What Happened?

We’ve been pretty swamped around the yard recently and I’ve neglected both my blog and others that I post to - but given the choice of hunting or blogging, I’ll take hunting. The following is a “pass along” newsletter article from the Pointing Dog Journal, which seems to really apply to me right now.

Pass Along PDJ

October 09

What Happened?

by Steve Smith

Okay, it’s the middle of the season. The weather has moderated from early season hot to chilly — cold, even, if you live where I do, halfway to the North Pole.

You started out the season shooting fairly well, getting sharper as time went along and the chances multiplied, same as you have for decades. And then, you hit the slump — can’t buy a hit — and your dog’s ready to leave you for a younger man. What happened?

Well, it has happened and will happen again to me; as you read this, I may be in the middle of my 2009-2010 slump. When it does, I like to start off by blaming somebody else, because I know it can’t be me.

It’s the dog’s fault. Early in the season, my dog isn’t in the sort of shape I’d like her to be because, even though I run her every night after work all spring and summer, I only do it for at the most an hour at a time. Of course, I hunt a lot longer than that when the season starts, so Sam paces herself and stays fairly close. As the season progresses, she hardens up, and the cover thins so she can stretch it out, sometimes too far.

At this point, it’s not just the dog, it’s the birds’ fault. They are jumpier because they’ve been hunted and the cover’s thinning out; they don’t hold like they did on opening day when they were young and stupid and not as fully feathered and muscled as they are now — right in my wheelhouse. The dog is pointing them a long way off because she’s increased her range, and sometimes the bird moves before I get into decent range (I know — it’s the trainer). So the shots are longer, the birds faster, I have to use tighter chokes that are harder to hit with, and it’s not my fault.

Of course, it could be that it’s the weather’s fault. It gets colder as the season goes on. So what happens? I move slower because I’m cold — at the same time the birds are getting faster and wilder and the shots are longer because my dog doesn’t hold them close like she did early on. I have to bundle up, which makes gun-mounting less uniform; maybe my gun doesn’t even fit me when I’m dressed like a Siberian border guard. It’s not my fault.

Whose fault is it, then? It could be some combination of all of these, but depending on how long we’ve been at this, it just may be the calendar. Most of us, being both victims and practitioners of human nature, look for reasons/excuses when something we used to do easily becomes increasingly difficult. For the aging gunner, it’s worse — a lot worse. We’ve talked about this aspect of our sport before, but a recent random survey indicates that none of our readers (nor, I should add, the editors) are getting any younger. Our average age is starting to push 53 — f-i-f-t-y  t-h-r-e-e. This pretty much, unfortunately, mirrors the hunting population at large. Maybe not that age, but in the process of aging.

The full article “What Happened?” by Steve Smith appears in the upcoming November/December 2009 issue of Pointing Dog Journal. If you are a subscriber, stay tuned! That issue will soon mail!

If you are not a subscriber and would like to read the rest of this article, request an issue right now! If you do so by November 25th, you’ll receive the issue with this article in it! You can request an issue by following the links below or by calling 1-800-447-7367 if you have questions. Make sure you tell our circulation representatives that you’d like the November/December 2009 issue!

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