Yesterday afternoon, my son and I went for a long tramp in the woods. It has been a very windy fall, but finally had a day that was calm and mild. We loaded up the pup Freddy (Bear) and went looking for birds, turkeys, grouse, woodcock or whatever we could find. After walking several miles, we located a flock of turkeys, called to them but couldn't close the distance as they flew across an old impassable beaver dam. Our scouting revealed where they had been feeding heavily, about a mile north of where I had been hunting them previously.
We hunted back towards the vehicle, and located a flock of woodcock less than 100 yards from where we had parked. Hunting with a muzzle loader adds a level of excitement to a hunt, after firing at a quickly rising and erratic woodcock, you realize (with some surprise I might add) that you are shaking with excitement and adrenaline from the experience as you try to reload....the old gun needed some exercise and it was a joy to watch a pup doing what it was born to do...
