One of the problems of having a blog is the people who hunt with me have certain expectations about how much ink they and their dogs should get. Tony, who has a computer that may still be running the original Windows and accesses the internet via dial-up, felt slighted yesterday when I didn’t give him more ink on a shot he made to kill a bird for Bee. The bird was a long ways out and Carnoski and I were both amazed but I thought the job Bee did of giving him the opportunity was a lot more impressive.
Today, like all days we can hunt in December, was another bonus day with no wind, no sun until around 3:00, and mild temperatures in the low to mid 40s. We started off with Trash in the No Name Cover and she pointed a bunch o four and three singles for a total of 7 to start the days count. I really don’t understand how guys hunt their dogs all-day day after day and have them survive the season. Trash has hunted one to one and half hours about 3 times a week since the opening of the season October 1. Like many of the dogs in Tony and my strings she is just about due for a break. She’s rockhard but rail thin and is starting to pace herself a bit. Because we also field trial our dogs we want them going full bore all the time. It will take a long rest in the off season to get Trash back in high gear.
LJ was up next and we went over to the Ursula Cover. Thud and I had been in there on Saturday and found no birds but saw quite a few grouse tracks. Today LJ proved that those tracks were actually made by grouse as he had a number of finds and we moved a total of 8 grouse (although Tony didn’t hear one of them and didn’t want me to count it).
Bee ran in the Milan Hill Cover and we moved a total of 4 grouse. the last run of the day was a bit of a disappointment as we ran G III in Red Barn which has been hot lately — 24 with Frankie last Monday and 19 with the Little Thudster on Wednesday — but today G III could only connect on one despite a really thorough effort on her part. School tomorrow and then I actually have some other work I’ve got to do on Thursday and some of Friday. If the weather holds I’ll be back out over the weekend.