In the classic movie Love Story, the musical score echoes with passion, “Where do I begin to tell the story of how great a love can be?” Those of us that have shared days in the field with a bird dog and the added companionship at home have enjoyed the emotional privilege of those same sentiments.
Having shared 60 years in the field with pointing bird dogs and guns in pursuit of game birds, it was easy for me to relate to the stories for I have experienced most of them, along with several more ownership issues that are part of my bird dog journey.
I am very emotional when it comes to the loss of my bird dogs for whatever reason. The essays that alluded to and identified the last season were hard for me as I struggled through them filled with emotions while watching my 14-year old Shelby shut down as the end of her journey nears, and she prepares to enter the next journey in bird dog paradise where we will meet again.
God works in mysterious ways.
Your harvest of the two woodcock over Shelby last November was very special since they will be her last finds. How special it was that she was still alive during your visit to share a brief moment of her skills and tenacity with you and Tom?
In late fall of 2021, Shelby and I did what I thought would be her last hunt in the uplands. I have always tried to share a one-on-one last hunt with all my dogs as a way of saying thanks as we bring our journey together to an end.
Denne historien er fra Summer 2023-utgaven av The Upland Almanac.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra Summer 2023-utgaven av The Upland Almanac.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Tail feathers - STANDARDS AND PRACTICES
\"An armed society is a polite society,\" the NRA says in one of its dicta, cribbed from Robert A. Heinlein, a 20th-century American science fiction writer.
Day's End - IN PRAISE OF FENCEROWS
Driving north along the Hudson River, I gazed at a pastoral autumn scene: sere fields of faded yellow harvested corn, stubbly and broken amongst the clods of black earth, almost smooth from my vantage point. Spiky brown veins of wild growth marked barriers between plots. Occasionally, the gray bones of a mature oak rose among the brown shrubs to stand over the yellow fields. A sentry, keeping silent watch as white frost crystals slowly melted into invisibility.
That Time of Year Again
Without doubt. The most idyllic form of hunting in Ohio is seeking the woodcock. - Merrill Gilfallan, Moods of the Ohio Moons: An Outdoorsman's Almanac (1991)
I Don't Wanna'!
I'm an old hand at being retired, though - have been practicing for 25 years.
Hunting the Huns: Alberta's Big Sky Country
The prairies of southern Alberta are vast, beautiful and full of prime bird habitat. Crop fields are interspersed with abandoned farms, rolling hills are intersected by coulees and creek beds, and Hungarian partridge and sharptailed grouse occupy some of the best and most picturesque habitat on the continent.
Side Dish - End of Season
Sporting trips are not only about sport, as many other experiences are discovered alongside. And my trip to Lakewood Camps in Maine was certainly just that.
AN EXTENDED STAY
There is no reason to leave Michigan in the fall unless the opportunity of a cast and blast adventure at a historic sporting lodge in Maine comes calling.
KEEP IT HANDY
If you think shooting a ruffed grouse on the wing with a shotgun is tough, try shooting one in flight with a still camera.
A Longtime Love Affair
It's possible to hunt your favorite birds in a lot of different places, I suppose, but I don't do that.
Profile of an Artist: Harley Bartlett
Harley Bartlett was born in 1959 near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. However, having lived in Rhode Island for most of his life he considers himself a Rhode Islander.
