From the field ... Manny's blooded now
Put yourself in my place. What would you have done?
I had high hopes on our return to Flying Double F ranch near Vale, Oregon, the next location for Wingshooting USA. And ultimately, we were rewarded. We redefined run-and-gun, covering miles of ranch property to hunt honey holes ranging from standing corn to streambeds, sagebrush slopes to CRP.
 - A week of rest? Whatever you say, boss!
We alternated host Jim Farmer's pointers with Manny and Buddy in tandem, until the pup yelped and I scrambled down a ditch bank to unhook him from the barbed wire fence. A quick glance, no damage and back to the pheasants. Or so I thought.
Manny and Buddy tracked ringnecks up and down the ditch, through the fields, and into a cattail swamp where the one close bird snuck out and under a gigantic irrigation pipe.
We trekked up a steep, crumbly desert slope, huffing and puffing after a covey of chukars that flushed wild. Around the ridge and down a draw and there they were! Jim's son James put the hurt on one, brought to hand by Buddy. The leavings doubled back, and on our return trip James flushed them, dropped one of the gray rockets while I did an artful pirouette and brought down another.
Sometimes on hands and knees, we snuck through the hardwoods and dog-hair-thick willows along Bully Creek. Valley quail escaped well in front of us until James called a covey milling nervously, pittt-pitting under a tall cottonwood. They broke left and jinked right, squirting through the leaves and over the creekbanks on both sides. One finally dropped to my shot.
Another sneak up a lava-bed slope and a big covey of valley quail ran like track stars, then flushed wild but in gun range. James doubled left and right and guess what? So did I.
Back at the ranch I had a closer look at Manny's thigh. Yuck. Three inches of wide-open gash, loaded with weed seeds. No blood, but the slice went to muscle. Cleaned and slathered with antibiotics, and the Monday morning quarterbacking started. Why hadn't I seen it when I picked him off the fence?
One sleepless night later, I decided consulting a nearby veterinarian was worth stopping our shoot. Manny was a trooper as he got his first stitches, with an audience in attendance, no less. The vet recommended a week of rest ... like that was gonna happen. The Awesome Upland Road Trip was just getting into high gear.
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Wingshooting USA Starts on Pursuit Channel New Year's Day at 6:30 p.m.!
If you couldn't get enough on VERSUS, here's your chance. We launch on the Pursuit Channel Jan. 1, and air every Saturday at 6:30 p.m. EST. Great hunting action, tips from the experts, fun and games and the most beautiful bird hunting places in the nation are all on Pursuit for 2011. On DirecTV that's Channel 608. Pursuit is also carried by dozens of cable systems, so check your local listings. Watch and learn, enjoy the edge-of-your-seat points, shots, and flushes!
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Contest corner
Win a trip for you and your child to be on Wingshooting USA ... at South Dakota's Cheyenne Ridge Signature lodge. Enter here.
Win one of 39 Tri-Tronics Sport Jr. electronic training collars - enter a photo here.
Put cash into your local Pheasants Forever or Quail Forever Chapter. Find out how here.
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What do you mean, you haven't won?
The Upland Nation HOT SHOT is a weekly video trivia quiz. You get a video bird dog fix and at the end you get a trivia question. Answer it correctly and you're entered to win great gear, from Blaze Buddy Bandannas to apparel. Want to try it? Click on the photo and you're almost there!
 | | Click and win! |
This clip involves English Setters, chukars and ringneck pheasants ... watch for a few surprises!
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Upland Nation and Wingshooting USA are brought to you in part by:
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Welcome to the ...
Volume 2, Number 10
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Greetings!
Greetings and Merry Christmas fellow citizens of the Upland Nation! I wish you and yours the very best during this time of year, when we cherish friends and family, and have a chance to get together and celebrate.
Of course, hunting season has at least a month left here in Oregon and maybe where you are too. You Arizonans are even more lucky. I'm cleaning out the truck for our next adventure, Manny has recovered completely from his barbed-wire encounter (see left), and uncle Buddy is his usual ready-and-able self.
This is crunch time, where the rubber meets the road for bird dogs and bird hunters. Weather, fitness and health, family and business obligations, end-of-year chores all conspire to keep us out of the field. I urge you to ignore the siren song of more work, bad company, fattening food and ugly relatives ... go hunting instead!
Shameless commerce department: If Santa doesn't deliver what you really want, or if Chanukah with its seven days of gift-giving is still one present short, take a look at my new Real Bird Bumper
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Click on the image, learn more about the bumper and watch a video
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The Real Bird Bumper is a true improvement on the usual compromises when it comes to training a dog to retrieving the "real thing."
See you in the uplands,
Scott
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Your favorite breed ... and why (or why not)
So, the season is winding down and you've had time afield with yours, and maybe other hunters' dogs. Would you have another one of the same breed, or swap for something else?  | | Yup, that's Manny honoring Buddy ... again |
I'm often pleasantly surprised by the positive impression Buddy and Manny make on fellow hunters. On a recent snowy day in eastern Oregon, three dyed-in-the-wool Labrador owners were all agog at my dogs' work. One even asked for the breeder's name and phone number! Granted, both dogs were on their best behavior. But you've probably heard the same thing ... or as in my case more often, a gripe delivered at high volume about a dog whose first name is often "dammit." Time to weigh in at my website! Take the poll and vote for your favorite hunting dog breed and leave a comment here. |
Click. Nuthin'.
That snowy day you see in the photos today started on the sporting clays range, where my friend Al Chandler of TruckVault pulled on a high going-away bird and nothing happened ... when it was supposed to, at least.
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After that initial click he brought his side-by-side off his shoulder and was about to open it when BANG! Luckily, the muzzle was still pointed away from everyone but it was a good lesson in safety nonetheless. Al later learned that some primers in some shotgun loads will sometimes fail, burning slower, or a firing pin will stick for a fraction of a second or more ... the result being what muzzleloaders call a "hang fire."This led to some lively discussion ... have you ever experienced something like this? What was your guess as to the cause? Share your experience at the blog.
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See you at ...
In the rodeo business, we used to call July "Cowboy Christmas," because if you traveled enough and stayed on your rides, you could make a lot of money. Now, it's January, when most of us pile on the frequent flyer miles visiting with friends new and old at sports shows and similar venues. Being no exception, I'm traversing the U.S. and would love to meet you. Stop and say hello if you're at any of these events: North American Gamebird Association, Charleston, SC Jan. 18-19. SHOT Show, Las Vegas, Jan. 20-22 (appearing in the TruckVault exhibit Jan. 20 1-3 p.m.) Pheasant Fest, Omaha Nebraska, Jan. 28-30 speaking on various stages - stop by and heckle me!
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Official newsletter of ...
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