Sunday, February 19, 2012

Companions

The 2011 adventure season ended for us Saturday, February 18th,  in the Texas Panhandle. The year saw us trapse from the Mississippi Delta, Ozark Mountains, Rocky Mountains, Great High Plains of Texas and Kansas And the beautiful prairie Land of the Dakotas and Montana. Through all of these thousands of miles, one constant was our traveling companions, our family's dogs. They all have their specialties. First and foremost is the master hiking and navigator, Buckwheat the Boykin Spaniel. He has been to the top of the world several times this year and only caused a bother by having all the hikers we passed stop and pet him and ask" What kind of magnificent dog is that!" Our guard dog is his mother Ophelia (Opie). She also made the trip to Montana and helped keep the prowlers in the night at bay. Anna's English Setter, Jack the Dog has developed into the"go to" pointing dog. We have chased chucker on the Black Canyon rim, Sharptail and Sage grouse,Grey partridge, prairie chickens, and pheasants on the American equalivalent of the Serengeti, the North American Prairie  and Gentleman Bobwhite in the Great High plains and the Arkansas River Delta. Jack's backup cast on these trips were Bobby and Hazel. Bobby is kinda the joker of this group but he also had some high times with roosters and greys. Hazel, the damned and downtroddin has turned into a fine chicken and pheasant dog. She can put on her list a sage grouse or two which is pretty damn impressive to me..Also terrorising pheasants along the way were William's Boykin, Peirre. a student of the famed spaniel trainer Tom Ness. He has turned into a hard hunting flushing dog that handles now like a dream, and the most intense dog I have ever met, Cap'n Pablo. Cap'n can best be summed up by a one mile escapade chasing a Jackrabbit at 22 sustained miles per hour. I am sure he was thinking the whole time thats not a whistle blowing, thats the wind howling through the jacks ears! Our newest addition is shared by Anna, Jimbo and me, Judith, daughter of Jack the Dog. She just made her first trip at five months old to the dusty, thorny birdless Texas Panhandle. She pointed everything that moved, including the American Flag at the hotel that we stayed in!
Buckwheat
As a new year starts and we make plans and goals for the seasons ahead, I would be remiss in not mentioning Carmen, the greatest and toughest birddog we will ever have. She made the long trip north, pointed a covey of Grey partridge just to show she still could. We will miss her everytime put a Garmen collar on a bird dog.I am sure she really hated being tracked all the time. She always saw something we didn't. She was always looking for the next horizon. I bet she found it and it was full of birds!
Buckwheat on top of the world, no big deal for him



Jack The Dog
Opie
Bobby
Hazel
Pierre
Cap'n Pablo
Judith

Carmen


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