February 7, 2011Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Hunt No. 4
February 6, 2011Jersey, GA
15 quail for Zone 4. Got there at 12 pm, left at 3 pm. Bagged 11 quail and 1 chukar which was a bonus bird.
Tessa started things off by taking a dump and then transitioning smoothly from the squat into a point because the first bird was right...there! We were then entertained by a quail that huddled by a tree, pointed by Shane, but played some sort of "Ring Around The Rosies" game with Chris who tried to flush it. Round and round the tree they went in both directions, the quail predicting Chris' moves and always remaining on the opposite side of the tree, while Shane held his point, watching.
Tessa was the one who found the chukar. We didn't know what she was pointing until we flushed it and were a little startled at the size of that bird, expecting a much smaller quail.
Towards the end as we were tending to Paul's gun, Tessa ran out of range and I could no longer hear her bell. My fault for not keeping a closer eye on her and darn it, she was gone. Although she regularly drops out of bell range every so often, there is something extremely disheartening about standing on the top of a hill and scanning the land for your dog, to no avail. Not a sound, no movement anywhere, no orange collar flying by in the distance. I called once, I whistled once, nothing. We all agreed that more than likely she was on point somewhere but where? I started walking. We are talking many acres of high grass, shrubs and woods. Thankfully, I spotted her a few minutes later, on point in that last little field which we had not covered yet. I don't know how long she had stood there. 10 minutes? Turned out she had found herself 3 quail. Unfortunately, she jumped them just as I was approaching and they flew off in three different directions before my gunners could even get there. Argh! One of the birds took cover in the pole barn which Tessa continued to work until we left without success. Lesson learned (if only!): Do not jump birds. Wait for gunners. Or else, the birds are swallowed by the pole barn.
Overall I would say it was one of her better days. Her cooperation was excellent, and she searched methodically and tirelessly. Not as steady as she should be, and still flagging though.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Hunt No. 3
January 30, 2011
Jersey, GA
Another hunt, the fourth one this winter. As always, we ordered 15 quail for zone 4. We got there at 1 p.m. and to our surprise, nobody else was around. The manager pulled up and announced that zone 4 was set up, and that there was a left-over pheasant and two chukars in other fields, and that we were welcome to hunt the entire plantation if we like.
The weather was gorgeous - sunny with a very light breeze, 70 F. The warmer temperature actually posed a little problem to the dogs, especially old Shane. 70 F is not that hot but coming from two months of 45 F and below it was quite a change, and it felt hot to all of us.
Tessa was working it. Shane was good but much slower than usually; he showed some excellent backing but did not got that many points, mainly because Tessa grossly outran him on this warmer day. There were more water breaks for both of them, and after 90 minutes, Shane was done and Tessa was out there alone.
When we took a longer break around 3 p.m. Tessa kept glancing down to the other fields, then slowly got up and trotted down the hill, at a faster and faster pace, until she was back in hunting mode, making one big round through the fields, then trotting back and sitting down next to me.
We then decided to work the fields all the way down to the pond where I wanted Tessa to cool down. She found three quail but we weren't able to locate the pheasant and chukars. We sat by the edge of the pond and watched Tessa retrieve tennis balls (LOL). The water was quite cold so she only went in five times, then decided that was enough for January. We trekked back up to the cars, very slowly, but Tessa still searching, running wide, to the very last minute.
Paul and Chris bagged 11 quail. The other 8 or 9 escaped in the woods where it was too dense to hunt and safely shoot, or towards the duck pond which was off-limits. Basically, Tessa gets the job done and puts meat on the table, but she is still far from the Senior Hunter level - retrieving, honoring and staunchness are lacking. Lots of work to be done.
On the way home we stopped at Checkers for some burgers and fries. Because of Tessa's hard work, I was rewarded with a free meal - whereas poor Tessa had to wait for dinner until after her bath.
Life In The Fast Lane
January 29, 2011
Lavonia, GA
We went on a little road trip today which led us to Royston and Lavonia in Franklin County. Upon leaving Lavonia, I let myself be guided by the GPS system to small communities in the area when we passed the abandoned (in-between seasons) Lavonia Speedway. I thought it would make for a good photo op, pulled in, got out of the car only to run into two photographers from Athens GA. We didn't know each other but it turned out that when I got my "prop" the dog they recognized her immediately from flickr!
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