Maggie's Farm

Who knew? The restoration of Elk to Kentucky has been a huge success. (Thanks, reader.) Now they need their hunting season, since the predators haven't found them yet. No Cougars or wolves seen in KY lately, alas. Wildcats, yes! A wonderful state, but too far from salt water for me.

There used to be forest-dwelling buffalo ("Bison" for purists) throughout Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, Ohio, too. How about trying a restoration of them? I do know that they bust through fences...

From a Maggie's pal, seeking intertube fame and immortality no doubt. Nice dogs, though - including "Maggie":

Went preserve hunting on Saturday in Delaware.  We killed 16 of the 20 pheasants
and 39 of the 40 chukars that were put out for us.  The two best looking
critters in the picture are obviously the German Shorthaired Pointers, Maggie
and Ellie.  Both absolutely broke solid.  So-so retrievers but so-so was good
enough.  The outiftter included his venison chili for lunch as part of the
deal.  An excellent time was had by all.

A pal stopped by for a beer with his pup the other day after work. A sweet, gentle puppy. Can you name the breed?

Re our post yesterday about waxed cotton jackets, I stumbled upon this one which comes with blaze orange patches at L.L. Bean. Darn cheap too. Probably other people also make them.

Showing a bit of blaze isn't just for hunters - it makes good precautionary sense when hiking in the back woods during deer season.

Our rule is to never hike during deer season when wearing brownish clothing and antlers.

At brunch on Sunday after church, a friend's wife told me how she managed to find a breeder with a fresh litter of prize Clumber Spaniel pups. She sent my pal off to bring one home two weeks ago.

He came home with two.

"I figured the pup would need a playmate." Liar. I know what happened: he couldn't decide which of the ones rushing to lick his hand, so he took both. She told me his little dog-buying trip cost them close to $6000.

Last time I went to look at a litter of pups, I would have bought the whole darn litter of 8 unless wife and daughter had been present to lend some sanity to my puppy-weakened condition and limited me to one. Note to self: Stay away from puppies. Lead me not into temptation.

Here's a Clumber Spaniel site. Yes, they do hunt, but I've never seen one in the field.

Some people like to crate their dogs at home, and some do not. Furthermore, some dogs love their crates and some hate to feel confined. We tended to crate our previous dog, but not our current pup. I never minded the look of a dog crate or two in a family room, but Orvis has some that are more functional for people - and which look more like furniture.

Info for the one on the left, and on the right. Each comes in three sizes.

A fellow can always use another comfortable jacket. Here are a few outdoor and sporting jackets from the Orvis Hunting catalog. (For full disclosure, Orvis was kind enough to UPS $1 million in US currency to our Cayman banker as our compensation for posting this.)

These fine-looking fancy jackets are obviously not meant for heavy brush-busting, chain-sawing, snow plowing, duck hunting, or ditch-digging.  (Waxed jackets are a separate topic.)

Top one is Beretta's Gun Six Coat. The middle one is Orvis' Waterproof Loden Wool Shooting Coat. The bottom one is Orvis' Estate Tweed Gore-Tex Jacket.

You won't believe these, at Big Government.

Have barf bag ready. Government teachers at government schools, paid for by us.

The Englishman has, as have many of our friends.

Tell us what hunting you have done this fall (not including pen-raised birds or half-trained farm Mallards - that isn't hunting - that is shooting. Not that there is anything wrong with it.)

As a nod to huntin' season, our current image on top is from Currier and Ives' American Field Sports series. I do not see Snipe too often anymore, but I do not know why. Last time I saw them in any numbers was in a Manitoba marsh.

An email from a good pal, with photos (Harley is the Lab, Yankee is the Large Munsterlander with the white chest. I don;t know the name of the other Large Munsterlander.):

BD -

Enjoyed your posts on “Where I wasn’t”, and have very fond memories of the trip to Manitoba with you all. I just returned from a week in Saskatchewan for ducks/geese and then an upland hunt with my Large Munsterlander dog club.  Attached is a photo of the Abby Hotel (built ca. 1913) where we stayed, and a couple of the dogs and birds.  That’s Yankee with the Hun on the fence post.  Harley probably made his last trip.  Tired, but happy.

C.

PS  On the “tailgate” picture, ignore the biodiesel bumper sticker.  Truck belongs to a friend who is a bit liberal.  Makes for some long road trips, until we agree to disagree.

Hey - I know what that is like. Been there. Gotta stick to other topics, like the meaning of life and shotshell loads.

Returning to the dock after an afternoon/evening shoot. A well-stocked bar awaits (always with the Spicey Clamato), with wild game hors d'oevres (like wild duck liver pate with cognac, stir-fried Coot breast with garlic, soy sauce and scallions, fried duck gizzards, or sweet and sour wild duck wings), then a great dinner. My favorite is the beer-batter fried Walleye, fresh from the lake. Afterwards, Port and Cuban cigars around the fire while telling lies and distinctly non-PC jokes. Not too bad.

Where is the electric from? Rented diesel generator on a trailer. Chugga chugga chugga.