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photo by Toby Swank |
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Mike Quartararo |
All of us who have experienced a good day afield with dogs working and birds flushing feel anticipation as each fall bird season approaches. Leaves start to fall, the temperatures starts to drop and memories of wonderful times spent outdoors with friends and dogs enters into the mind. The question is: How do you make time to get out there as much as possible?
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I’m new to this, painfully new. I just completed my Hunters’ Safety course this past summer and had only aimed a shotgun at clays. I had no plans of coming home with a ringneck, but the possibility had me excited on the dark drive to our meeting spot before dawn. When I pulled my truck to the parking area on the side of the road, I was greeted by what I would learn would be the classic pre-hunt scene. My friends Steve, Tim, and Tim’s son Holden were outside their trucks, talking with coffee in their hands and Steve’s dog, Cayenne, lunging at the end of her leash. I was an emotional concoction of excited and nervous. I kept it to myself that I hadn’t felt this way since Prom Night. This was a whole different dance though, and the borrowed 20 gauge would’ve looked awkward with my teal dress from high school.
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Photo from the Orvis Archives |
It is very rare when we get the opportunity to hear the inside story about one of the great fishing-tackle legends. But this is exactly what we get with William H. Jordan’s new book Jordan the Rodmaker: A Biography of Wesley D. Jordan at Cross – South Bend – Orvis. Wes Jordan needs no introduction to anyone who has done any serious fly angling. Maker of incredible (and ahead-of- their-time) fly rods from 1921-1926 at Cross Rod & Tackle at Lynn, MA, Wes Jordan moved to South Bend, Indiana and set up the rod shop for South Bend Tackle Company, which he ran until 1938, producing upwards of 5,000 rods per week. In 1939 he moved to Manchester, Vermont…
Read MoreI had to put Ol’ Rupe down the other day. It was really hard – harder than I had imagined. I guess the guy had curled himself around my heart tighter than I knew. But I also knew that with Ol’ Rupe being 14 1/2 years old as an English Pointer that this might be his last autumn, so I flew him out to Montana at the end of August to spend the glorious month of September to accompany me on days afield and astream.
Read MoreThe cottonwoods in the Big Hole Valley are on fire, the brown trout are copper colored and spawning; it must be fall. We ended our season at Craig Fellin Outfitters & Big Hole Lodge fishing hoppers, small mayflies, and streamers. The mornings have been frosty and the fishing gets better as the day progresses. For the past few weeks we have been fishing at mid-morning and staying out late. On the great days the tricos were thick in the sun and the blue winged olives came off when the clouds rolled in. On the marginal days…
Read MoreFished out of Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge today. Up before light, even though out West the norm is to start about 9 or 10 AM. It’s hard to get out of Eastern habits that go back thirty years, so Gary and I are sipping coffee by the stone fireplace at 6:30 AM. Hubbard’s Lodge is perched up on a ridge in the Tom Miner Basin of Montana’s Paradise Valley, and at first light the Yellowstone River down below wends its way north out of the Park, lit up by the early sun…
Read MoreCome autumn, I have the best job in the world. As a bird hunting guide for PRO Outfitters in Central Montana, I spend 28 days a month with my dogs walking rolling hills under a big sky, looking for wild sharptail grouse, Hungarian partridge, and ring-neck pheasant. My dogs are ideal co-workers: every morning their eyes light up when they see me, and they can’t wait to get to work. Bird hunters know that few things compare to the bond you share with your dog in the field. And nothing compares to watching your young pointing dog gain confidence, put the pieces together, and finally “get it.”
Read MoreMost dog owners get very excited when they get a new puppy or dog and really do not take the time or do the research to understand the dog food options that are available to them. If you are picking up a puppy, you most likely have a brief conversation about food with the breeder and maybe walk away understanding how much food you need to feed your pup and how often. Your focus is on developing a relationship with your new pup and introducing your pup to its new environment.
Read MoreEver since Orvis began selling guns in the early 1970’s, when we introduced the Orvis Wingshooting Schools, we’ve offered custom-fitted shotguns along with our completely handmade side-by-side shotguns. The custom-fitted shotgun program, unique to Orvis, provides the shooter a gun built to the shooter’s individual measurements. These measurements are taken by our skilled gun-fitters to insure your gun fits your specific build perfectly and, most importantly, shoots where you point.
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