ness

Had to google that one!

Clearly you're gonna be 2 boat family. Or 3.

Yeah -- we did the trip , BilletHead. Thought of you when I saw the sign.

It's kind of a bittersweet upland bird season coming up. We had to put our older Brittany Molly down back in May, and this was the first real trip without her. Our 5-year-old male, Max, doesn't have as good a nose or as much experience. His first few years he mostly just followed Molly and let her do the work, but he would back pretty well too. Now that he's on his own it's easier to see his characteristics. He's a good hunter with lots of energy; he hunts in pretty close and checks back often. He's willing to go through the thick stuff -- especially if I'm in there with him. He's a little impatient on the point but he knows 'whoa' and will listen -- usually. He's pretty good at finding birds -- dead or alive -- but he doesn't want to retrieve. I haven't worked with him as much as I should -- partly because Molly carried the load so well and I didn't expect to lose her so soon. Anyhoo -- the bird estimates from about everywhere this year have been poor, with 25 to 50 percent declines reported in Missouri, Kansas and South Dakota. I wanted to get Max out solo onto some birds before the season, so I took him up to a hunting preserve run by a guy I know (Mike Eckman in Baldwin, KS) a couple weekends ago. It kinda sunk in with Max what he was supposed to do (genetics and instinct more than good training), so that was good to see. We had a property lined up in Atchison County, MO for last Saturday and I was getting stoked for the season -- even though the expectations were not exactly high. Molly always followed me around, and she could read me to figure out what was coming up. I would start gathering things for a trip to the local off-leash area and she'd figure it out -- even when I consciously tried to be sneaky about it. She would look me in the eye waiting for confirmation, then when she got it she would go nuts jumping, spinning around, barking, bumping me, etc. until we got in the car. When I pulled out the hunting bag, or opened the gun safe, the jig was always up with her. She knew what that meant. Friday night when I headed to the basement, Max was right with me as usual. I purposely grabbed my vest first, because I knew it would have the scent of birds from the weekend before. Max got a little excited, then buried his head in the game pouch and inhaled deeply. When he pulled his head out he had a few feathers on his face. He wasn't going bananas like Molly would have, but he knew something good was coming. I had had some good fortune at work that week, and decided I'd finally buy a Garmin GPS/training collar. I needed to get permission from the missus, and I knew I needed to act before the good-fortune glow wore off. She was on board, barely, in large part because she knows there is always a risk of losing HER dog (a seed I had strategically planted sometime before and mentioned periodically). Friday night I grabbed the last Alpha collar at Cabela's. At home I fumbled around with it for too long, like I do whenever I get a new electronic gadget. But hey -- It WAS cool to track Max all the way to the end of the driveway. We were up early Saturday for the 2 hour drive to the farm near Tarkio. Max, who had been confused the night before when all the excitement of getting packed up lead to nothing, bounded into the kennel in the back of the car before I even got the words 'kennel up' out of my mouth. That was a good sign, because Mrs. ness routinely takes him places in her car, and he rides up front. With me he typically stands next to the passenger door with the 'Hey, get that for me, would ya?' look, and about half the time I relent. The drive up there is always pretty nice. For a long portion of it you're driving in the Missouri River flats. The topography changes to rolling hills as you move away from the river, and it's some fine looking country -- made even prettier in the early light of the day. The farms up that way look prosperous and well-kept, and the crops (mostly corn and wheat) grow in terraced fields interspersed with lots of waterways; there are very few pastures. It reminds me a lot of the Driftless Area. The roads up there are true 'dirt roads', and there had been some rain. At the farm I could tell by the tracks that just one car/truck had been down the road recently, and they had dug in pretty deep. I was a little nervous heading down the road at first, but momentum was my friend and I made it fine. We got there a little after sunrise -- later than I had planned, but I wasn't worried about it: I knew we had the place to ourselves for the entire day. I've had pretty good luck with pheasant and quail on this property in recent years. The property is 160 acres, with about half in CRP and the other half in crops. A creek runs through it and adjoining properties, so there's a lot of cover around. The property to the south is CRP as far as the eye can see. If there are any birds left in MO, they ought to be here, right? As for crops, everything is coming out late this year, and this farmer hadn't started cutting his corn yet. Good for the birds, not so good for us. I got Max set up with his collar and he stayed with me while I got my stuff together. Then we set out into the CRP on the side with the breeze in our faces. 80 acres is a lot of acres, and walking through the thick stuff, up and down hills, means I take a few breathers along the way. One of the benefits of hunting alone is there's no timeline. We hunted pretty hard for about two hours and didn't see a bird. Max got birdy several times, and went on hard points a few times, but nothing flew. Its hard to know if he was pointing a mouse, or the spot where some birds had been, but I'm optimistic it was the latter. We stayed out of the corn. We circled back to the car and I pulled out a chair and some water for both of us. Max got treated to a couple Slim Jims. I occasionally smoke a pipe, so I settled in for a while and enjoyed some Astley's 109, in a pipe that belonged to my dad, while soaking in the beautiful day and scenery. After a bit I drove over to Bilby Ranch to take a look around. There were a few cars in every lot, and some campers at the campground, but I didn't see anybody in the fields. It didn't look too crowded for the first Saturday of the season, but I think a lot of folks have walked away from bird hunting the last few years. Man, that's an upland bird paradise right there, but the pessimists of the world would probably interpret the reports differently than I do. We headed back to Tarkio and grabbed some Chester Fried gizzards and strips at the gas station, then headed back to the farm. When I got out of the car I felt like the Tin Man (needing the 'oil can...oil can'). The stiffness wore off pretty quickly though as Max and I headed into CRP down by the creek. That part of the property has the kind of stuff that is really hard to walk -- head high, thick-stemmed, seed-podded whatever with the occasional thorn bush waiting for you. It was so thick that several times Max bounded into a spot and was stopped in his tracks. But, he kept at it for longer than I did -- I headed for the edge after about 100 yards of that stuff. That's what dogs are for, right? After some walking the stuff thinned out to where it was bearable. Max got a little birdy and started looking for something behind and to my right. After a while I couldn't see or hear him, but the Garmin told me he was about 30 yards away. I stopped to watch and learn, and a few seconds later a single rooster got up about 80 yards away, flew across the creek and into the corn. I raised my gun but didn't bother to take a shot due to the distance. I think Max was too close to me to have bumped him. So much for stupid, tight-sitting, early-season birds. Just like always, you figure if there is one there's a chance there are two, so we zig-zagged that area for a quite while without any luck. By the end of that Max was pooped, and although I was good to go for another several miles/hours, we called it a day. So, if you stuck with me this long in hopes of a picture of a tailgate covered with dead birds, or some fantastic ending, I'm afraid this has been a disappointment. But, hey: there's another day in the beautiful outdoors in the book, and I'm certainly content. I think Max is too. He's got a couple solo trips under his belt now, and I think he's got good potential. We go to central KS this Saturday and MO again on Monday. This should be his only solo year, because we've got a pup that'll be ready to go by next year. To me there's always a helluva a lot more to it than dead birds. Here's a coupla phone pics: Profile: CRP and corn beyond: Pheasant got up here, flew right to left. Max looking impressive, though not really doing anything: Molly a few years back: Molly, Max and Matt a couple years back: The future:

This all sounds good, but I gotta chime in and say BilletHead's goosestrami sounded awful darn good to me a few weeks back. Not a big waterfowl eater though -- it usually needs a lot of marinade and/or seasoning for me to like it.

From what I've read and heard access in Europe is far more restrictive than what we're used to here. (No surprise there I'm sure.) That, and limited time to figure things out, would lead me to a guide for sure. But, honestly, I'd probably only fish if I had time left over after taking in all the history and culture and family.

Welcome to the forum. I checked out your site, and those are some really cool & unique nets. Good luck with your new venture.

I don't do lead anymore -- bead on fly or shot on tippet. I usually tie them pretty small.

Never been in a Beaver, but I've always wanted to fly in to fish in one somewhere exotic. I think they're cool in part because there so dang well built.

Yeah, back when the Blue Angels/Thunderbirds did airshows at Richards Gebaur, the week before they'd be practicing around where I work. Once saw one go pretty low, on edge, straight down 71 Hwy for a bit. Perty cool.

oh -- and the Spitfire

Always liked P51 and P38 from the WWII era. My uncle flew reconnaissance in a P38 in the big one. I always liked the Piper Cub too: DeHavilland Beaver Liked the WWI planes too. Sopwith Camel

I love seeing the dog too. I haven't tried that with mine -- he's kinda high strung. Feel like I'd be on a dog watch saddled with a fly rod.

Cool, and -- why didn't I think of that??

Those are pretty cool.

Man, that's just sweet. Love the little creeks and wild rainbows.

Good stuff fellers.

Dang! Hope you get to feeling better soon.

Chiefs, baby. Jayhawks are pitiful, and besides, I write checks to K-State now.

Beano...twist ties...twine...baggies...toothpaste...deodorant...mouthwash...shoelaces...gorilla suit. Oh wait -- I already had gorilla suit.

I hear you on that, Al. What's the use? It's fall -- easily my favorite time of the year. Only problem is it's too short and there's too much good stuff to do. Gonna try to get my butt out to a hunting preserve this weekend and get my dog warmed up for the season. Next weekend is an annual family get-together at Roaring River, which I love doing, but I always sneak away a couple days early and fish elsewhere first. MO bird season is right around the corner, then KS. And football -- which is actually fun to watch this year...

I've never done horseradish, so can't offer help. I hang out over at idigmygarden.com forums too, and I think there was a recent thread on horseradish.

We've been getting some cold temps, but nothing too bad yet. Need to get the hoops up this weekend. Still have way more of the cherry tomatoes than I want or need. Two plants was the plan, but I screwed up on a label and ended up with three. One would be plenty, I'm sure. Other maters have been a disappointment this year, but I'm still getting one or two small ones a week. Great year for banana peppers -- pickled another 3 quarts last weekend. I've got two varieties -- the heirloom standby Sweet Banana, and a hybrid called Sweet Spot. Sweet Spot will produce 8-inch long, thick walled, perfectly straight peppers that are good for stuffing. Sweet Banana are smaller but thicker yet, and have a little better flavor. Still getting a few poblanos, Anaheims and red cheese peppers. Picked about 3-1/2 pounds of beans last weekend -- pole and bush. Beets are ready to be picked too. I'll be picking and pickling tomorrow. I didn't get any germination on the carrots I planted a while back, and the fall snap peas are looking like a bust (which isn't really a surprise -- rarely have good luck). I may start some more carrots this weekend. Collards are a tiny because I planted them in a spot that gets too much shade from basil and chard. I'm gonna pull the chard/basil out this weekend and put the collards under hoops, along with cabbage. I don't have the invisible fence collar on the new pup yet, so she's got the run of the yard -- including the garden -- and dug up about half of the radishes and some of the lettuce. I'll get all that under hoops too, and start some more. Still plenty of time for those.

Why bother? Just make sure your stuff has expiration dates after Jan 15.

I broke my self-imposed ban on listening to cable news for this special occasion. It was hilarious to hear the nonsense. Both sides making the exact same arguments as the other side: 'they won't negotiate'; 'they shut down the government'; 'they're acting for political reasons, not for the people'; 'we could end this today'; 'they're risking financial calamity...' Was there any doubt in anyone's mind that this would turn out just about like it did? (pssst. look ) We should all be disgusted with the whole group -- not just whatever side we lean towards. There appears to be NOBODY in DC that has the brains, clout, power, charisma, leadership -- whatever -- to lead this country out of the quagmire and towards more productive and prosperous times. Time to get rid of them all.