Merry Christmas all.

A Merry Christmas to anyone who happens along. I haven't posted in a while but I have a week off and I hope to be spending a fair bit of time in the woods. I hope all enjoy the season

Nothing fancy

I love bird dogs whose reason for being is finding birds and they look at you as you come abreast of them by rolling their eyes until you see the whites without them moving their heads.
I love the covey flush which gets your chest pounding and your adrenaline going as if it is your first covey.
I love the rise of a trout or better yet the hidden wink of the take of a dead drifted nymph.
The pull of a salmon as the fly swings on a drift.
The feeling you feel as you realize that you will soon have the moose dead to rights after a tense 20 minute stalk and you look asking, is he there? he should be there and then you see him bigger than anything you had imagined.
Sunsets,woodsmoke, leather, canvas, cold rain, warm sun, first snow of the season. The smell of balsam fir and wet dog. I taste and smell all of this in simply cooked wild game. Moose and onions. Its as good as food gets.



Well that picture was a disappointment, it didn't do it justice. Oh well off to the city tomorrow. Snow shoes and snowshoe hares soon winter has arrived.

I haven't been out much busy with work and last weekend we had terrible weather. It has been unseasonably mild. Its 0130 now and the wind has woke me up. Its forecast at 110 KM/h or about 70 mph. The house is shaking with some of the gusts. I spent many a night on the North Atlantic in weather like this and its a pleasure to be in a warm dry house. We have had no snow but they are getting hammered just a little west of here. It won't be long I am sure before we start getting hit ourselves with snow. I hope to get out this weekend with the dogs and my daughter. I will need a day in the woods to get me through next week as I will be in the city all next week attending a course.

Lost!

I am back to work now three days now and I miss the woods. I miss the quiet, the stillness. I was lucky, I had 10 weeks to hunt as I wished and I got out a fair bit. Every day that I hunted this past fall, with the exception of a few afternoons in which I took my daughter, I hunted alone. As I think I wrote in a previous post here, a few years ago I used to go on trips by myself lasting weeks, never felt the need for much company in the woods. I guess I will get used to being back to work in a few days but I feel a bit razzed by being around so many people. Two more days until the weekend and then its back to the real world, the world of the woods and the barrens. In my last post I posted a picture of my daughter that we took Sunday. All she is talking about is getting out again this weekend. She has been bit by the bug it seems.

We were both walking quietly in the woods last Sunday and a half hour elapsed without either of us saying a word, she was walking just ahead of me and as we crested a hill she stopped and looked back at me and said " I am really starting to understand why you love this, its magic" she then looked ahead and carried on.

Can't wait for the weekend. Grouse for a month, then seaducks and icefishing for trout. Then out with the fly rod for sea trout,brook trout and salmon as the seasons march on. I have enough meat in the freezer and enough great memories to play through in my mind to get me through the winter.
Life outside is good, won't be lost for long.

My hunting Partner

Beautiful Weather

I have had fantastic weather the past week which is unusual for Newfoundland in November. I have been grouse hunting in the woods rather than ptarmigan hunting and they closed my daughters school for a few days because of mold so she has been with me in the woods. Yesterday was fantastic, she really truly loved being there and sees the beauty in it. Anyway today is a sunny cool day and I am taking my older dog up on the high ground for one last chance at the ptarmigan. I had a dead battery all week so no pictures but will post a few of todays picture this evening God willing.

That is an older picture of one of my dogs who is long gone. He was a great dog.

Soon

Well my freezer is full and I mean full. I had to get rid of some of my little girls ice cream and take some bread out of the freezer to fit in the last of the moose. There are a few more packs of sausage to go in there and Monday I will be back on the country with my dogs. My daughter is great and that makes me feel wonderful. I am going out next week for my dogs sake and will not be taking many birds as a man has to know when enough is enough. I will be home for Saturday as my little girl wants a day in the woods with her dad now that she is feeling better. She has an air rifle and a bow and she just loves hot chocolate made over an open fire out of a billy can. I didn't spend as many nights in country this year as most but I am glad to live where I do and be able to be away from everything in 20 minutes. Bring on winter I am ready