Sprint To The Finish

This is the last week of upland bird hunting season here in Nevada and I will be taking at least one day off work this week so that I can get a few more days in the field before it is all over. Usually my annual pattern is that I am kind of worn out and relieved when the season is over, then two weeks later I am ready to cry myself to sleep at night because the realization that I am something like 7 months away from bird hunting again has set in.

I have been wrestling on and off the majority of my life starting at about 10 years old. I love one on one competition, and I can’t image a more pure form of it. In the last 8 years I have been training extensively in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which is a form of submission wrestling, and Saturday I was promoted to black belt. So, that is my excuse for not hunting.

Sunday I hunted one of my all time favorite spots, and it was a letdown. My buddy Darin hunted with me and we knocked down some birds, but I was really expecting a lot more action than we found. We had a great time anyway though. The dogs got in some good bird work and they will sleep well today, so I am happy with that.

I have found more new places to hunt quail this year than in the last 8 or 9 years combined. I think that the forecast Wednesday is for a good quail hunt. Peepers beware...

A pretty nice view, if you ask me.

Between Porter and Cash, they don’t let very many get away… Porter found this cripple in a creek bed under this big boulder. (You can see the birds tail feather in the far back.) With a little prodding from a long stick I was able to get the bird to run out of the little cave, and Cash was right there to snatch him up as he was trying to get under another set of rocks.

Jay Kincaid