Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Out again

I awoke on Monday and decided to head out again. I still felt a little off so instead of heading inland I took the two dogs and headed up the shore



I headed to Cape Race which is a rugged piece of coast



I use to hunt on this ground years ago when I was a young boy with my father and see the ships passing off the coast. Cape Race is a major landfall for ships on the North Atlantic Route. When hunting there with my father years ago I would see the ships and wonder as a boy would, about who was on them and where were they going. I wanted to sail on them and thought that one day I too was going to sail the world. I made my living as a merchant sailor and officer for over 20 years and sailing years later often looked upon the great capes of the world and wished I was ashore.

Anyway we headed towards the cape then got out of the truck and headed in on the big rocky ridges



Wind there was, when I got home I checked the Environment Canada website and saw we had gusts over 50 mph. That is not a lot of wind for Newfoundland but much to much to be bird hunting in. With my cold and that wind on open ground we had an exhausting hunt. When the two dogs and I got back to the truck the three of us were dragged out the wind was a great deal higher than forecasted.
(In spite of the wind I had some great dogwork and hit a few big coveys of ptarmigan.
I am hunting my two dogs together as a brace more this year. I usually try to have a fresh dog. I am planning to get two more dogs the winter)
In the picture of the barrens with the sea in the background if you look closely to the center left of the picture along the shoreline you can see Cape Race lighthouse. This is the closest landfall to a great many wrecked ships including the Titanic. The past few nights the sea has been feather white and I am glad to be home close to my family. I had many a rough night on the North Atlantic in winter.




One more day is planned with the dogs then I am going to pick up the rifle and paddle

2 comments:

  1. Rugged country and a tough day! I'll bet it was tough to get the birds to flush and then they just rocketed downwind.

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  2. The birds were wild. When they flushed they certainly rocketed. The worst part is that I was full of aches and pains and winded from some bug I picked up. I was out moose hunting this morning and came home early. I am still not over it
    regards
    Dan

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