After finishing up putting some Christmas lights around our patio last Saturday afternoon, I took a breather and just sat down in my chair.
Saturday had turned out to be a pretty nice day with a slight northerly breeze after a chilly morning.
I started thinking what I used to do on these kinds of days during December and even in the latter part of November.
I spent a lot of time on Saturdays hunting quail and mostly it was on my cousin’s land north of Calumet. Quite a few times it was with my brother-in-law Randy Giese who is married to my sister Maureen.
He had a Brittany and I had two Brittanys. One of mine, Katy Beth, was the sister of his Brittany named Babe. And as it turned out, my other Brittany Maggie, though younger than both of them, was the aunt of Katy Beth and Babe.
Randy and I did a lot of quail hunting together on Saturdays. We harvested quite a few birds over the years, but it’s been quite a few years since we’ve quail hunted out there.
Pat and I had to give up Katy Beth in 2000 due to her cancer and we had to put Maggie to sleep in 2006. Somewhere in between, Randy and Maureen had to put Babe to sleep. All three of them, along with several other pets of ours, lay together on a hillside on that land we use to hunt.
In reflecting back, I think what I enjoyed the most really was just being out in the woods, watching the dogs work. It was a relaxing time for the most part because we didn’t hunt real hard, though it seemed we were really tired by the end of the day.
During the week occasionally, or even on some Saturdays when Randy or others couldn’t go with me, I’d take my two Brittanies and hunt four or five hours out there. My dad had always cautioned me about hunting alone too much and I adhered to that advice.
When alone, I hunted on a couple of places on my cousin’s land that was in near proximity to his and his wife’s house. I’d always stop and visit either before or after the hunt.
Some of the hunts of course are more memorable than others. Like one pretty cool, cloudy December day when Pat joined me and getting to see Katy Beth and Maggie work, point and retrieve some of the birds.
Another sunny afternoon late in the day while hunting alone when a covey of birds jumped out several yards ahead of the dogs but we found where they had landed and I was able to shoot a few.
I miss those days, I really do. But I have the memories and will always cherish them, remembering the times alone with the dogs and hunting with others.