The Last Day in January

Beautiful unexpectedly warm day. I took the younger dun horse out in the morning. At this point in his life every second of such a ride is important training, and not conducive to relaxation. I wouldn't say it isn't enjoyable. When you are able to present an idea to a horse and see him accept it, it is rewarding. Right now he is trying to get comfortable with the idea of being away from the barn and his buddy. As long as we are moving away from the barn all is well. Turn towards home, and he gets very excited. The the closer we get to the barn the more he winds up. It is like a car load of kids going to Disneyland. By the time they get in view of the castle they are out of their minds with excited anticipation. He isn't that bad, but he would be if I let him.

After lunch it was the bay's turn. It was a short mile and a half to " Mountain View Cemetery". When I got there I hobbled the horse, and set on a marble bench with a view of the Idaho hills. Someone on the original cemetery committee must have moved here from Kansas and labeled them "mountains".

I could not figure out whose guest I was. The etching on the bench included a nice inspirational poem that was pretty devoid of any spiritual meaning. It seemed to be dedicated to someone who was a  father, and a brother, and was nicknamed " Worm". Obviously it was written for someone other than me.

Now that hunting is over for me, I can attempt to get some good pictures of the dogs on point without the pressure of trying to get a shot with a camera, and a gun at the same time.

 They hunt year round, mostly for birds, but when that gets slow they turn to field mice. They don't point the mice. For them their approach is more direct. Pounce then dig!!

Waiting on the Weather

Pheasant season is over,but quail and gray partridge are still legal. Right now the issue for me is the weather. Some snow is great up to a point. What we have going on now, is weather that is hard on dogs, guns, and hunters. I guess I'm just not tough enough. Here are some pictures to show what is going on here.

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Last Day of the Season

Over the last couple of days we have gotten three or four inches of snow. Aside from making the countryside beautiful, it seemed to slow the birds down. I got all three of my birds after good solid points, and they were shot within thirty yards.



We started out in a tree farm which was on the way to the real hunt. We did flush a large covey of quail, and Rob, my partner for the day, got one. I sprayed some shots around to no avail.



This abandoned railroad grade runs across the countryside for a mile or so with access at only the two ends.  We left a pickup at the other end  to make it a one way hike.




This picture and the one below were the same point.




Soon after I took this picture, and got my camera put away, a rooster flushed from the right where the dogs are pointing. It flew to the right and dropped to the ground in short order.





All three doge were on point a couple of times here, but I missed the picture. It turned out to be a hen.




We really got four birds, but I lost one. It must have fallen out of my vest somewhere. I plan on going back to look for it tomorrow. There are dogs in those round openings. That's my homemade kennel. Rob reported that on his way home he got two more birds. So that day we both got oue limits. I just don't know where one of mine is.



Down the Railroad Grade

We still had a couple days of hunting left, but the younger horse needed to take a turn. He has been around shotgun noise, but I want him to ground tie better before I get real serious about making him take on that job.

So we went for a nice ride down an abandoned railroad grade with everything but a gun. Sure enough the dogs got good points on two roosters, and a couple of lone gray partridges. As it turned out, that was our last day to shoot pheasants. We can still go after the partridge for a while longer.

The weather was cold and clear, with a 5 to 7 mph southwest wind. I didn't last very long in the saddle.



Spud practicing ground tying.



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Ronnie's Place

This is an area that I have been wondering about for years. The season will be over in a few days, which in some ways will be a relief. The main thing that will change will be that when I am trying to choose a place to ride, weather I think there are birds there or not, will not have to be a consideration. Of course if I find some good hunting prospects along the way, so much the better. Today's ride was starting the off season early. I took my gun, but it didn't surprise me that I didn't get to use it. I think it was too high elevation for this time of year.

This trip will involve driving to that finger of timber on the left , riding through some woods, then hunting the CRP that runs just below the treeline out to the point above the grain elevators.




Yesterday I was hunting the hill on the  left horizon.

 


This is the city of Farmington, with Steptoe Butte in the distance.



We got a couple inches of snow day before yesterday. With the brilliant sunshine, every limb, or blade of grass was beautiful.

Back Below Skyline

This is a place that I first tried last week, and saw two roosters that were out of range. So I have some confidence that we could find birds to go along with the view.






This is an old picture, but it gives a good view of my first big effort of the day. In this picture the horse is ground tied near the middle. On the day that I am now describing, I left the horse clear down near that clump of brush at the bottom of the hill, way down by the trees, and chased the dogs above where I was standing when I took this picture. It looks about twice as far as it was. They were on a good scent trail the whole time. I was determined to flush the bird, but I gave up when the trail took a hard right up a steep face. My legs were gone, and I knew that the horse would be getting concerned after being left so long. We never saw the bird. Two more of these long uphill chases unfolded later on. The birds had lots of room to run, and they were not going to fly unless they had to.





Near the end of the day, and three ridges east of the one that led to the pickup, the dogs went on point facing into the grass where the arrow is pointing in the picture. I slid off the horse, drew the gun out of the scabbard, took three steps towards them, looked back to give the horse one last stern command to "stand!'' when I realised that I had left the reins across his withers instead of on the ground. He was looking back at me and was walking away. I moved towards him to retrieve the reins, but he just broke into a little trot and disappeared over the hill. Back to the job at hand. I walked down to where the dogs were still on point. A rooster flew, I shot it, Lilley retrieved it, then I headed back to find my horse. I was pretty sure that he was too lazy to go very far. I found him standing about 300 yards away. I walked up to him as though nothing had happened, climbed on and headed home.

We wild flushed a nice covey of gray partridge on the way dack, but they were just out of range. Besides I was on the horse, and he did a quick haunch turn 90 degrees to the left, (back feet planted,while front feet leave the ground)  in reaction to the sound. I headed him back down hill, and went on.

Two hours, two shots, one bird, it was well worth it.

A Training Ride at McCroskey State Park

It was time to get the younger horse in the trailer by himself, and away from the barn. He has done this kind of thing quite often in the past, but at that time he was nervous and not easy to control. This winter with all the great weather I started to try and get him more confident in himself and me. On our rides out from the barn have made him into a different horse.

Not to long ago he spent most of him time prancing around, head up, pushing hard on the bit and breaking into a fast bone jarring trot if given the slightest opportunity. Now 90% of the time he walks relaxed, head below his withers, and responds to very light direction.

He ground ties fairly well, and I am going to start teaching him to not fear the sound of a gun shoot some time soon. He has done this all before, but with a great amount of fear. This time I am going much slower.

I want him to become a dependable trail horse that I can hunt birds off of.



Here are some pictures from up on the hill, and I have added an old one just so you can see him.

This is looking out over Farmington, and Palouse country beyond to the northwest.



That is Jack's Mountain. We were hunting the right shoulder yesterday.





This is Spud in his summer coat.

At the Base of Jack's Mountain

I don't know why it is called Jack's Mountain because the guy that owns it is named John. I had heard from a neighbor that there were pheasants up there so I gave it a try. I have ridden through the area in the past and knew that at the very least I would get a different view of Farmington.

The cover was pretty thin. However it had some good attributes like a few brush patches, and it is near agricultural ground.


The fact is we only saw one bird and it was a hen. The Brittney did get a good point on it however. 



The village of Farmington is on the left, and  Mountain View Cemetery in the trees to the right. The pichup and stock trailer is the white dot next to the cemetery.



Up on the Idaho Hills

 It was a chilly afternoon. We went to an area that is just below the road that we were on a few days ago. Today instead of a two horse exercise ride, I have just the good and steady bay horse and we're out  for a pheasant hunt. The cover looked good with a nice view to the southwest.

Moving up the first draw the dogs went on point. I dismounted, moved in and flushed a hen. Just as she flew, on up the draw I heard a rooster crow. I looked around, but there was no second bird in the air. He had given himself away. I now knew that there was at least one rooster close by. The dogs moved on ahead 20 feet or so, went on point for about 3 seconds when he flew just out of range. I peppered him with a shot out of frustration, but he was gone.

We hunted two more draws and were heading down hill back to the pickup just before dark. The dogs got birdie again. I got off the horse and followed the them down hill for several hundred yards. I called the dogs off and we went back for the horse, then headed on down the hill again. I thought that they might pick up the trail they had been on when I road on down into that area. They did, but they split up. The Brittney was going down hill in the general direction of the pick up without much enthusiasm, but I followed. In a couple minutes I realized that I had lost track of the Shorthair. I stopped, called several times, bussed her collier a few times, and waited to see if she would show herself. I was  looking back up hill where I had seem her last. About 200 yards away back up on a side hill a rooster flew off. Now I knew where she was, and wished I had followed her. I few seconds later here she came. She is a good tracker. I should have done my job better.

That was it for the day, but we will go back one more time before the season ends next week.




This is looking up hill into Idaho.




This is looking down hill back into Washington.




The horse can be seem in the middle of this picture, and the one just above it.



The dogs hunting a narrow strip at the bottom of the hill.