THE 2010 TRIP UP TO CANADIAN PRAIRES

I had many question after months of training our new pup, Tess. Sure, she was hard wired like the bunny in the battery adds with enough jets under her hood to hit warp speed, but could she sep out of the shadow from her older sister Fe, the Wirehair. In the end, she performed and exceeded all expectation. She out did, by leap and bounds, a 3 year old male lab who had show qualities but was "brain dead." I knew the pup was a quick study, could take a line, do a blind, followed hand signals and was forced fetched in days. How would she behave under combat stress, whistle commands, wily upland and icy water retrieves. It was time to put her months of training to test and so Tess, short for Tessarosa was to begin an adventure to make her a , "Super Dog."




Tess, was a 9 month female black lab. He older sister Fe, a Germain Wirehair, at nine, had seen every form of hunting from Canada to Arizona and was willing to share her wisdom with her younger sister Tess. We left on a warm sunny Nevada Fall morning. I decided at the last minute to try and make it up to Canada with the taking an Interstate. I headed West on my favorite road Highway 50 billed as the "Loneliest Highway in America."

My Lance camper sat comfortably on my 7.3 dually diesel Ford F350 Super Duty. I could haul a house with this machine and it would be my Waldorf for the next eight weeks with every convenience existential for a Prairie Safari. I arrived in Eureka late afternoon to talk with the Wildlife Commissioner who had engaged us to do a science review of The Great Basin Mule Deer herds. I loved the history and quaintness in Eureka. It was a classic "boom and bust" small Nevada town with lots of revenues from nearby Gold mines. Eureka was in a Boom while the rest of urban Nevada wolfed in depression after many fat years.

I had taken a very nice antelope nearby several years ago and central Nevada was a special place. I camped in town, after a Chinese supper hearing after much prodding that our Wildlife Commissioner was inches from being assassinated while serving in the foreign service in Honduras. Alls well and in the morning after a bagel and cream cheese from a local Mennonite cafe, I was off towards Ely before finally heading North to greet the migration


My next stop was in the Clover Valley at the base of the Ruby Mountain south of Wells. I meant a local rancher who had helped me find an elk several years ago. He was an avid hunter and was busy raising his family. He had some insights to what was happening to Mule Deer. We would talk further. He told me I would make it up to Twin Fall that evening. Still no Interstate

I would make it to Twin Falls that evening resting at the new Walmart. What a drive today! Eye candy with open vista so wide I never saw a Contrail. I was a blessed man with a new pup, warm weather and knew this year was going to be special.