I am one lucky son-of-a-bitch!

The blurry photo I took with my phone after the fall from my deer stand.

It was a season of misses and near misses. But, looking back on the 2022 Fall hunting seasons, I am one lucky son-of-a-bitch. The grouse and woodcock seasons started in September. I was out with my Brittanies, Hera and Stella, right away. The weather was warm at the start of the season, and the woodcock covers were dry. Of course, I had to bring water for the girls. We hit our usual haunts, the farm near Spencerville and three patches of cover in the Marlborough Forest. Grouse were scarce, and a trickle of woodcock passed through during the migration. I racked up some spectacular misses on shots at wild flushing grouse and bumped woodcock. Stella is three years old and still working out finding and pointing birds. By the end of October, just ahead of the rifle season for deer, Stella was pointing and honouring Hera’s points.

What lies beyond the scope

My new Winchester Wildcat .22 and Bushnell Elite scope rests on my dining room table.

I acquired a firearm with a semi-automatic action this morning for the first time in my life. The new gun is a Winchester Wildcat .22 with an 18-inch barrel. I bought it in a private sale from my friend and hunting buddy Jason. The rifle is virtually new and topped with a Bushnell Elite 4×12 scope. The gun is a right-hand model, but that is fine. I adapted to life as a southpaw long ago in a right-handed world. I bought the new .22 from Jason for an express purpose. In short, I need practice in aiming a rifle through a scope, steadying the rifle and squeezing the trigger. As some of you may surmise in reading my posts, I am a bird hunting enthusiast. Most of my shooting is with shotguns in pursuit of upland birds and waterfowl. I am a good wing shot; I mount, point, shoot and follow-through on birds. Some of the time I do, I always know what I did wrong when I miss. The fact is, shotgunning is a world apart from rifle shooting.

More than a wild goose chase

James poses in his layout blind with the two Canada geese taken on his first waterfowl hunt.

I got out for my second Canada goose hunt of the season early this morning. Joining me in the hunt were my hunting buddies Jason, a seasoned waterfowl hunter, and James, for his first waterfowl hunt. I had high hopes for our expedition; Jason and I had great shoots in seasons past on the harvested beanfield selected for this morning. Jason and I loaded the goose decoys into Jason’s pickup truck the day before. James stayed with Mika and me overnight as he lives in Cornwall. The three of us met on the beanfield at 5:00 am. I introduced James to Jason as they had not met in person. The beanfield is near Russell, a forty-minute drive from home. The field had lots of waste beans and chaff; it looked inviting to the migrating Canada geese–so we thought. What struck me, however, was the absence of feathers and droppings on the ground. I hope for the best and prepare myself for the worst outcome when I go hunting. I feared our morning goose hunt might be a disaster.

Success is measured in flushes

Hera, my seasoned gun dog takes a breather on our morning woodcock hunt.

It is Sunday, Thanksgiving weekend, 2020, and I got out with Hera and Stella for some upland gunning this morning. I got up at 7:00 am, my usual time to start my day by taking the girls for a morning run. The girls were duly delighted when they saw me gather my upland shooting gear. I wish I could say I was as enthused. Life under the Covid-19 restrictions takes a toll. I find I am not as keyed up about going hunting this season, as I am in a depressed mood. It is Stella’s first season as a young gundog, so I need to get her into the field. I had the girls and the gear onboard and set out for the farm near Spencerville in short order. The weather was cool and sunny, with a light breeze.

For Stella’s sake

Grouse and woodcock shot in the last minutes of the hunt.

I took Hera and Stella hunting in the Marlborough Forest this morning. We started our hunt at about 8:50 am at the cover I call Schäfer’s Wood. The last time I hunted Schäfer’s Wood earlier in the season–with Hera alone–I noticed that Hera showed little enthusiasm. I let Hera and Stella out of the Jeep and off we went in pursuit of grouse and woodcock. Hera quickly lost interest, and in short order, we were back at the Jeep. I do not know what to make of her antipathy to hunting at Schäfer’s Wood. My best guess is that her bird dog’s intuition informed her that the cover is not worth her time. “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink,” goes the adage. I put the dogs back on board and drove them to the cover I call Lester’s Square. When I arrived a Lester’s Square a short time later, I heard shots in the distance. “Ah,” I thought, “we have company–even on a Monday morning.” No matter, there is room enough for everyone.

O sole mio

 

Hera and I with a brace of woodcock after a morning hunt in the Marlborough Forest.

I took Hera grouse and woodcock hunting solo in the MarlboroughForest this morning. It was mild, though on the warm side, at about 15 degrees C and the skies overcast. A light rain fell. I started at the cover I call Schäfer’s Wood. We started our hunt at 8:45 am. Minutes into the hunt, Hera pointed a woodcock. I walked up her point, and the bird flushed. I fired once, missing spectacularly. Hera looked as though she lacked enthusiasm for hunting. She was not as lively as I remember from past seasons. She turns seven next month; she is not that old, and she is in good shape. I wondered if it was a lack of enthusiasm or maybe that she is seasoned enough that she knows to pace herself. We spent an hour sweeping Schäfer’s Wood, and no more birds were found. What I noticed as we hunted the cover is that we, for the first time in a long time we had the grouse and woodcock covers to ourselves.

James I

James with the woodcock he shot on his first woodcock hunt.

The 2019 upland game, small game and woodcock seasons opened in Eastern Ontario this morning. The weather was near perfect for the opening day of these seasons. The sky was clear, the winds were minimal, and the temperature was hovering at about 10 degrees C. I set out for the farm near Spencerville with my new hunting buddy James and Hera, my Brittany, shortly before 7:00 am. It is about an hour’s drive from my house in Centretown Ottawa to the farm. James and I arranged to meet Mike, another of my hunting buddies, at the farm for 8:00 am. Though James is not new to hunting–having hunted small game with his buddies in Cornwall in previous seasons–this would be his first woodcock hunt. It would be his first hunt over a bird dog also. We stopped at a Tim Hortons on the way–I have to have my morning cup of Joe–and arrived at the farm in good time. Mike came with his dog, Maggie, a German Shorthaired Pointer, not long after James and I got there. We started our hunt not long after 8:00 am, eager to see what fortune would bring.

Don’t call me surly!

 

James breaking a clay on the trap range.

I got out to the Stittsville Shooting Ranges with my new friend and hunting buddy James Burnside. We met at the range at noon; it was our first meeting in person. I like to go to the range with new hunting buddies to get acquainted. I like to see how they conduct themselves on the shooting range and show them that I am experienced and safety-conscious in handling firearms. I went to sign in, pay for four rounds of skeet shooting, and purchase four boxes of 20 gauge ammunition. I brought my Franchi Instinct SL in 20 gauge. I had the skeet and skeet choke tubes installed. James went to his car to retrieve his Remington 870 Express pump-action gun in 12 gauge. The skeet range was free so, we walked on to the field with our shotguns, ammunition, and my camcorder on its tripod. As I placed my gun on the rack next to the first shooting station, James advised me that a man standing with a couple of his shooting buddies had concerns about the camcorder.

All that glisters is not gold

 

A mixed bag of mallards, wood ducks and a Canada goose taken on a morning hunt on the Castor River.

“All that glisters is not gold,” William Shakespeare got that right when he coined this adage. I recalled this adage this week after a duck hunt on the Castor River. In seasons past, the stretch of the Castor River that runs through a farm outside Russell, Ontario was a honey hole for my duck hunting buddies and me. Seasons ago we had exciting puddle duck hunting. We shot Canada geese on the river too. Occasionally, passing flocks of Canada geese or singles offered passing shots. We had great roost shoots back in the day when Canada geese used the river to roost. Mallards and wood ducks were the most common species of wild duck we shot on the river–though once I bagged a hooded merganser. In more recent seasons, ducks are few and far between. For whatever reason, ducks are not using this stretch of the Castor River. Neither are Canada geese roosting on the river. Imagine my surprise and delight when I drove out to the farm to take a look at the river and found wood ducks and Canada geese sitting on the water. A mallard drake flew along the river, well within shotgun range. “Could it be,” I thought, “that the river is attracting waterfowl again?”

Good luck in all weathers

 

Mike and Maggie Mae on opening day of grouse season 2018.

“Good luck in all weathers,” Shirley E. Woods Jr. wrote to me when he signed my copy of his memoir “Gunning for Upland Birds and Wildfowl.” I met him at his home in Rockliffe Park where he lived in the 1970s. His memoir is an account of his experiences hunting upland game birds and waterfowl in the Ottawa Valley and Quebec. Weather indeed is a significant factor in hunting. Weather conditions determine whether it is safe or worth to go hunting. Yes, the weather is but one of the factors that play into the vagaries of fortune in hunting, but I learned over the years what a significant role weather plays in successful hunting. Weather conditions over the summer of 2018 made for a rocky start to my upland season this year.