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 “Vacation” means different things to different people. For some it is sandy beaches and ocean waves; for others it’s camping by a gentle stream and still for others it is skiing down a snow-covered slope.
For the last few years, vacation has been the deer woods or bird fields for my husband, Gary and I. Unfortunately, in North Carolina the quail are gone and the grouse are hard to find so we have had to travel far afield in order to hunt truly wild birds. Last year we spent a week in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with plenty of wild grouse and our two German Short Haired Pointers, Katie and GJ. The experience is always rewarding and we use it as much for training purposes as for the hunt. It is a joy to watch the dogs put all their training together and actually enjoy the hunt as much we do. The woods were beautiful in early October and the weather was great. It was truly an experience that words can’t justify.
This year we spent a couple of days in Central Iowa, again with the dogs but this time on a pheasant hunt. We hunted with Raccoon River Outfitters, www.huntinfo.com/rro/, Dave and Beckie Wolf and their families went out of their way to show us a great time.
We arrived in Iowa to beautiful and unseasonably warm weather in the high 60’s. After a great breakfast we hit the fields. Pheasant hunting was a new experience for us and the dogs. Since we “train and play” in a grass field at home, Katie thought that was what we were there for. It took a few birds flying up before she understood what we were doing. She couldn’t pass up any low lying branches as she has learned that is where most grouse tend to hide. G.J. however thought all this was great and took to the pheasants like he had been doing it all his life. He found, pointed and retrieved his own birds. We managed to get a couple of hens to fly and harvested a great rooster our first day.
 Dave told us at supper that the hunting the following day would be better due to a cold front that was coming through that night. Watching the local evening news we discovered a winter weather advisory had been issued for the area we were in. When we stepped out of the lodge the next morning, were we ever in for a surprise. Where the weather had been sunny and warm the day before, we now were faced with rain, ice, sleet, snow and freezing cold weather along with 35 mph winds. There is nothing like being both cold and wet while you are hunting. Gary and I decided to brave the weather and hit the field. Both the dogs came out of the truck and looked at us as if to say, “You want us to do what, when, where? Wouldn’t it be great to have nice, sensible people who know when to sit at the lodge?”
The birds were flying much better than the day before so we just couldn’t quit. We made frequent trips to the truck to dry our gloves and face masks. The dogs gave their all and we managed to come home with a couple of nice roosters.
During our “vacations” Gary and I have relearned a lot of things that we forgot somewhere along the way. We have reconnected with each other. We have learned to laugh again, with and at each other. We have learned to talk to each other and we have learned how to listen again to both the spoken words and the unspoken. We have also learned it is okay to say nothing, we can enjoy the quiet together. Hunting has allowed us to grow together and to be stronger for the experience. We can never give back what we have taken from our experiences in the woods and fields and for that we are truly grateful.
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