came on point this time. Right on the side of a steep incline. This was another covey of Sharptail. They came up and high overhead. I had to turn around and caught one bird as they flew back in the direction we had come. We gathered around the bird and took a break before continuing on up the hill a short distance to the truck above us. There were a lot of birds in this area and I wished I had another day to make the run with one or two dog's.
We cleaned our birds as we waited for Tom. Wanting to wrap up early to get a jump on packing and we had to get our birds from the commissary before Diane left for the day. Tom finally made his way back and had a good run as well getting into Sharptail on the opposite side of the ridge. We headed out having two pasture's to cross as we slowly made our way. Halfway through the second one Tom was smoking of course as we talked and I looked over seeing a thread of smoke in the air aside from the one coming off his cigarette. I looked again and there was a distinct plume of smoke rising up off of his chest. I said" Hey I think you're on fire" He's driving smoking and looking for the source of the fire all at the same time. I couldn't help but be amused. He starts slapping himself about trying to find the source of the fire. He's holding the wheel with one hand slapping himself with the other while he's got a cigarette in his mouth. I can't help it but I'm now laughing! It's in his shirt pocket. The fire I mean. He had a wool shirt on and it had pretty well caught fire in his pocket. He got it beat out and we moved on. We had spent a lot of time on the road together the last few years so you learn to tolerate each other's habits. I struggled with his smoking but then on this trip Beau had taken a leak on his boots so I guess we were even.
On the way out we said our goodbye's glad we had made the trip as we headed down the road. We were welcomed back and didn't hesitate saying we'd love to come again. It wasn't an easy hunt by any means. We had to really work to find birds but eventually everyday we did. If you could get by the poverty of the reservation and the issues with the culture this was a beautiful place to be. We talked on the way back about how ironic it was that people could live there in such despair surrounded by such beauty. But then again we were there to bird hunt!
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