A Fine Day In The Desert

[Ponderosaman]

I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t care much if I kill animals on my hunt. Certainly, that’s what I come out to do and that’s the goal. But hunting is like my church where it’s just me and God’s great wilderness. I started my day in a place where I’d seen other hunters and last week heard a guy get a shot, but after hiking up and down some rolling hills, I found myself on a ridge looking out at the horizon. Soon a couple on horses passed by in the canyon below and I thought that this spot is better left to the riders and walked back out, to move on to my regular spot. When I got there, there was a woman on horseback that was there to look for a buckskin that had ran off. I asked her if a gunshot nearby would spook her horse because I had met a covey of quail around a short ridge on multiple occasions. She said that if it spooked her horse she hadn’t trained him right. I headed around the ridge and the birds decided that they didn’t need to cooperate with my plans and weren’t where I’d seen them before. Since I’d not had any luck yet, I decided to hit the trail hard and head to a canyon a mile and a half away that has water in it. Halfway into my hike a covey exploded 30 feet to my left. Immediately, I was off and running. As per usual all 20 birds had disappeared, but from experience I new they were nearby. I headed hard to the hillside knowing that they would fly as soon as the flats ended and I was right. Three birds crashed out of the yellow grass for the safety of the hillside. I swung and my shotgun went by itself to the shot picture. For me it’s like I’m reaching out my arm 30 yards away a grabbing the bird from the sky. WHAM! The bird dropped. I hurried over and had to make a steep climb to where it fell. I looked for that thing for a half hour. I think it ran after I fired. I didn’t see the tell tale puff of feathers that is typical of a truly effective shot. I headed out and didn’t see any more birds, but enjoyed some vistas and wonderful weather.