Maggie's Farm

We had a Papillon visiting over the weekend. This breed might be in the lap dog, ankle-biter category, but this one was a delight: well-related, highly-communicative with human-like noises, feisty, high energy, highly-alert, and eager to please. They need plenty of time to run around off leash, and they seem to need plenty of time napping on somebody's lap.

A cool dog. The breed is known to be easily trained, and our visitor obeyed numerous voice commands. 

This breed can have erect ears (mostly in the US) and floppy spaniel ears (mostly in Europe). These were popular in the courts of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Madame de Pompadour with her Papillon, by Boucher.  Ms. Pompadour was cute, charmant, and smart too. Well-educated, she could sing, play musical instruments, recite plays and poetry, and she understood statecraft. A self-made lady who retained her usefulness to Louis XV well-past her sexual prime until her death of TB at 42.

It's getting to that time of year. Identify that shotgun.

A few poodle facts:

The Standard Poodle was bred in Germany in the 1600s as the Pudelhund for duck and upland hunting. They are retrievers, and some lines (such as mine) are pointers also.

Later, the French adopted them and turned them into status symbols with crazy haircuts. They bred them for style and ignored the hunt aspect. Several poodle breeders have been breeding the hunting and retrieving talent back into poodle lines. Our breeder does that.

In 1942, the Poodle was one of 32 breeds officially classified as war dogs by the Army.

Poodles are smarter than humans.

Poodles have hair, not fur (which is why they are hypoallergenic and why they need haircuts). They love to swim, but do not enjoy being cold and wet at the same time. No insulation.

Pic is a Red (aka Apricot) Standard Poodle with a "Pet Cut," aka  "Puppy Cut." That's the haircut I like in a poodle. With that cut, they are the cuddliest pups in the world. We give ours a full-body crew cut for summertime.

The Browning Hellcat Flashlight. 600-800 lumens, almost 300-yard range.

Far more power than you need to find the keys you dropped in the dark. Designed for hunters, these are also good for spotting owls. You can temporarily blind a bad guy with it, too.

Pic is your editor busting through a thick alder patch. If a woodcock jumps up, often a branch blocks your swing of the shotgun. That is annoying.

My favorite hunting is for the Ruffed Grouse, aka Partidge, aka "Paatrich," aka "chicken". Best done with dog - pointer or flusher - but it can be done alone too, if alert.

In the autumn, a Ruffed Grouse hunt generally involves Woodcock too. This is real hunting, because even in good habitat you might be lucky to raise a bird or two every few hours of rough hiking. Then the bird flies behind a tree and you miss it. These birds have every advantage.

This good guy shot a Sage Grouse. I've seen them out west, never shot one. I wouldn't shoot one. Once I almost shot a Spruce Grouse by mistake, in Maine. They are protected, and not really edible. I have shot my share of Sharp-Tailed Grouse up in Canadian prairie. That might be the most enjoyable hunting I have ever had. A firing line of a few guys stalking through low brush, scrub, and prairie grasses, for a few miles. Then a sudden burst of grouse occurs right when you have stopped to take a leak.

Regardless of the species, grouse are killed with legs, not shotguns. You walk. A grouse hunt is an excuse to take long gnarly off-trail walks with a dog and thus to earn a glass of warm whiskey by the fire afterwards. That's about as good as life gets.

Canadian Fishermen Caught Fabled 650-Pound, Century-Old Sturgeon - Nicknamed “Pig Nose,” the fish was quickly released back into the wild

Fish have names?

With trout season on the way, a useful chart. ("Exercised" means you played the fish a bit before netting):

Event,  Seconds out of Water, and  Survival Rate

Fish caught, exercised but not taken out of water     0  secs.               88%      
Fish caught, exercised and taken out of the water     30                      62%      
Fish caught, exercised and taken out of the water     60                      28%      
Fish caught, exercised, placed in boat, handled and flops around
                                                                           60+                       0%      

That's a pic of Twenty, Ladder Co. 20, in the window

The loss of a dog can make grown men cry: Firehouse Loses a Spotted Symbol of Healing. What a great dog he was. Well-trained, too - never on a leash in downtown NYC. Never missed a fire call or a meal.

November in northern Maine, a couple of years ago, seeking Partridge and Woodcock. Can you see the 5th dog in the photo? Bird Dog is The Shadow.

Yesterday was a bluebird day in Yankeeland. A couple of pals and I spent the morning fly-fishing with great results - a beautiful few hours that turned out to be practicing casting rather than catching fish. It matters little. Fly-fishing and catching are not the same thing. We know there are big trout there, but they weren't interested. It ain't shopping - it's outdoor life.

After take-out ham, brie, and honey mustard sammiches and Cokes, with some Cape Cod tater chips, we pursued pheasants for three hours with my buddy's 2 hunting Labs (barely seen in my photo). That pursuit was more productive in the meat department, and hanging out and hiking with hunt dogs in fields and brush is one of the finer things in life. Basically, joyful.

I pray for fewer worries, more joy.

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4 am, relaxing in the Maggie's HQ while Bird Dog has his pre-workout coffees and ceegar. Nobody's perfect, but Man can not live without loyal dog who overlooks all human flaws.

Since you are so interested, here are the species we shot last week in Manitoba, and which now reside in the freezer: Shoveler ("Smilin' Mallard"), Bluebill, lots of Redheads, Canvasback, Mallard, Gadwall, Wigeon, Pintail, and Canada Goose.

The limit in Manitoba is 8/day, any species of duck.

We also had some luck with Ruffed and Sharptail Grouse. I do love huntin' the grousies because you get to walk all day in beautiful places.

Photo of a few handsome Redheads - they taste as good as Canvasback. Tip for fellow duck hunters: forget steel shot. It often cripples and does not kill cleanly. Use heavy-shot or bismuth or anything else -our wonderful ducks deserve the best, despite the expense. I am through with steel shot for ducks and goose forever, as of now.

Reposted from a recent March

Cabo is famous for the fishing, but we were out for meat as much as for sport and, as I mentioned, we are not really into hassling the big fish from the big boats anymore. Leave them fish alone! 

We set out early with Carlos in his super-ponga to find "Sierra" - Sierra Mackeral (similar to the Atlantic Spanish Mackeral, but larger) - for dinner for ten invitees. We needed the meat but good sport is always the bonus.

I always say, "Huntin' and fishin' ain't shopping." It's a risk to invite people before catching the fish, but it's never failed for me. The Lord provideth the tortillas and the fishes. We caught 8 but really only needed 6, so had leftovers for breakfast. (We Yankees believe in fish for breakfast.)

Being lazy and on vacation, we brought our 8 cleaned and skinned mackeral over to Solomon's Landing on the marina to prepare it for us all for dinner six hours later. Since we supplied the fish, it wasn't a big expense except for the cocktails.

It was a good dinner party. Margueritas the size of bathtubs. Here was the result at 7 pm that evening -

First course: Sierra Ceviche - the best ceviche I have ever had in my life. Sierra is said to be the best fish in the world for ceviche, and I cannot dispute that. I could live on Sierra Ceviche and Margueritas:

After the dynamite ceviche, they brought platters of our Sierras cooked three ways - chef's choice: Fried with coconut, baked with capers, olives and peppers, and baked Rockefeller style (like Oysters Rockefeller) - all wonderful Mexican cooking:

Story and pics below the fold -