Sept 28
I am down near Maple Creek Saskatchewan and the drought conditions are pronounced. I am camped alongside a major staging slough where the birds almost double daily. I guestimate that there will be 400,000 to 500,000 geese, ducks and cranes within the next week all talking like a knitter corner. The minor sloughs are dry but the birds are numerous where concentrated.

Time to extract the Model 21 Duck one of the finest shooting weapons in my collection. I am trying to obtain most of the English PM's "Best" weapons and have been sucessful with the help of Purdey and Holland but this 30inchWinchester made in 1947 is a real treat for waterfowl. There is American history to this beauty. It was made for General Omar Bradley who mamanged to acquire several French Walnut blanks right after the Normandy Invasion. He orders it with a 13 3/4 lop typical for cold weather shooting. The drop is 3/8 and the cast off is 1/4. The tubes are 30 inch and when she is called upon to gather mallards, canvasbacks, geese and now cranes she repsonds like the smart%

Sept 27.

My new Ford F350 crew cab dually diesel is a camping. fishing hunting dream machine. She carries the huge Lance Camper without a care and the mileage is wonderful compared to my F350 460cc. My friend put a Gale Banks six gun programmer and new 4" exhaust into the system and she climbs grades like my 4.5 Mercedes. I have yet tp name her but am learning towards Hardy. With the addition of new wireless electric jacks I can remove the Lance camper almost as quick as my 1960’s traveling days with a Kelty backpack

Sept 25

The Royal Tyrell near Drumheller is one of North American finest Museums. Durning the 90’s while home schooling my three children and traveling we often would spend a week camping here before heading out to the sporting fields. The Royal Tyrell is built out in the middle of the Prairie at the foot of ancient Jurassic river bottoms where huge concentration of middle and late Jurassic dinosaurs roamed the warm Canadian sea shores. I was enthralled to visit her again and always learn something this year focusing on the Devonian age and the tremendous coral shelves that provided us with our thrust for fossil fuels.

It over to Hanna and we camp at our friends abandoned farm yards. Geese are plentiful but I ‘m not fond of shooting early dumb geese with many pin feathers. I will wait till we move over to Saskatchewan later and hunt the mid Oct bird when the birds are plump from peas and barley. Hanna is void of any hunting pressure and the game is scattered everywhere. Many community pastures hold birds but one must be careful to observe opening dates. Harvest was on time this year and the crop heavy. My friends are satisfied with the harvest and seem anxious to visit and catch-up with the family. The GWP pointer is shaping up well. Fe is adjusting to open terrain and starting to lower her nose to the ground, a difficult task for most pointers. The lab makes birds from soil and stubble. She seem to find them everywhere and she is my compass

Sept 24

The dogs are working in harmony. Fe, the wirehair, imprinted to the female lab is very loving companion who never complains and hunt like a banshee. Her only fault is that she is an extreme dumpster diver. Leave trash or a filled garbage can unattended and she's there in a New York minute. Something about the aroma of rotting apples or leftover that Fe is compulsive about. She loves her stinky blanket and readily kennels when asked. Belle the black lab out of the great Code Blue and Misty Morning Magic is almost human and has better character traits than most. She is a very gentle companion while the fire blazes at home but a field she is an aggressive lab that can make birds from dirt and grass.

I am all alone except on this great expansive prairie where the small town cherishes fall hunters and the party atmosphere they bring. I need elbow room and the loneness and quiet of this Canadian Prairie invigorates me.

There must have been a killing frost as the weather was warm but no blood bugs. I turn up Lorena McKinnit, a favorite, my daughter Kate studying in Oxford gave me one Christmas. The McCallan’s quietly sipped with a single ice cube like the brewer showed us in Oban Scotland and I quickly sauté the game breast over alder coals with a thyme/ basil glaze. Lorena’s chants remind me of the Scottish moors or crisp December Arizona desert night after a hot barrel dove hunt. The dogs were content, watered, aired and bellies filled. I think I shall hunt sharp tail grouse a fine prairie table food. These birds are real challenges for the dogs.

I bedded the game breasts on a Cajun mix rice, garnished it with some salted water cress found nearby spring creek and capped the meal with a hearty Shiraz. I had no itinerary for the next week at least until the rendezvous with my hunting camping companions and so I waited for the night winds to blow my dreams to my dream catcher.

There is plenty of game this year on the Alberta’s Prairie. The Dogs are in god shape and I cherish my new hunting boots made by Meindl in German. We hunt the native lands for the grouse and they are always where you might expect. I hunt grouse similar to big game where spotting, stalking then surprise are the key elements to find the birds. The dogs understand the rules heeling for many yards until we are on top of the birds. The GWP will first scent before the lab is set loose and with grouse are surprised and hold so tight. Today I limit out quickly on Hun and sharp tail and lab the dogs and I will eat well again tonight. Tonight I am reading Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” Tomorrow it will be map time as I pour over my past travels and recall the special coverts and sloughs that holds game

Sept 23

After settling in a secluded camp site that the custom agent told me up on the Red Deer River I shot several grey partridges (hun) for supper. My 1892 Stephen Grant, a London made double 12 bore is deadly with Jay Menafee’s Vintager #6. I wish I could remember the shotgun’s mounting, aim and pull when my query falls. It is like a blackout feeling not recoil, blast or kill. My kill rate is high making for quick action as I try only to kill for food

September 21, 2006

I was approaching heaven gate, the Canadian border into Alberta near Sweetgrass Mt. Between marker 377- 378, I saw a roadside anonomal that cheered me for my visit. I knew Canadian diesel was going for about $.92/litre and I had to stopp and pickup a full liter of McCallan's 18 year Single malt at the duty free shop on the American side. Diesel was going for $2.89 low. I wasn't going to stopp at the US border as I could prove eight of my shotgun were American bought and beside something irked me about having to recheck weapons.

The Canadian custom agent was a no nonsense girl with blond hair blue eyes and I was home free until I mentioned my biz was hunting. I was told to pull over and I saw a large man well dressed in uniform puffing gleefull on a pipe. Hell I hadnpt see a pipe smoker in 20 years and I told him how wonderful it smell. He was going to be my custom agent and we got along so well that within 10 minutes and a $25 fee I was past heaven gate.

Sept 17.

We spent our first night 0ut of the Great Basin in a one casino cow-town called McDermit. The hunting dogs, Belle and Fe, were aired, lightly feed and put to bed. I was tired but excited at how the "mean green machine" was performing. The diesel Ford carried the large Lance Camper without effort. I do not deserve such gifts from my wife and eldest son but they keep me happy.

Tonight was cold that night and I scrambled to find covers around 4:30. Belle was curlied tightly below and will need high protein feed to grow back her fall/winter coat for th upcoming water retrieves. Belle is another gift I do not deserve. She is always there faithful and never moody. Fe
, the German is a funny dogs filled with good intentions, avid and very hunter but seems never to be engaged with human but adores Belle. Fe sleeps upside down in her keenel. She is a most even tempered dog.

I come off the Oywhee to Boise via Caldwerll. Everyone raved about Boise but what a mess with sprawl all along I-84. Stopped by the new Calelas store to see a fast aging Jack Dudley. Had to leave Boise in a hurray up to fish Silver Creek near Ketchum/Sun valley. Hemmingway loved this Big Wood River Valley where he wrote in the morning hunted and fished afternoons and drank all evening. He loved the fall especially duck hunting the Silver Creek.