Preparation for my tenth season with the Setters is finally underway. The mild spring and warm temperatures caused the birds to nest earlier and as a result the chicks are now excellent fliers. And with most hay fields cut I can safely run the Setters without disturbing any late nesting birds.
We have been getting out either late in the evening or an hour or so after sun up. Right now a 30 minute workout is sufficient and if the weather is cooler I'll run the pups both morning and evening. It's been great to finally get back out there and while I choose areas likely to not hold birds we usually find some on every run. Exercise is the main objective for the first few weeks then by mid August we'll be seriously scouting to locate broods of Sharptail for the September opening.
So far everybody's manners are still in tact with all three pups honoring points nicely with the occasional encroachment by Mick. This is nothing new and every preseason I reinforce the rules with him and basic commands with them all. I give a whistle blast and hand signals to change direction and just a hand signal if they are in my line of sight. Two blasts on the whistle to come all the way in along with my hand pointing to the ground. Again if they are in the line of sight I can get them in by using the hand signal. It's very basic as they are all used to how we work together. They naturally cast about and work back around to me eventually so with the use of Garmin Tracking collars I eliminate any apprehension about their location if out of sight.
The landscape is ever changing and this year is no exception. Less CRP and more corn once again fueled by rising commodity prices. This will mean a challenge for the early season Pheasant hunters once again. More crops unharvested during the first part of the season will mean less acres for them to hunt with what will be lower bird populations again this year I expect. For the Sharptail hunter not much will change as farm and ranch country is filled with enough pasture and rolling hills to provide ample cover to hunt these birds. If you're willing to play the game that is! You can walk miles before you find which hill they're setting behind and if you're lucky then get close enough for a shot.
I've been enjoying meals of both Pheasant and Sharptail the last several weeks working on using up last year's bounty. Cooked properly which is medium rare both are delicious but I'm partial to the Sharptail with a little A-1 steak sauce. Wow is that living I say to myself!
All the pups are healthy at this writing as the days count down to the start of another dream season. I had a scare with Beau in June as the leg he had a cancerous tumor removed from became swollen when we were in Wisconsin. Within 48 hours the swelling abated and now the leg shows no signs of any issues. I suspect a spider bite possibly. He's my favorite dog to watch work Sharptail as he ranges quite wide and stops on a dime never pushing birds. Just a beautiful sight to see. Molly carries a little more weight during the off season than I'd like but it comes off very quickly. She's been excited to get back out in the field and is like a time keeper nuzzling my arm when she knows it's time to head out to run. Mick as I've written about previously has slowed a bit but is his same thorough and methodical self. It's a joy to watch him use his wisdom and read a birds movements. I'll run him solo most of the time from here on out once the season begins.
As I contemplate objectives for the season I think about savoring our time like a fine wine. Maybe slowing up a bit between runs. Carrying a collapsible camp chair with us. A thermos of coffee. Maybe a bottle of whiskey or a six pack of beer. I remember bringing home three puppies that all eventually ended up in my lap as I drove home. Now all of a sudden we're in our tenth season together. I want it to last forever. I want to always remember every moment. But we'll take it one day one run at a time till we can't walk anymore knowing how special our time was together. Knowing we had it all.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Strategies For Success
No matter what the pursuit on public lands you choose it's always a challenge to deal with all the other sportsman out there fishing or hunting. Everyone's trying to enjoy they're sport often times pursuing the same species in very different ways. I prefer to hunt alone behind my 3 setters and find running into group hunters in an area a claustrophobic feeling at best.
In a phone conversation with my son Jared recently he related an experience while fly fishing in the Mt Shasta area of northern CA. He was on a solo trip and upon arriving at the river he had chosen noticed other fisherman fishing primarily within a half mile of the camp site. We talked about how this was a common occurrence with most people not venturing far from the access point. He decided given the situation to hike upstream beyond the average distance most fisherman covered by a couple miles. What he then enjoyed was an all day experience of fishing the river to himself while seeing only one other person returning to camp at 7:00 o'clock in the evening. He was rewarded for his efforts catching numerous trout throughout the day enjoying the solitude of the landscape around him.
I related to his strategy in that the same issue exists bird hunting on public access land. Most hunters are what I call drive by hunters in that they're decision on where to hunt is most of the time based on how closely they can access the cover. With the rural areas crisscrossed with section line roads every mile for the most part this means it's very easy for hunters not wishing to walk long distances to pursue game in this fashion. So I then avoid these easy access acres and concentrate on the less obvious pockets of cover you can only access by walking greater distances than the average hunter will go to hunt. You are sometimes rewarded and sometimes not but because I'm not trying to fill a limit for a group of what often times is 4,6,8 or more hunters I'm happy just to find a bird for my dog's to work. A several mile walk for one point with all my dog's lined out on the prairie tails up and noses into the wind is priceless to me and worth every step. The objective of the group hunters is to shoot and kill birds then jump in their trucks and hurry on to the next spot to do it all over again. We pursue the same species but with very different objectives and appreciation for the sport.
This discussion with my son brought to mind an analogy I had just been thinking about before he called as I contemplated the upcoming season which unfortunately I believe will be bleak due to the loss of millions of CRP acres across the western states.
If you at random selected a group of people to walk through an art museum filled with the works of the worlds masters then recorded their observations you would get very different results. Based on our life experiences we all have a different vision of the world. So when looking at the same masterpieces some might notice the brush strokes,colors,shadows or talk about how it makes them feel while others may just say "nice picture" or "why would you paint that?" or just walk briskly through unable to relate at all to what the artists had created. And so it is I maintain with sportsman. We can all pursue the same game species in the same environment but on very different levels and appreciation of the experience.
The challenge posed to us all then is how to maximize how we as individual sportsmen enjoy the sport while sharing the same public access acres. The answer is there if you look for it but takes some time and effort to discover. And I will tell you the best laid plans can be thwarted by those that don't have common sense or respect for others. While I have numerous examples of this it's not a common occurrence thankfully. I will share just one that comes to mind that actually made me laugh and think you can't fix stupid!
I was hunting a very large pasture in a waterfowl production area that I had never seen anyone hunt. I had all three Setters on the ground casting about in search of the Sharptail Grouse I knew used this area. The Setters were birdy and I turned to look behind me as I saw a truck coming down the rarely used section line road and the driver stopped a ways past where I had parked then got out watching the Setters as they worked these birds. I heard the truck start up and the door slam shut as I watched the covey of 20 or so birds then flush wild startled by the noise. Dumbass!
My strategy is as I've said for the most part to get where you can't easily access cover which can be in itself hard to find followed by hunting late season and in weather most hunters will not venture out in when the cold and snow hits. The lower populations and loss of cover actually benefits a hunter like myself as the hunt then is suited to dog's that can cover a lot of ground looking for what birds there may be. The lower populations also mean the group hunters will find it impossible to shoot limits and may even find themselves skunked on days walking the same cover they may have been very successful hunting in the past. Those days are gone forever I'm afraid. Game farms and hunt clubs will be the only place for that type of experience.
I believe however we are a long ways from the individual sportsman who's still willing to work hard and practice "Fair Chase" hunting and "Catch and Release"fishing to not be able to have a great day in the field on public access ground and water. Basically to be successful on public access land you have to think like the average sportsman and then do the opposite. Get in shape. Scout ahead of time on your feet not on your seat. Go solo. Save playing army for the hunt club. Get up earlier and then hunt and fish longer and harder.
In a phone conversation with my son Jared recently he related an experience while fly fishing in the Mt Shasta area of northern CA. He was on a solo trip and upon arriving at the river he had chosen noticed other fisherman fishing primarily within a half mile of the camp site. We talked about how this was a common occurrence with most people not venturing far from the access point. He decided given the situation to hike upstream beyond the average distance most fisherman covered by a couple miles. What he then enjoyed was an all day experience of fishing the river to himself while seeing only one other person returning to camp at 7:00 o'clock in the evening. He was rewarded for his efforts catching numerous trout throughout the day enjoying the solitude of the landscape around him.
I related to his strategy in that the same issue exists bird hunting on public access land. Most hunters are what I call drive by hunters in that they're decision on where to hunt is most of the time based on how closely they can access the cover. With the rural areas crisscrossed with section line roads every mile for the most part this means it's very easy for hunters not wishing to walk long distances to pursue game in this fashion. So I then avoid these easy access acres and concentrate on the less obvious pockets of cover you can only access by walking greater distances than the average hunter will go to hunt. You are sometimes rewarded and sometimes not but because I'm not trying to fill a limit for a group of what often times is 4,6,8 or more hunters I'm happy just to find a bird for my dog's to work. A several mile walk for one point with all my dog's lined out on the prairie tails up and noses into the wind is priceless to me and worth every step. The objective of the group hunters is to shoot and kill birds then jump in their trucks and hurry on to the next spot to do it all over again. We pursue the same species but with very different objectives and appreciation for the sport.
This discussion with my son brought to mind an analogy I had just been thinking about before he called as I contemplated the upcoming season which unfortunately I believe will be bleak due to the loss of millions of CRP acres across the western states.
If you at random selected a group of people to walk through an art museum filled with the works of the worlds masters then recorded their observations you would get very different results. Based on our life experiences we all have a different vision of the world. So when looking at the same masterpieces some might notice the brush strokes,colors,shadows or talk about how it makes them feel while others may just say "nice picture" or "why would you paint that?" or just walk briskly through unable to relate at all to what the artists had created. And so it is I maintain with sportsman. We can all pursue the same game species in the same environment but on very different levels and appreciation of the experience.
The challenge posed to us all then is how to maximize how we as individual sportsmen enjoy the sport while sharing the same public access acres. The answer is there if you look for it but takes some time and effort to discover. And I will tell you the best laid plans can be thwarted by those that don't have common sense or respect for others. While I have numerous examples of this it's not a common occurrence thankfully. I will share just one that comes to mind that actually made me laugh and think you can't fix stupid!
I was hunting a very large pasture in a waterfowl production area that I had never seen anyone hunt. I had all three Setters on the ground casting about in search of the Sharptail Grouse I knew used this area. The Setters were birdy and I turned to look behind me as I saw a truck coming down the rarely used section line road and the driver stopped a ways past where I had parked then got out watching the Setters as they worked these birds. I heard the truck start up and the door slam shut as I watched the covey of 20 or so birds then flush wild startled by the noise. Dumbass!
My strategy is as I've said for the most part to get where you can't easily access cover which can be in itself hard to find followed by hunting late season and in weather most hunters will not venture out in when the cold and snow hits. The lower populations and loss of cover actually benefits a hunter like myself as the hunt then is suited to dog's that can cover a lot of ground looking for what birds there may be. The lower populations also mean the group hunters will find it impossible to shoot limits and may even find themselves skunked on days walking the same cover they may have been very successful hunting in the past. Those days are gone forever I'm afraid. Game farms and hunt clubs will be the only place for that type of experience.
I believe however we are a long ways from the individual sportsman who's still willing to work hard and practice "Fair Chase" hunting and "Catch and Release"fishing to not be able to have a great day in the field on public access ground and water. Basically to be successful on public access land you have to think like the average sportsman and then do the opposite. Get in shape. Scout ahead of time on your feet not on your seat. Go solo. Save playing army for the hunt club. Get up earlier and then hunt and fish longer and harder.
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