Black Mountain.
2c. SSW 1 gusting 3. Bright & sunny.
Down in Belfast the thermometer might have hit 6c but up on the hill it was 2c and with a wind blowing I’m sure the actual temperature would have felt more like -1c. Having said all that if you were well wrapped up, which I was, and were moving, which I also was, it was a lovely day to be out. It did worry me slightly when I could see the last vestiges of snow on the tops but I gave the ground a good tramp before taking Judy with me.
Judy, Jalad & Basso.
Each dog got two runs and they all did quite well.
I ran Judy first where I knew the ground would be, if not actually soft, at least not frozen. She handled really well and covered her ground methodically. There was however something amiss with her gait. It didn’t appear to be anything to do with her recent lameness, it looked as if her stride was attenuated. This was all explained when on the lead between runs she did a dump a baby elephant would have been proud of and in her second run she was much freerer. Her find when it came was at a distance. She had been returning from the right when she drew forward and pointed. While on my way to her she moved forward about another twenty yards and pointed again. The snipe was obviously running. Holding the other two dogs off her I sent her in and she produced the bird but didn’t drop. It wasn’t what I wanted but for the next few times I have her out I will make sure she is on her own or I have a dog boy. This was her first real run for some time so I hope there will be no after affects.
Jalad had two clear runs. He handled well and covered a heap of ground. He did point once but it transpired to be a haunt, I could see the droppings. He needs a bit of schooling to get him back in shape for competition.
Basso was the star turn, again. The only thing about him at present is that he is a bit full of himself but I can live with it for now if it means he can continue to find snipe for fun. His find when he took it was nice. I now know that when he points, just like his Dad, the bird will be there. He may feather around a bit before he stiffens but once he does it’s job done. He had the bird well pinned about five feet in front of him and was as steady as a rock when it flushed. He really is very steady as bringing Judy and Jalad in beside him, actually touching, didn’t encourage him to break.
Basso’s second run was down wind. While careering down wind at pace he whipped round in his own body length and pointed. The bird flushed no more that three feet in front of his nose and Basso went after it. It all happened so fast there was no point in blowing my whistle, he was gone. Basso is maturing physically. He is muscling up particularly around the shoulders and there is definitely more bulk about his rear end, not that it ever looked weak. If I can get him a few more finds I will then take his control in hand but now, now that I have confidence in his ability to find and point game I want it become almost commonplace for him as well.
Good outing, might go this afternoon as well.
Last edited by Des O'Neile on Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:26 pm; edited 1 time in total
Black Mountain.
2c 1 - 3 SSW.
Make hay while the sun shines, I don’t think so. By the time I got back to the hill the high clouds had started to gather from the west, obliterating the sun and it was a lot less idyllic than this morning. Still it was dry the whole time I was out even though showers were in plain view.
Chris and Jalad.
Ideally I wanted to run them singly but Chris hasn’t been in the wide open for some time and it took him a while to get going so I ran them together to spur him on. Within a couple of minutes they were doing fine and since they were handling well I didn’t see the point in splitting them up. I ran them up over the shoulder and down into the Big Valley and yes it was a bit of a cheek wind but they both coped admirably. The find when it came took me by surprise. Even though they were running at the same time I was concentrating on Chris and he was doing quite well. Except for the habit he displayed in the past of messing about round you when he returns to the centre of the beat. He was doing it again today. Well I had Chris going quite nicely and Jalad was out of sight on his lawful occasions. I sent Chris to the right and he disappeared from view but I knew I would see him again soon as he had entered a dip in the ground. When he didn’t reappear I walked that way to look for him and found Jalad on point with Chris backing about thirty yards away. When Chris saw me he closed the gap to about five yards. Even though Chris didn’t actually steal the point I have always regarded this situation as a stolen point. Yes in Ireland you get away with it as long as your dog doesn’t actually pass the dog on point but in my book it’s still been stolen. Anyway I sent Jalad in to flush and he moved forward about twenty yards and pointed again. Chris moved as well but kept behind. I sent Jalad in again and this time he worked methodically forward about another twenty yards and the snipe flushed at his nose. He didn’t drop to the flush but to my whistle. Later on while working down wind back to the car I believe I saw the same situation again at a distance and then another time Jalad was pointing on his own, again at a distance so it looks like he had three finds.
At this stage a shower seemed to be heading my way and I left the hill at pace. It didn’t start to rain right away but by the time I was down in Belfast light rain had started.
All in all I got a fair bit crammed into the day.
Black Mountain.
2c. WNW. 1+. Extremely clear and bright sunny afternoon.
This was an extremely frustrating afternoon as the bright low sun and the wind direction meant that for long periods I was operating by sound as when looking into the sun I was to all intents and purposes blind.
Basso, Bess & Jalad.
It isn’t Bess’ fault that she hasn’t been out much recently but after nearly managing to get herself killed on the road she had a good blow out. I didn’t let her off the lead until I was maybe a hundred yards from the car which was parked at the roadside. She ran on ahead of me and had a dump but when she was finished she ran straight back to the car and dodged around it like she had lost me or was scared of me. I reckon she couldn’t make me out in the low sun. I can assure you that the airport road is not a place for a dog on a Friday afternoon. All I could do was walk away and call her and eventually she responded. After that she tore about at breakneck speed and seemed to enjoy herself.
Once again Basso found a snipe. In fact he might have found three but looking into the sun I couldn’t see any bird for the first two. I have sufficient confidence in Basso to believe him when he points and as he hasn’t let me down in the last few outings I’m not going to bad mouth him now. The third one was right on the button. He pointed within a few yards of me and when asked roaded straight into the wind to produce his snipe and sit to the whistle.
Jalad was the star turn. He had no bird but his run lasting no more than fifteen minutes was perfect. He took the same bit each time, about thirty yards, I was able to let him go just out of sight on either side as he was turning on the ” P “of the peep and he was going full tilt. Jalad is a strange big dog. Most dogs you would nearly like them to look at you just so you know they are in touch but with Jalad,apart from the fact that he probably wouldn’t look at you, you just know when he is in touch. He just seems to exude togetherness, or not. Well more often than not just recently Jalad has been on a joint mission and when he is in such a mind set he is both easy and a pleasure to be with.
This was a rather disappointing afternoon. I like to be able to assess what my dogs are doing and just couldn’t today. I have to say that the way Basso is finding birds is pleasing but it can’t just be luck. Conversely it is disappointing that Jalad hasn’t had a few finds especially after the way he covered his ground today. Hopefully his day will come……soon!
Black Mountain.
2c. WNW. 1+. Extremely clear and bright sunny afternoon.
This was an extremely frustrating afternoon as the bright low sun and the wind direction meant that for long periods I was operating by sound as when looking into the sun I was to all intents and purposes blind.
Basso, Bess & Jalad.
It isn’t Bess’ fault that she hasn’t been out much recently but after nearly managing to get herself killed on the road she had a good blow out. I didn’t let her off the lead until I was maybe a hundred yards from the car which was parked at the roadside. She ran on ahead of me and had a dump but when she was finished she ran straight back to the car and dodged around it like she had lost me or was scared of me. I reckon she couldn’t make me out in the low sun. I can assure you that the airport road is not a place for a dog on a Friday afternoon. All I could do was walk away and call her and eventually she responded. After that she tore about at breakneck speed and seemed to enjoy herself.
Once again Basso found a snipe. In fact he might have found three but looking into the sun I couldn’t see any bird for the first two. I have sufficient confidence in Basso to believe him when he points and as he hasn’t let me down in the last few outings I’m not going to bad mouth him now. The third one was right on the button. He pointed within a few yards of me and when asked roaded straight into the wind to produce his snipe and sit to the whistle.
Jalad was the star turn. He had no bird but his run lasting no more than fifteen minutes was perfect. He took the same bit each time, about thirty yards, I was able to let him go just out of sight on either side as he was turning on the ” P “of the peep and he was going full tilt. Jalad is a strange big dog. Most dogs you would nearly like them to look at you just so you know they are in touch but with Jalad,apart from the fact that he probably wouldn’t look at you, you just know when he is in touch. He just seems to exude togetherness, or not. Well more often than not just recently Jalad has been on a joint mission and when he is in such a mind set he is both easy and a pleasure to be with.
This was a rather disappointing afternoon. I like to be able to assess what my dogs are doing and just couldn’t today. I have to say that the way Basso is finding birds is pleasing but it can’t just be luck. Conversely it is disappointing that Jalad hasn’t had a few finds especially after the way he covered his ground today. Hopefully his day will come……soon!
Co. Tyrone
High Cloud but bright. -.5c < 3c. Pleasant in the sun, cold out of it. Uncomfortable walking on the road due to ice.
The usual crew. This was Chris’ day but both dogs performed well and as you would expect towards the end of the season. These are far from dumb animals as their habit of getting round impenetrable fences the first time they come to them by going down into the river and up the other side shows.
I beat out The orchard to no effect. The grain I spilt last week was gone but there was little out of the hoppers.
Next I walked a field with Chris that we can’t shoot in, to push birds onto our ground. The second my head appeared over the hedge they made off on foot, about two dozen of them. I then walked a hedge that divides the field into two and flushed about another two dozen birds that all flew towards our ground. When it came to walking the ground that they went on to the result was predictable. The birds that flew had gone too far and the birds that had run had only run to the march hedge and when we did the edge of our ground they flew back onto ground we couldn’t access. Tam produced quite a few of these birds from the hedge and Chris had four excellent finds in the cover just away slightly from the hedge but about half didn’t present a shot and the rest would have fallen on ground we didn’t want to access so they weren’t fired at.
We did the down stream bit of the river walk next,working down stream for a change. A rabbit was shot in almost the same position as last week’s and at the end of the walk a woodcock was shot which was probably the one that Chris pointed up the tree last Saturday. A hen was shot that the gun couldn’t find and I went to help him look for it. You could clearly see feathers where it had fallen on the rocks of the river bank but we ouldn’t bring the bird to hand.There are a lot of crevices in this area and many piles of dead wood deposited by the river when in spate and we couldn’t locate the bird despite great interest from all the dogs.
After lunch we did the up stream bit of the river walk working up stream. The birds were mostly at the top of the bank in the thick cover but they started to flush earlier than usual and flitted across the river not offering a shot.
Chris lifted a runner that most have come over the river from where another party was shooting.
We next did the tributary and several birds were shot but none offered a shot to my gun. Next I hunted the rushy field and Chris had three great finds. Unfortunately the gun missed the cock and the hen but he pulled off a nice clean kill on a snipe which was much more difficult than either of the pheasants. Both dogs over ran it and I picked it by hand.
The Magistrates Garden was beat out and I was placed in the rushy field to watch where the birds went and to pick up if needed. Birds flew everywhere but eventually a hen presented itself. The gun fired and the bird was hard hit. It dropped about ten feet in the air but regained control and soared. Not the classic lung shot soar but the bird climbed steeply before folding up and falling from hight and landing with a thud beside a hedge made up mostly of whinns. To my amazement the bird ran off strongly into the whins. This was some distance away and it took me a minute of two to get to the fall. The dogs hunted hard along this thick hedge gradually working away from the fall. I saw the bird running strongly two or three times leading the dogs a merry dance. I was required to leave relatively early and decided I would have to give this one best but when I whistled I got no response from Chris. Moving off in the direction I had last seen him I eventually saw his tail sticking straight up in the air. The far side of the hedge was about five feet above my side. He was pointing down into a hole just below his feet in the bank. The hole was created by thick roots. There were in fact three holes. The one Chris was pointing into, another about a foot to his right and another in the vertical bank. Through it I could see the bird but couldn’t reach it. Tam then entered the equation by sticking his head down the other hole beside Chris. Tam was really straining to reach the bird. His back legs were scrabbling for grip but he just ccouldn’t get any purchase on the bird which in moving away from Tam made itself available to Chris. Chris had an awkward job as he had to lift the bird right up out of the hole by it’s tail feathers and in doing so Tam saw his chance and snatched the bird. There was no way he was going to give it to anybody else other than me. He attempted to jump down the bank to my level but got caught up in the hedge and released the bird into my outstretched hand as he did a head over heels onto the path. Without Chris this bird would have been lost but without Tam neither dog could have got it out on its own.
It would have been nice if the HPR opportunities offered by Chris had been taken and he had got the retrieves but the big dog did exceptionally well. I would say that the pair are at the very top of their game just now. I hope they can reproduce it next year as well. Chris is looking a lot like a hard working pointer just now. Whatever shooting he did in Denmark did wasn’t as hard on him as what he is doing now. There are scars he has collected this season that he will take to his grave but he just loves his work. I watched him crawling through brambles yesterday that many other dogs wouldn’t have faced and it is really unusual to see him on point with his body shrouded in brambles but his head sticking out of the cover. Some dog. If ever a dog deserved the description “Hard Going ” its old Chrissy-mint Yo-yo.
Beechfield.
Few things to do today. I forgot to take Coco for his second jag. I’ll have to sort that out. I need to clean out the big freezer as the last of the tripe is in the bin to be fed when defrosted.I need to weigh Roxy accurately for the Panacure 10% as she is near the fortieth day of her term.
I had almost forgotten why I hunt but The Chef is home again and last night we had :-
Croquette of confit pheasant legs served on a bed of buttered leek along with poached and roast pheasant breasts, roast vegetables and roasting juices. To follow pan fried pears with pear and cinnamon caramel sauce and a dollop of vanilla ice cream. A glass of Chilean Shiraz Pinotage washed it all down. I believe tonight it will be saddle of rabbit wrapped around apricots and wrapped in Parma Ham. It’s a hard life but somebody has to do it.
Black Mountain.
SW >1. 3 - 5c but feeling much colder. Bright and dry, but low sun made it difficult to see what was happening at times.
Basso, Chris, Jalad & Judy.
Each dog got ten minutes into the wind, and the sun.
Chris.
I know Ross found Chris’ antics frustrating and on reflection since this is something we know about he shouldn’t have been first up but he did the usual endless dumping at the start but when he eventually got going he did quite well. He was turning well and covered an acceptable beat, but only acceptable.
Judy.
Did exactly what it says on her tin. Ran like stink, handled a dream and didn’t put a foot wrong.
Jalad.
Empty Head did extremely well and there is nothing new in that but it was Ross that was running him and I was close by. The big dog covered his ground at pace and handled a dream.
Basso.
Basso and I ended up in The Paddock and as usual Basso was the one to have a bird on his beat. I suppose with him having done so well recently a mistake was overdue. He ran past the bird a yard or two, realised he had scent, cut back to get down wind of the bird but it was up, jjjjjjjust before he was down, so he flushed it. He stayed on and I worked him out just in case there was another bird but to no avail.
Ross then gave Jalad a run on the left hand side of The paddock but there was no bird for him and he turned back a time or two as well. Chris then got a run up the side of The paddock, over the wire, and whereas by now he was running hard enough Ross had difficulty getting him to go right.
We let the dogs run free down wind back to the car and as luck would have it two snipe were flushed while running down wind.
Dinner.
The rabbit was something else. The front legs were discarded and a mousse made of the back legs. The cavity was then stuffed with the mousse, spinach and apricots. The whole thing was wrapped in Parma Ham and poached before being finished off in a hot oven. Served with cassoulet mainly of cannelleni beans it was beauitful. However the restaurant manager, aka The Wife, has decreed no more game for at least a week.
Black Mountain.
3c feeling very cold. S maybe SSE at times > 3. Dull and threatening rain but in fact stayed dry.
Whole different feel to the hill today so the idea was one pair up the left hand side behind the quarry and another pair up the right hand side to the right end of the shoulder. Into the teeth of the gale.
Jalad and Judy.
Both dogs did their work well covering a lot of ground and more to the point the quartering was top drawer. Early on Jalad pointed and Judy backed. The only thing was that the bird, when it flushed, was a grey crow and a grey crow that wasn’t too clever, as it made off low across the hill, unable to face the gale.
Things got better for the two dogs later on as Jalad had a find that Judy backed again and then as Jalad was working out Judy turned away from Jalad and pointed another snipe about five yards to the right and ten yards further up the beat.
Basso and Chris then had a spin up the right side. The pair both missed a snipe that was in the middle of the beat, Basso had it for a second but he was running straight into the wind at the time and Chris had no chance of it because of his line. After this the pair worked well, even if they were a bit uneven, and eventually Chris had a find on the shoulder. Basso backed but he was behind Ross when the picture was taken. The bird ran about fifty yards from the original point but the big dog stuck with it and his manners on the flush were impeccable.
Yet again there were a couple of birds flushed while running down wind but each dog had an involvement with game and on a day like this you couldn’t ask for much more.
Breakfast.
Snipe breasts and bacon on toast for brekkie. Nice.
Sunday 1st February 2009
Black Mountain.
Chris has a large swelling on his left elbow. It doesn’t seem to annoy him but I have him booked in first thing on Monday morning to have it drained or whatever. Anyway I don’t want to risk aggravating it so he stayed at home, very reluctantly.
Ross and I took Jay and Conor and Barney the latter’s JRT. to the hill, the boys to act as dog boys.
Photo : Ross O’Neile
2c feeling very cold. E 2 +. Dull but dry.
Judy.
Judy ran the back of The Quarry. It soon became clear that it was too dry for snipe but herself did her ground well and handled well. Ross made the observation that she looked like a wee dog that couldn’t get warm. She did look rather restrained.
Jalad.
He got the length of the shoulder and apart from one back cast that was engineered due to poor timing on the turn whistle he was perfect. He was running, and even more importantly hunting hard and kept well in touch with Ross. Ross did drop him a couple of times to tighten his bite and he responded too, handling well.
Basso.
Like the others he covered his ground properly and in the main was responsive to the turn whistle and commands in general. However he did mess about a bit on scents. This dog is built to run but he also has an excellent nose, he just needs to learn to use it properly.
Photo : Ross O’Neile
The boys thought Judy was favouring a leg and even though I couldn’t see it on the hill I didn’t run her again.
I dispatched Judy to the car with the boys and Ross and I went off for another run with the dogs. They ran OK but the boys crossed our path with Barney who proved a bit of a distraction ( no fault of his ). It all got a bit messy but as usual Basso had a find, and eventually so did Jalad on that poorly crow that is hanging around the back of The Quarry.
When we got home Judy looked all right. Maybe when she’s cold it tightens up. Isn’t it typical, the first trial next week and all my open qualified dogs carrying so kind of injury or in whelp.
The season.
I didn’t get a last run out to dog for the guns. It suited them better to go on Friday and I just couldn’t go so unfortunately I didn’t get another go. As is typical we had just thought up another recipe for pheasant and could have done with another one. Just have to wait till next year.
Later.
Took Coco to The Practice for his first run. Worked quite well. He stayed about me and I was able to call him back when he went to go after other dogs. Several times I called him in and manually sat him at my feet. He isn’t phased by the wide open spaces and seems generally at his ease.
The Wee Res.
Took Coco for a walk. We didn’t actually circumnavigate the whole dam but we effectively did the same distance, which is quite a walk for a pup. Coco ran around quite freely and came when called or whistled. A couple of times I got down on one knee and called him in. Most times he tried to run past me but I can reach out and pull him to me. Well pleased with his so far when you consider that he wasn’t reared at Beechfield.
As well as the trials off this weekend because of snow there is no way we can get to the hill as we have a good couple of feet of the stuff on Black Mountain.
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