tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383589609323438103.post5676477826642188511..comments2023-05-11T02:42:18.400-07:00Comments on TUCKERS CHUKARS: Snake avoidance.Tuckers Chukarshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16333552244956684494noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383589609323438103.post-50496368220232950822020-06-12T20:13:50.440-07:002020-06-12T20:13:50.440-07:00"Keep going to those places you ought not unt..."Keep going to those places you ought not until your legs won't carry you there anymore. Part of our love for the outdoors is the unknown."<br /><br />That's very true. And having started out going out by myself as a kid when there was nobody else to go, but certainly taking my hunting companions when I could, I'm too acclimated to that to change. At 57, I'm still in really good shape (I'm often shocked by the bad shape of my contemporaries), but I'm definitely not as spry as I was even at 47. And I'm crowding the age my father passed and way past the age that my grandfather did. I'm probably one of those guys who will meet my end out in the field.<br /><br />I've hunted all my life but this is the fist hunting dog I've ever had. My wife always wanted a dog and my going out into rivers and the like to retrieve birds myself was one of her claimed motivations for getting him. He's a great dog and while he's really hers most of the time he suddenly becomes mine if I starting getting the hunting gear out. He's been great and I'm really glad we got him. Had he not made it, I'd be living in the garage. He's really added to the experience and I love to take him.Pat, Marcus & Alexishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13097254988446524947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383589609323438103.post-5953721323555184382020-06-12T16:02:48.358-07:002020-06-12T16:02:48.358-07:00P,M and A. Until this year I thought snakes had a ...P,M and A. Until this year I thought snakes had a lot of smell. Now I wonder. We too have seen a lot of snakes this year. Most have been bull snakes on the road since I can't get out into the brush quite yet. I'm glad to hear that your bird dog came out of the experience alright. Especially since it was also your wife's prize possession. If she is anything like my wife I'd be still hearing about it today if anything had gone worse.<br /><br />Keep going to those places you ought not until your legs won't carry you there anymore. Part of our love for the outdoors is the unknown. But, as I have found, it might not be a bad idea to carry one of those life saving devices to let someone know you need help. I often am told I shouldn't go out alone anymore but I also know that one of the reasons I love being where I end up is because I was by myself (and the dogs), setting my own pace and not worrying about anything else but me and the dogs.<br /><br />Sometimes you have to experience it to understand.Tuckers Chukarshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16333552244956684494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5383589609323438103.post-41998564483350062522020-06-12T05:54:42.318-07:002020-06-12T05:54:42.318-07:00My bird dog, and my wife's darling and prized ...My bird dog, and my wife's darling and prized possession, was bit by a rattlesnake last year.A very scary experience, to say the least, which resulted in my high speed, for a Jeep, race into town and to the vets on a Sunday. Fortunately, he came out okay.<br /><br />He was bit on the face and lost a bunch of fur there, which spread down his side. It grew back in a different color, but oddly has turned back to what it was. Anyhow, it was there that we learned about rattlesnake vaccine, and he's just been to the vet for his booster.<br /><br />I'd note that there's been a lot of water snakes around this year for some reason and he hasn't taken any notice of them while we're fishing. Maybe snakes don't have much of a smell. We were bird hunting when he was bit, in a very brush era, and it makes me shudder to think that I'd fallen into a deep (as in five or six feet deep, hidden dry ditch just feet from where he was bit. My not being bit was, I'm quite sure, an example of the Divine looking after the foolish. Like Maclean's character in A River Runs Through It, I tend to go places alone in my autumn years where I probably ought not to.Pat, Marcus & Alexishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13097254988446524947noreply@blogger.com