Wednesday, October 12. 2005
 The Snow Goose, seemingly endangered in the 1970s, has now become a threat to itself, due to a population boom which threatens its arctic breeding habitat and might be caused by the abundant food which farmers leave on their fields after harvest, along the Mississippi and Central flyways.
In recent years, I have seen their flocks block out the sun in Canada. It's referred to as a "tornado" when they descend upon your decoys in a field in enormous numbers. There are no large numbers in the Northeast, but they do gather in the Chesapeake and I have seen them flying over ski slopes in Vermont in the winter, and loafing on potato fields on Long Island. This goose comes in a "blue" form, and various mixed-color versions, including the "eagle-head' - blue with white head. The blue version was once called a Blue Goose, but is now known to be just a color variant. The Canadian and US govts are doing all they can to encourage hunting Snow Geese, including a spring season and permitting electronic calls. They are fun to hunt, if they chose your field, and if you hit them they "go down like a prom dress," as the expression has it: easy to kill, compared to other geese. The deeply frustrating situation is when they chose a field adjacent to yours, and you end up standing there like a dope in your dorky camo hat with earflaps and an unused pile of ammo while hundreds or thousands of them land out of range. Daily limits of Snows are high in most areas. They are not exactly delicious like a Canada Goose, but there are ways to make them an enjoyable meal, and the rule is that if you kill it, you eat it. More about Snow Goose at CLO here.
Tuesday, October 11. 2005
 Yankee retrieving a large Canada Goose last week in a Manitoba wheat field.
Thursday, October 6. 2005
The trout get interested in food again, in the fall. Gwynnie is the big fisherman, not me, but I will be up there in the Adirondacks towards the end of October for a Cast and Blast (trout and grouse) long weekend. And we will of course stop by to see Fran Betters, inventor of the AuSable Wulff, rod-maker, and generally eccentric fellow, who is the proprietor of the Adirondack Sport Shop in Whiteface, pictured here.
Sunday, October 2. 2005
Your editor, Bird Dog, is away this week. It's duck, goose and bird (Ruffed and Sharp-Tailed Grouse) season up in Canada. The 100 year-old private club/camp we go to is on an inlet on the upper edge of Lake Winnipegosis (not a disease) in Manitoba. Tough to get to and definitely out of touch - no cell, no cable, no phone to speak of unless you count a party-line with one outlet, no electric except for a big Cat gasoline generator on a flat-bed trailer, which enables abundant hot water and a sybaritic sauna if dehydration is your thing - it is my misfortune that I prefer Scotch whiskey as medicine for cold-wet. Nice old place, open only 6 weeks/year, then boarded-up and the furniture covered with sheets til next fall. Hey, ACLU - female guests not permitted. Jimmy Doolittle used to stay and hunt there. Not many people up there, and more Indians than Anglos. Craig is bringing Harley this year - an over-sized tough Lab with a chest like a fortress and a fine nose, who will no doubt do all of our brain work and our dirty work very well. I get invited for my Injun eyes, and Craig for his dog. I post the Google earth image below of our inlet (much of the green is marsh - this is duck heaven. Scale is about 10 miles laterally on image). There will not be much new posting this week unless Dylanologist can hold down the fort (a damn shame he can't come this year, nor can Gwynnie's young pup), but I will pre-post some stuff, and some of Maggie's Farm's Greatest Hits. We'll be back next week...God willing and the creek don't rise . Will post some photos when I get back, if I don't drop the camera in the water. Got to hope for ugly weather. What guns am I bringing?, I hear you asking. My Beretta auto 12 ga, and my old Abercrombie and Fitch side-by-side 20 ga for birds.
Tuesday, August 16. 2005
 From my grieving, but wine-comforted Connecticut and Ducks Unlimited pal Rick today, re his Lab Buzz, with whom I have hunted - but not often enough. Buzz was an aggressive dog, a true bird dog, but not a natural family animal:
The world lost another four legged soldier yesterday. At 3:00 in the afternoon yesterday a fine hunting companion whose earlier years of strife were washed away with lots of love in the remaining 4. Buzz lost a battle with Cancer which was unexpected and only found yesterday. I had to put him down immediately Though he was only in my family for 4.5 years he was a valued and loyal companion. He learned that he could love and be loved in the last 4 years and developed a very nice relaxed way about him after coming to me from the Texas Penitentiary. A convicted felon who had truly been reformed. He passed in my arms with dignity and never let me know he was sick until this weekend. He will be missed.
Thursday, June 23. 2005
Go Outside and Play with your family (in It Takes a Church), but don't worship nature - that is idolatrous (Prager): In every society on earth, people venerated nature and worshipped nature gods. There were gods of thunder and gods of rain. Mountains were worshipped, as were rivers, animals and every natural force known to man. In ancient Egypt, for example, gods included the Nile River, the frog, sun, wind, gazelle, bull, cow, serpent, moon and crocodile. Then came Genesis, which announced that a supernatural God, i.e., a god who existed outside of nature, created nature. Nothing about nature was divine. Yes, Prager is persuasive as always, but why do I feel God on the top of Whistler? Or on a trout stream? Is that a pagan sentiment? Or awe of God's creation? Prager makes me wonder about that. Surely He who created the giraffe intended us to admire it before eating it, even if not invested with a divine spark. Or maybe the ancient pagan can never be fully removed from us.
Thursday, April 14. 2005
 Eider, R.I.P.
Dear Bird Dog, Wanted to let you know I finally had to put Eider down. I know how fond you were of him, and some of his best points on grouse were birds you shot. Lots of fine memories. Here's the painting. Best, Craig F (note from Bird Dog - Eider was a Large Munsterlander who wouldn't quit, and a sweet guy too. Many fine hours in the Maine, Ct, NY, Saskatchewan, So. Dakota, etc. fields, marshes, and woodlands.)
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