Sometimes I can’t stop myself from picking fights I seem sure to lose.
Like arguing on Audubon California’s Facebook page about Assembly Bill 711, a bill to ban lead ammo for all hunting in California.
The GRITS (Girls Really Into Shooting) is the easiest group to find on the sporting clays course or the upland fields of bird hunting. That’s because their raucous exuberance of hooting, hollering and laughing has earned them a reputation as hardcore enthusiasts fearless in their solidarity of female empowerment through the shotgun sports.
While the Cordoba region of Argentina has long been recognized as the high-volume dove-shooting hotspot, Cordoba isn’t the only area of South America that is plagued with a massive dove population. In the late 1990s Uruguay became a much sought after dove-gunning goal for many. After the turn of this century Bolivia became yet another dove shooting paradise – though most of the USA’s shotgunners have not heard much about the Bolivian shooting yet.
When I developed the “Hunting With Hank” television series starring my Llewellin Setter Hank, for what was then The Outdoor Life Network, I had confidence that the series would find an audience. But, the amazing success of Hank’s show actually caught me off guard. Along with its popularity, came requests from viewers all across the country to explain how I trained Hank for the work they saw him performing on our upland bird hunts that spanned the country.
A year ago this time, as we entered the final month of the upland bird hunting season at Joshua Creek Ranch, I wrote about the challenges of that season, having endured a drought of historically severe proportions. Thankfully spring rains blessed us in 2012 and the resilience of the wildlife habitat was nothing less than miraculous. We entered the 2012-13 upland bird hunting season last October in good condition in every way: restored habitat, hard-flushing, strong-flying birds, well-trained pointing and flushing/retrieving dogs, enthusiastic hunting guides, seasoned cooks, and conscientious office staff.
So there I was, at water’s edge, ghillie jacket and hood breaking up my outline, balaclava hiding my face, weapon resting on my knees, fog just a bit too thick, ducks just a little bit too far away.
You recognize the spectacular beauty of Honey Lake Planation upon opening the door into the Pansy Poe Cottage and after those tentative steps into the softly lit passageway that whispers Southern secrets from the Gilded Age you happen to look toward the glow at the far end of the white bead-board living room, through the picture windows, surprised to see the pristine surface of Honey Lake shimmer in the Florida daylight.
Daniele Perazzi passed away at the top of his game. Only months before his death on November 7, 2012, his eponymous shotgun company swept the London Olympics with 12 out of 15 medals, including four gold — celebrating a lifetime of international victories that elevated the Perazzi marque to the highest rungs of performance and craftsmanship.
Since upland bird hunting is our primary activity, it’s a given that the six months of October through March are without a doubt the busiest ones of the year here at Joshua Creek Ranch. The season begins in October at a gentle pace and continuously accelerates to breakneck, full throttle, race pace in January, February and March. I think the closing of whitetail deer season in early January, followed by the closing of the bobwhite quail season in late February, contributes largely to the increase in the demand for preserve hunting of upland birds the first three months of each New Year. By March, it’s the only hunting that’s left for the avid shotgunning enthusiast.
On a brilliant autumn afternoon, a helicopter packed with oil men from Texas and Mexico touched down on a grassy field at Joshua Creek Ranch. With rotors revolving overhead, they filed out toward an idling SUV and three minutes later the contingent occupied a table on the limestone patio in the shade of a magnificent 400-year-old oak tree, the rush of the Guadalupe River rising from below, enjoying a hearty lunch and talking business.
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