Shotgun Therapy

17ft Express with a 75 horse Mercury.  Working to get it underway for a long and spectacular duck season.   Two new batteries - Done! Electrical fixed-  Lower unit oil changed- Engine oil and filter replaced -  Tags-   Still lots to do!!!!!!    

  After extensive research and hand ringing I finally settled on the hunting dog of the future.  And the winner is...... FRENCH BRITTANY I wanted a dog that hunted close, which made me look at the spaniels, but a friend recommended that I look at the Brittany.  The Brittany hunts close (in fact, it was called the Brittany Spaniel, and the French still call it that), but it also points.  Bonus.....  They are apparently very easy to train. I got lucky, and found an AKC registered puppy not 1 hour from my house.  We looked, we played, we chose.  We now have a tiny terror whose name is Thibodeaux.  Since the breed is French, we were looking for a French name, but at the same time, it is the American branch of the breed, so an American name seemed appropriate.   Thibodeaux is French Cajun, and it can be translated as "Bold one." We call him Tibbs, or for those who are cinema nerds, we call him Mr. Tibbs! As you can see, he and Brock-Lee have ...

 Another trip to Corps land to have a look at a possible body of water.  It was there, it was dry, it was hard to get to.  I think that it might be accessible by moving into the woods and then over to it.  I'll have to try that another time.  I didn't have the energy at the moment.   I did notice that the ponds I found earlier were fed by a creek, and that there was water moving in it.  Since we hadn't had rain in I don't know when, I tracked it back and it appears the Corps can feed water to them.  No idea why they are not now though.  It would be nice if they did. I didn't see any dove, although I did call for squirrels.  As you can see, nothing in the game bag, unless you count my hat, which I refuse to eat except in emergencies.   No success unless you count the newly constructed truck gun box. Closed Open I have to say, it made getting away from the car and back into it faster and more organized.   I'm ready...

 Ever notice how you always see wild game when you're not actually hunting them.  This new camo combination makes the game think to themselves "there's no way this moron is hunting us!" AND THEN Take that you ungulate!  I think they've copyrighted it as "Tie Die Toke."

 The outing on Tuesday was so successful that on Wednesday I asked my son if he wanted to go squirrel hunting the following Saturday.  He enthusiastically said yes.  While he's not a shooter yet, he wants to call the squirrels in with the squirrel call.  That is probably the best way to introduce a youth to hunting.  Let them call.  It keeps them from getting bored, and they know that they are actively contributing instead of being a tourist.   My body had other plans.  Wednesday night I couldn't sleep because I got cold.  The house got down to 66 degrees, which is cold considering we'd been having highs in the 90s the previous week. It was in the lower 40s outside. Thursday night, at my son's theater rehearsal I got chills.  Everyone else was in shorts and t-shirts, while I was in jeans with a long sleeved shirt, a sweater, a jacket, and a wool broad brimmed hat.  After rehearsal we picked up dinner, ate (I could only eat half...

Well, it didn't quite "begin again" on my supposed time frame.  I was sick on October 11th, so I stayed home.  By Tuesday I felt way better, and after dropping my son off at school I took to the field in a strip of public hunting land just across the border in Oklahoma.   As I got out of the truck, a flight of teal wheeled overhead, and headed north. This made me suspect there were small bodies of water near-by.  More on that later.  I headed south instead to have a look, as I searched for an easier path to test my still recovering lungs. It wasn't much more than an armed walk in the woods.  I was listening and looking more than anything.  I kept my squirrel call put away and looked for signs of game.  There were lots of game trails, deer and hog, and the understory of the tall oak, elm, pecan, and ash trees looked like it is probably hot with squirrel activity, and perhaps woodcock.  There are adjacent open areas where woodcock could pe...