Get Out and Hunt

There's few things I like better right now than getting out in the field after Sunday's Masses and roving about with a shotgun in search of dove, or small game. Going solo is good, just you, the countryside, senses sharpened in search of game and the satisfaction of something for the pot if things go right. If they don't? An armed ramble about the fields and treelines is good too. But I prefer to go out with company, which lately means GWB and his bird dog in training, JEB.

We shot a couple of the feathered acrobats and missed far more, they'll fly again to fight another day, and most of our time was spent set-up in silence along the edge of a big field waiting for the dove to fly. I like that silence. After a while you start to hear the sounds of the country, insects, birds, livestock, far off dogs and... dove! Then it's up and at 'em with a vengeance.

But they're canny rocketeers. They'll swerve to miss the shot, take off at impossible angles like gravity defying UFOs and otherwise defy the shooter. One seemed to play dead yesterday, stumbling in mid arc, nosedive falling straight down towards the ground, then taking off like an insane experiment out of the Peenemunde proving grounds. Well flown.

Then it was back to the tailgate to clean the birds as the sun was setting and back to HQ to eat them.

Fried up the breasts with onion, garlic and chili sauce on a toasted bun with mayo -- sandwich style.

Tasty, followed up by a glass or two of the right stuff on the porch and the usual banter about Angelic alphabets, Benchmade v. Spyderco, the wickedness of Yoko Ono and the perversity of thinking that the more you're taxed the richer you'll be.

God bless,

LSP

I Love dove Hunting

first birds in

Sunday evening seems to be turning into Dove Hunt Evening, which is just fine by me. It was raining this time and I wondered if the birds would be flying but didn't much care because getting out in the field with guns is fine as it is. Still, I wanted to shoot some of the avian acrobats.

two gun shoot

With that in mind, there seems to be a general consensus that dove don't much like a cold front and fly before it, the trick being to catch them them as they do. Not much chance of that, I thought, because Texas had changed to "Wales in summer" weather conditions, with rain and drizzle for the best part of a week. 

find the bird, yo.

But I needn't have worried; as soon as we parked the vehicles and loaded the guns, birds started flying like fury out of the trees where they'd been taking cover from the rain. GWB made short work of three with his old-school Browning 20 gauge. I let off a veritable flak barrage with a Mossberg 12 pump... and missed! Useless. I'd forgotten to concentrate in the right out of the gate excitement of the thing.

all hail the new truck!

So that was good and goes to show that just because it's raining you can't get out and hunt dove; we settled down on a treeline and got several more as the evening progressed and I'd like to think I redeemed myself with a decent, aimed this time, long shot or two.

Dove's in the freezer now, waiting for next Sunday and the grill and more birds... hopefully.

 I love dove hunting,

LSP

Worker's Paradise

My philisophically inclined Ivy League friend and sportsman, GWB, sent in this self-portrait with the legend:

let's hunt some dove, LSP!

"Objects in the mirror are even further to the right than they appear."

Quite.

LSP

Eat Dove

peppers

After a decent Sunday shoot with my philisophical friend GWB, it was time to put the dove on the grill. First you remove the small breasts from the bone and soak them in brine.

note the Benchmade

Next you chop some Jalapeno peppers in half, scoop out the insides and fill them with cream cheese. Place the dove meat on the peppers and wrap them in bacon; skewer with a toothpick and place the poppers on the grill for 20 minutes of indirect heat.

bacon makes everything good

Tasty as you like.

result

It's good to eat what you shoot, provided it's edible.

Cheers,

LSP

Shoot Dove

I like September because you can get out in the field to shoot dove, which is what I did on Sunday evening with GWB.

GWB, all about Wittgenstein...

We started off by walking a tree-line or two and a large field; one dove was flushed out and went down before we set up on the edge of some tree cover and waited for the birds to fly. 

learning

They did that soon enough and after some brisk action we had a modest amount of dove for the grill. I always enjoy the excitement of the snap shot and the satisfaction of seeing the bird drop, for that matter, it's good in itself to be out at dusk in the Texan countryside. It's still, when the guns aren't firing, and gives well needed space to recollect.

get out in the field!

Thanks, GH, for letting us shoot on your land. A good time was had by all.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Coyote, Hawk, Horse Gun

powerful LSP medicine

You'll have to forgive the lack of posts but things have been busy with the first two weeks of Lent and the attempt to get some penitential perspective on the business at hand.

camo jacket, now I'm invisible

Still, managed to have a go at the coyotes. Interesting result; got up early to make my stand at first light. Set up, hunkered down and called away (electronically), in a crosswind, upwind of a creek the dogs are running through. Did they come in?

JB and Bebop ready to go

No. Set off a few 'howls' and got a response - uphill and about a 1/4 of a mile away - along with lots of bellows from a herd of cows. The dogs had run uphill towards the bovines before I was in position, they weren't leaving those pastures for my "distressed rabbit", and who can blame them?

bad gelding

But the birds were listening, namely three hawks and a crow that answered the call and circled lazily overhead, looking for the hypothetical wounded bunny. They were neat to watch and it was good to see my call produced results, just not the ones I'd had in mind. So I went to another stand and called again, but then it was too late. No dogs...

But plenty of horses, which I rode. Excellent result.

Moral of the story? Get a better setup and try, try again - perseverance, you see.

God bless.

LSP

The Best Shot You Never Took In Your Life

Someone's Truck

Running alongside the field where JB's pastured is a dirt road, some grain bins and a large cornfield. A month or so ago the corn fields were harvested and became a veritable dove magnet. There I'd be, unsaddling the horse after a ride, and there the doves would be, in swarms.

Obviously I wanted to get out the gun and have a go, but hesitated to wander off with the yobbish pump action and blast away until I had permission to hunt the land. People frown on unidentified shooters roaming about their land, understandably. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the fields in question belonged to a parishioner who was happy to let me shoot.

After making sure (a few days in advance) that the owners of the horselands were alright with the project, I stalked off, Mossberg in hand.

The strategy was simple. Wait for the doves to arrive in their hundreds and shoot them. To that end I walked across a pasture, ducked under a fence, crossed the road, released the safety and... a great clatter of birds erupted from a tree to my front. The avian acrobats dodged the first two shots, but the third went home and a plump, corn-fed creature fell to the ground - just as I hear a great screaming from the direction of the horses. I won't repeat the language but it was strong and directed at the shooter.

I pondered the situation, reapplied the safety, and strode off down-field, thinking with a heavy heart that my riding privileges were about to be revoked. Still the shoot was still on and I figured I might as well see if I could chase up some birds further away. No luck; they liked the area around the grain bins, which I returned to.

Again, a tremendous whirring of wings as countless birds darted out of the trees around the bins, in all directions - just feet away from me. But I wasn't going to shoot and risk the wrath of the horse guardian. Instead I shouldered the gun and watched the quarry speed away to safety; never seen so many of the creatures so close and in the air at the same time.

Frustrating and doubly so when I learned the cause of the screaming. It was all a case of mistaken identity.

It seems a neighbour was in the custom of driving down the dirt road in his pick-up and taking pot-shots at birds from the window of the truck - towards the horses. Bonnie figured that was the source of the shots. Hence the invective; turns out I could have kept shooting. As it was, the one 'bird down' made for a tasty snack.

Moral of the story?

1. Don't shoot out of the window of your truck towards the barn - it spoils it for the rest of us.

2. Tell Bonnie when you're going to shoot.

3. Fresh dove tastes great.

Simple, really.

Hope you've had a blessed Sunday.

LSP

Total Disaster.

Completely failed to make it out for opening day of Dove season. Why? Managed to rip a toe open on a swinging door.

Useless. No tramping about the country in search of birds -- no charging about on horses either, at least for a few days.

Annoyed.

LSP

Hunt, Church, War

I'm a little jealous of my friend's trout catch but made up for it with some decent shooting - beautiful overcast early evening and enough action to supply a goodish snack for the LSP table; as always, powerful medicine to get out in the field.

Off to the frozen wilds of Wisconsin tomorrow for talks with the OCA (Orthodox Church of America), the Diocese of Fort Worth and ACNA (Anglican Church of North America). The hope here is that some sort of concordat or 'communion statement' will be reached, but more of that later. In the meanwhile...

Why does our government seem set on some sort of 'half mission' in Afghanistan, against the advice of General McChrystal? Seems to me that we should either fight to win, or not at all - an in between effort is surely a tragic waste of lives. Just a thought.

God bless.

LSP

More Birds, Less M.O.D.

Someone else's dove

Walked the tree lines mid-morning in search of birds, flushed several, missed and was surprised when a second group of three or four of the airborne acrobats cunningly flew over me from behind. I was busy reloading and missed the shot, exciting though to get some wing shot action right out of the gate, as it were.

Continued to a small copse in the middle of a large neighbouring field, thinking, "Ah hah, that looks like the sort of small copse they'd like to loaf about in," and sure enough they did. Got off a couple of successful shots then moved down towards the tree line at the bottom of the field - no shortage of flyers but all out of range, so no joy. Then back to the truck to clean the birds and scout about for more - but there didn't seem to be much action and I headed for home. That seemed to stir them up by the score from their lairs at the side of the road, which I cunningly hadn't hunted. I'll know next time (tomorrow); tree lines, small copse, edge of the fields by the road.

On a completely different theme, check out Michael Yon's excellent reporting from Afghanistan, where he's been embedded with various units until the MOD pulled the plug. One thing that struck me, amongst many, was how under resourced the British troops seem to be. I'd say if you're going to fight a war, you should do so to win - otherwise don't fight at all. Just a thought.

God bless,

LSP

Twilight Of The Birds

Sunset over the killing fields

or

Tragic metaphor for the Anglican Communion?

Managed to get out with a gun and have a go at the birds. There weren't many flyers and I missed rather more than I hit; still, got enough for a decent dove snack tomorrow. And all that's more than fine by me because I love shooting - hit or miss - and I love getting out in the country. I find there's a freedom in it. Anyway, hope to revisit the fowling grounds on Friday for more dove and maybe a rabbit or two; saw lots this evening but held off.

On another theme, my philosopher friend GWB alerted me to Wittgenstein's contempt of Mahler; who'd have thought it? Here's what he said:

“If it is true that Mahler’s music is worthless, as I believe to be the case, then the question is what I think he ought to have done with his talent. For quite obviously it took a set of very rare talents to produce this bad music.”

I don't have a dog in the fight, so to speak, because I don't listen to the despised Mahler, but I like the quote. Just think, you could swap out 'Mahler' and 'music' for 'The Archbishop of Canterbury' and 'theology', or 'Ragsdale' and 'ethics', or 'ACORN' and... etc.

Good shooting.

LSP

Rain At Last

Dramatic thunder, lightening and sheets of rain, all of which seem appropriate given today's anniversary. Its good news too for the parched fields and thirsty doves - hopefully the latter will come out in abundance tomorrow. But in the meanwhile the parsonage seems to hiss with the sound of rain.

What a relaxing sound and quite unlike the news that millions of Englishpersons will soon be on some kind of 'nonce' database; whatever happened to "Britons never, ever, ever shall be slaves"? Let's hope that kind of thing doesn't happen here and equally to the point, is stopped there (See Pavlov's Cat, Old Holborn & Railway Eye amongst others).

Speaking of which, LL has an interesting post on freedom. This surely has to be more than 'autonomy of choice' - Augustine would say (I think) that it consists in the act of choosing the good... but I'd welcome any thoughts on the thing.

God bless,

LSP

Shoot the Dove!

My yobbish Mossbeg, GWB's posh Browning

Scouted about the treelines for dove with my philisophical friend, GWB. The birds were pretty scarce but we got a few.

Hapless Avian

I like the way they rocket out of the tree, which adds, for me, to the excitement of the shot. But its all good, not least the result.

Gerber Shears Ad

An excellent day out, with the 'acrobatic avians' ending up wrapped in bacon and grilled - tasty. Looking forward to Friday and another installment of gun and bird. Hopefully there'll be a few more flying about.

Good shooting,

LSP

No Doves - Snakes

Wanted to go Dove hunting this morning but ended up going to a 'Church Women's' meeting instead, it extended to lunch and the Church Women fell to talking amongst themselves. The primary topic was snakes; I'll give you a precis:

"Well, I heard a mighty bang and figured the air conditioning was out again, but it was only Gene with his gun," nods and grins all 'round, "next mornin, there was a rattlesnake with his head clear blown off."

Again:

"This snake comes sliding out after my puppy and gits distracted, so he wraps himself 'round a water pipe, so we start throwing stuff at it to gittim to move, which he does and my husband shoots him right there. Biggest dam snake..."

After snake-talk we listenned to a poetry recital by John Pelham who writes 'cowboy poetry'. He got emotional talking about his Daddy, as did I, hearing him. Speaking of snakes, you might enjoy this "Don't Tread On Me Fuhrer video" - thanks to All Seeing Eye. Or you might not...

Doves Friday, God willing.

LSP