Back when I was a teenager, my cousins and I always made arrangements to hunt ducks on the day after Thanksgiving, and the day after Christmas. These hunts continued as we entered college, and came home for holidays. Once we all got out of school and had to start working for a living, the day after hunts went by the wayside as we all had inlaws to visit, and during the week, work to attend to.
With Christmas falling on a Friday this year, that meant a weekend for hunting was available. I made plans with a high school friend Loren, my father and uncle for Saturday and Sunday morning.
Saturday morning we met Loren Poncia and his two dogs Sienna and Molly. We must have set a speed record as we had 5 birds in the bag in 45 minutes.
Loren had cows and lambs to check that day so he headed out to his Marin County ranch to do that. You can follow his Stemple Creek Ranch Blog and see daily changes in the stock, and the surroundings of the Sonoma and Marin county agricultural community. He also has some great recipes for beef and lamb that transition well to venison.
SUNDAY
My dad returned and Sunday morning we awoke to wet conditions after the misty drizzly night. Dad loaded Gator, an up and coming English Pointer and we hunted a cut grainfield along some railroad tracks.
Now Gator is an exuberant, high energy dog with a lot of hunting drive. To keep him from ranging too far, Dad hunted him with a 50 ft check cord. The first bird to raise was a surprse to all of us, dog included. He escaped unscathed. Then we started spotting roosters running in the wheeltracks through the stubble. We hustled to get Gator in the Scent stream and he put a bird up over my head. The #6 shot pattern put him on the ground, but he started sprinting. Gator ran him down and held him down until we could get there to praise him.
From that point on, Gator became more focused and you could see his demeanor change from running to hunting. Each point became more rigid and by the fifth bird he was like a magazine picture. He even retrieved the bird with minimal coaxing.
It was a good weekend with time spent afield with family and friends. Much like the holiday hunts from my youth.
