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.
Bu hikaye The Upland Almanac dergisinin Summer 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye The Upland Almanac dergisinin Summer 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Luigi Franchi Imperial Monte Carlo Extra: One of Italy's "Best" SxS Doubles
As on London’s gun-maker’s row, Italians had skilled craftsmen who made “Best” guns of superb quality
An Upland Bird Hunter's Equipment in Need and Equipment Indeed...
From the first year I discovered upland bird hunting in my early teens, my search for the right clothing and equipment began in earnest. All you need to see to support this reality is to look at all the upland clothing and equipment I have stored from ceiling to floor in my garage and sportsman’s closet downstairs
Day's End - Making memories
Has there ever been a bird dog man or woman with a soul so dead that he or she has not been re-energized by the first cool days of September, by the first forecast of frost, by noting the opening days marked on the calendar so many months before?
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In William Harnden Foster’s classic book, New England Grouse Shooting (1942), for which he wrote the text and provided numerous black-and-white sketches, he includes a wide-ranging catch-all chapter called “Grouse Shooting Outfits
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I spend a lot of time these days chasing game birds. But it hasn’t always been this way
Shooting FAST and SLOW
Scientists have recently discovered that human brains operate in two settings – a fast, reactionary “fight or flight” mode (System 1) and a slow, considered, contemplative mode (System 2)
Private Lands, Public Access
“Just what lies behind that fence?”
Early Season - GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN HUNTING
Greater prairie chickens are tailor-made for early fall gunning. Young birds hatch early enough to be nearly full-grown by September, offering lots of potential targets in good habitat
QUAIL Struggle to Survive a Multitude of KILLERS
By some estimates, the wild bobwhite population in the U.S. has declined 70 to 80% since the 1960s
Journeys Shared: A Worcester Letter
Hi Bob, Just finished the sensational roller coaster “memoir-style” essays of man and bird dog(s) that you and Dave Smith assembled and put into print
