A Page For The Birds

Rather than picture-dump here all Spring, I've created a new page dedicated to my bird photography. Go check it out. Click HERE

It's Just In Her Blood

Long before I ever got a bird dog, I had a fellow bird dog lover share some wise words of wisdom with me,

"You don't teach 'em how to hunt, you just teach 'em how to hunt for you."

I understood what he meant. A dog either has the drive to hunt or he doesn't. But I never realized just how strong the desire for birds can be until last night while I was watching a turkey hunting show on the Outdoor Channel:

Now if only her drive to stop chewing up my socks was as strong as her drive for birds...

One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Feather

Have you seen that new fad in the hair-styling world? The one where they use feathers as hair extensions?

Well those special feathers are typically used to tie flies, so hairdressers everywhere have recently been raiding fly shops and have bought them all out. Simple economics says that when demand is high and supply is low prices sky-rocket, and such has been the case in this instance. I had a bunch of these feathers that I bought for $40 dollars years ago, and I just sold them on eBay for $315.00.

I took that money and bought, among other things, a new training collar for my new hunting companion.

Speaking of my new little pup, she's not so little anymore.

She has a ton of energy but I've been trying to put it to good use.

It's hard to own a puppy. If it's not your shoe it's something else.

A couple of months ago she and Rudy found this in our backyard.

I thought the whole "play dead" thing was just a myth. Turns out it's true. I took this picture, came back outside after I showed my wife, and it had crawled away. Hopefully never to return.

Chapter Two

October 1st - Chapter 2 from Dan Felix on Vimeo.

I don't mind the killing part of hunting when you actually get to use the animal you kill. But it makes me sick inside to wound them. Thankfully I really don't think this deer will die. He'll have a sore muscle for a little while, but deer are resilient as evidenced by the bigger buck that limped by that morning with a leg that had obviously been broken for awhile. Probably hit by a car. Sad.

What a day. What a hunt. I'm glad I passed up those little bucks and does on opening morning, and who knows what I have in store for me the rest of the hunt. Stay tuned.

Opening Day 2011

Here is a video about some of what I've been up to lately. It's 16 minutes long so put it in full screen mode and grab a coke and some popcorn.

Opening Day 2011 Video from Dan Felix

It was one of the best opening mornings I've ever had. Two days later while sneaking into my stand I ran right into the bigger buck at only 15 yards away. He and I had a short staring contest before he blew his nose at me and took off. I was worried that I scared him out of the county, but I checked my trail camera yesterday and found him again. He's a small buck, but I take what I can get on public land, and he's the biggest I've found.

And he wasn't alone in the woods that night: