Hobby Sports: hunting

Showing posts with label hunting. Show all posts

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Hunting with The Pack

Another day, another try. As always once the tailgate opens, Kaiser raises his nose and air scents.

Lou is a hunting buddy of mine. We first met at a NAVHDA meet and became fast friends as he had a drahthaar and a Land Rover and I the same. Discovering we have similar taste in dogs, guns, trucks, and just about all thing Teutonic, it was easy to develop a friendship. Over the years I got him into Merkels, Meindl boots and Darnes. Ive learned a lot about upland hunting from Lou as he hunts probably at least 80 days of the upland season (that will change now that he has a kid on the way). We have shared a lot of our "secret" locations to on another, vowing never to reveal them to anyone else. I have kept my part of the bargain, I believe Lou has as well.

It was 9am when Lou called us at the motel, letting us know that hed be at the spot at 10. So we waited and done some sight seeing. The fall colors have finally come and even though sparse with trees the area was quite a sight.

We arrive just as Lou was making his way to the location. Lous pack was minus one dog. Summer is in heat and was left home but the four others made the trip. I rarely get to hunt with Lou anymore, the reason is his drahthaar Arnold is not dog-friendly. We have had some issues with Arnie attacking Kaiser. This never happens in the field but when we are making camp. Its easier to just not hunt together. Lous other dogs, on the other hand, are some of the sweetest dogs ever and a true pleasure to be around. Arnie was purchased semi-finished years ago from a trainer. That trainer did a poor job of socializing him which is a shame and really does the purchaser a disservice by selling such a dog. Thankfully Lous other dogs were properly socialized since their birth and are friendly and playful.

The Pack minus one dog.

I started ahead of Lou so that we wouldnt have any issues with Arnie. Eventually Lou was to my right a few hundred yards away. Not long in our hunt a cottontail flushed and I fired with the IC then the mod barrel, missed. It eventually flushed again but I missed with the only shot I had. As we moved on, my dad was having a hard time keeping up so I told him to hunt this field as we were headed toward the mountain and planned to climb it to get to the other side. We finally reached the mountain, as I looked at it from the base I told Lou I dont think I have it in me to climb. So he climbed and I skirted around the base to reach the other side. I was hugging alongside private property fence when a covey of 30 birds flush. I took two shots missing because I flock shot it like an idiot. They landed in the private property so I did not give chase.

The Pack backing one another.

The back side is named by me as Shangri-La. Its been about two years since Ive been back here. Its not hunted much by anyone as its difficult to get to and private property surrounds much of it. There are mountain quail, valley quail and chuckar here. Lou and I flushed huge coveys back here. Today though we couldnt find a single one. What a shame. This just proves how difficult this year is going to be. Lou managed to flush a cottontail but could not connect with his Darne R10. After sometime in Shangri-La we headed back. One of the pack pointed and the rest of the dogs backed. It was quite a scene unfortunately it was just a tweety bird. A few rabbits and jacks flushed but of course I missed all the cottontails and managed another jack.

It was almost three and Lou was don for the day ready to head back to civilization. I didnt want to deal with Friday LA traffic and decided to wait it out and stay to hunt another area. We said our goodbyes and I headed to another area. The new area was colder and there was slight snow. It was not cold enough for the frost to last. Once the flakes hit something it basically melted. Tried I hunted for about an hour or so before giving up and calling it a trip.

2010 Hunting Season Part 2

Dec.24
JPF. No birds seen or heard. Usually a great spot, JPF failed to give us any birds. I thought given the wet season this place should have been crawling with birds. Ed had never taken a quail and I was hoping to get him his first one here. I was wrong.

Dec. 28 Wister.

Foretunately our Wister hunt was much better than our previous hunts. Birds were definately moving. We saw several hundred of all types, pintails, widegon, gadwalls, teals, spoonies, and snows.

Ed took three greenwinged teals, I took my first Gadwall. I took a drake greenwing but when I went to retreive it I got stuck in the mud and the bird managed to make it up the bank and hide. I took 24 shots and it was not until the last two shots where I was able to connect. Both shts were pretty fanatastic shots. I missed all the easy ones.

Dec. 29 CBF

I promised Ed I would get him his first quail. I took him to an area that always produces birds in a wet season. This day was no different. The first area 871Plot we managed to flush 30 birds, unforetuantely the area was so thick it was hard to get a bead on them. i decided to move to CBF and once we got out of the car 20 birds flushed. we chased and I managed to take one bird with my Darne. This was the first bird I ever taken with the double. Kaiser went to reteive it and the bird ran on him. The bird ran under a tree and Kaiser lost him.

Ed then had a shot a hit it right in the behind. Feathers flew everywhere. It hit the ground hard. Given how the bird tumbled I taught it should have been an easy retrieve. But just like the other bird, this quail was nowhere near it fell. Kaiser could not find the scent to track it. I was pissed. Eventually we managed to flush a covey of 50+ in one of the draws. Unforetuantely I am not used to the left sided safety on the Darne. Its slow to manipulate. By the time I take the safety off the birds are out of range. Since we were in the draw and the birds flushed out to the flats I could not determine where they landed. We got out of the draw and tried to locate them. Ed managed one. His first ever quail. I came home with a donut. Its been a long time since I ever been skunked on quail. This year (which is a good year) its happened to me twice.

Mountain Buffalo One of the Greatest Hunting Films Ever

My off seasons are usually spent watching hunting videos. This season is no different. Recently I received a package of four DVDs. One of which I just finished watching. Without a doubt, Mountain Buffalo is the greatest hunting film I ever seen. Narration is available in a number of languages including English, German, French, Danish and Spanish. The German client scene is subtitled.

The film takes place in Northern Tanzania near Mount Loosimingor as Rainer guides and narrates each hunt. Watching the film you quickly realize that this film is much more about the hunt and the stalk rather than the kill.

If Mark Sullivan or Mark Buchanan films are your cup of tea youd definitely find this film a bore. Unlike those films Mountain Buffalo is shot in documentary style. The production, cinematography, editing and narration is simply amazing. The film follows three cape buffalo hunts. Each gives you look inside Rainer Joschs hunting philosophy and style. Rainers words illustrate this “The pursuing of an animal shall only become interesting when the hunt provides a challenge to the hunter. The taking of an animal should not be too easy, the risk of an unsuccessful outcome adds mystery and personalizes the hunting experience and is therefore a prerequisite...”

I truly love this film and I found out that Rainer has made a new film. Apparently it is already out in Europe and I cant wait until it comes out here in the US.