North – again

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The weather isn’t going to cooperate forever (in fact, the remnants of Noel are supposed to scream through tomorrow), so we went back north to the covers today.

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I hunted Boone for just a short time – turned him loose in a pocket cover with Dinah. He goes to it with a will, but when we circled back to the truck after 15 minutes, his legs were shaking. I sat down on the ground next to him and we just relaxed for a bit.

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Tamarack (aka The Larch per Python, Monty)

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Janey was wonderful. She can be frustrating – she’s field trial stock and wants to range too far for the kind of covers we hunt. If she doesn’t find birds as quickly as she thinks she should, her urge to range and self hunt grows – thus the e-collar she always wears. But, and it’s a big but, what a nose! What staunchness! She’s one of those dogs that will not release from point if you haven’t flushed the bird she knows is there. If I go in and tell her “OK” and she doesn’t move, I know I need to kick around a bit more – and be ready. She ran one big cover for an hour and a half today. Her final flourish, as we got back to the truck, was to lock up on a bird. I was 150 feet away – not too bad – it was reasonably open – and as I started towards her, a grouse went up to my left (Janey was at 2 o’clock). “Oh, crap”, said I, “the bird must have run.” She didn’t move. I kept walking towards her and a second grouse went up right where she indicated. As I swung on the grouse, I heard a woodcock go up – Janey had managed to line on the 2 birds and not bump either. I never saw the woodcock – only heard it – but I did see the grouse (yum).

The cover, just before it opened up for Janey’s last find (those aspen/poplar/popple are about 1 1/2″ in diameter and 1′ to 3′ apart):

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Dinah has come a long way in two working days. When she first hit the ground Wednesday, she was working on defining “gamboling”. By her second cover today, she was moving pretty smoothly, using her nose (she’s not sure exactly what smell is the most important, but she know it’s one of those scents) and when she bumped her last woodcock, she spun and threw a flash point. I love watching a puppy figure out birds – there’s a fit there that is sublime – the world’s best key clicking into a damn fine lock. Not to get too full of myself – let’s end on a lighter note. There are a lot of moose in the woods where we hunt. You’ll never confuse their droppings with deer turds…

Up North

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I took a day off yesterday and went north to where the pa’tridge (ruffed grouse for non-New Englanders) and woodcock, she run free and wild. When I’m bird hunting, I’m not thinking deep thoughts; one of the many things I love about it is that I’m paying attention to the moment – the dog, the cover and occasionally the bird. So… nothing earth shattering to report – some pictures interspersed with some smells.

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New fallen leaves. Smokeless powder.

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Wood smoke from a distant stove.

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Peat bog funk (very different from salt marsh funk – another fave).

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Goldenrod crushed underfoot.

I wonder if Christopher Brosius at I Hate Perfume could put together a Grouse Woods scent? Anyone who knows me, knows that I am anything but metro- (the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’ comes to mind), but some of the smells he puts together? Burning leaves? At the Beach 1966? In the Library? Hmm…

A few additional pictures (there should be more along soon) on my ‘bird hunting ’07‘ Flickrset.

Happy Halloween…

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…from Miss Halloween New Hampshire 2007.

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I spotted her this morning, tending her clutch of eggs in the autumn sun. The spiderlings need to get a move on – we are supposed to get a couple hard frosts this week.

Halloween movie recommendations (yes, I know, you didn’t ask):

And a picture of New England fall foliage:

Mr. Big Stuff

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Air. I recently finished William Gibson’s latest: Spook Country. A bit part is played by the Hook, a Soviet-era heavy lift helicopter. I’ve long been a fan of the American CH-54/S-64 Skycrane – I built a plastic model of one years ago (you could run the winch line up and down by rotating the main rotor) and I find it’s minimalism appealing.

S-64 in firefighting mode – a shout-out to my friends on the West Coast.

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I have to confess total ignorance when it comes to big Soviet/Russian choppers, but not to worry – the Google can help! While nosing around for info on the Mi-6 Hook I found another great Soviet heavy lifter. Before we go there, though – the Mi-6 is big!

If you still doubt the size of this machine, consider this – the Mi-6 can carry twice as much as the largest American helicopter, the CH-64 Tarhe “Sky Crane” – in fact, it’s capable of lifting a Tarhe. The accompanying sign said that it had often lifted MiG-17s and MiG-21s; the Vietnamese would conceal their aircraft in servicing areas in the jungle and airlift them to a roughly prepared field for takeoff, then return them to the jungle afterwards. Most remarkable perhaps is the Hook’s ability to transport up to 120 people when it’s in its high-density seating configuration!*

Even larger and much more bizarre (therefore, cool in my book) is the Mi-12 Homer prototype. Two main rotors arranged transversely (left and right, rather than the front and back we’re used to) each powered by two engines. According to Wikipedia, the rotor/powerplant combo was lifted directly from the Mi-6 (get it? Mi-6 * 2 = Mi-12). Choppers start off as improbable objects – add in that Russian air thing (think ekranoplan) and you get:

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Land. I’ve been wanting to post on this bit of gorgeousity for a while. I’m very partial to the union (set-wise) of Africa and Garratt. Having grown up on a diet of Big Boys, Challengers and the like, Garratts are strange, alien and – you guessed it – way cool. How do I love this steam engine? Let me count the ways:

  • Beyer-Garratt 4-8-4 + 4-8-4 – the largest locomotive ever built for 50 lb (light!) rail. Meter-gauge!
  • May have crossed the bridge at Tsavo (in my mind, it certainly did)!
  • Shares a nickname with Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell, who used a 7×57 (among other light calibers) on elephant.

The Kenya Uganda Railway No. 87 Karamoja:

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Beautiful model (be sure to click through and check out the 3-D view):

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Not Karamoja, but a Garratt at Tsavo:

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Sea. Via the Telstar Logistics blog, a pointer to John Konrad’s thoughts on the Pasha Bulker incident report. The Pasha Bulker ran aground June 8, 2007 on Nobby’s Beach, Newcastle, New South Wales (if you don’t know where New South Wales is – I’m not going to name the country – spend the rest of the day with an atlas, please). New vocab word for the day – hogged – and an incredible Flickrset. The gCaptain blog where Mr. Konrad’s post appears looks like something I’ll need to visit from time to time.

The title of the photo is “Correctly parked”.