AWESOME Photo!

So there we were, deep in the heart of South Dakota pheasant country chasing roosters with our dogs.



We were working a large section of public walk-in land north west of Watertown.



Our good friends, Los Hermanos Castaneda, were working a tree line ahead with their dog Quell.


Souris and I were making our way through a low spot full of cat tails.


Lisa was following along a ridge-line with her camera taking shots of the action.

As we made or way across the field, Lisa heard the sound of something running behind her. At first she thought it was one of the dogs that had somehow doubled back and was now trying to catch up.

When she turned to see which dog it was she was stunned to see a MASSIVE BUCK, running full speed across the plain, between her and the tree line to the south. Her first reaction was to let out a blood curdling scream which stopped everyone in their tracks....everyone except the buck that is. He turned on the afterburners when he heard the deafening squeal. Luckily, Lisa's second reaction was to point the camera at the running beast and squeeze off a burst of shots with the 200mm lens. The buck was running so fast that she only got one good shot before it disappeared into the cattails.


And what an AWESOME shot it was!!
That was back in November. Since then, Lisa has reminded me every day that the most AWESOME photo of the entire season, was her shot of the buck.

Reluctantly, I have to agree.

Please feel free to comment on Lisa's AWESOME photo to let her know just how AWESOME it is.

Felix et Souris au lit

I dusted off a few old negatives this afternoon and ran them through the scanner. This one is of Felix and Souris napping on our bed. Feels like I took it about a hundred years ago.

Felix et Souris au lit

I dusted off a few old negatives this afternoon and ran them through the scanner. This one is of Felix and Souris napping on our bed. Feels like I took it about a hundred years ago.

White Out in December

Most of the 2007 hunting season was fantastic. The August pre-season warm up went very well. September was a treat. October was an exhilarating marathon of friends, fields, grouse and gundogs. November was even better.

Then came December. Snow, cold, more snow and wind put an end to the season very early on. In fact our first hunt of the month ended up being our last....but what a hunt it was!!

I was joined in the field by my friend Francois who recently moved to Manitoba from France. He and his son Xavier, and Xavier's buddy Russel came along for their very first hunt for ruffed grouse over pointing dogs. Francois hunts pheasants and partridges in his native Picardy but had never hunted in Canada and had never seen a ruffed grouse. Xavier and Russel, teenagers still learning the ropes, were also eager to participate.

Also with us that day was a friend of mine, a very talented young photographer named Dustin Leader. A graduate of my photography school, Dustin is quickly gaining a national reputation for his reportage style of photography. He mainly covers social issues for major newspapers but also finds time to shoot personal projects. One of those projects is a body of work he calls "Point and Shoot". It is an exploration of hunters, dogs and their relationship to nature. Dustin has followed me and other hunters in the field on several occasions and has take some of the most interesting and creative images of the hunt that I have ever seen. His unique style, his genuine curiosity and above all, his brutally honest approach to the issues can be seen in his images.

We all met in an area I call Liliwoods. It is named after my wife Lisa who has fond memories of hunting there with Felix, our first dog . It usually holds a few birds, but being so late in the season, I was not very optimistic that we would see many. Nevertheless, we knew that we would have a nice day afield, and I knew that Dustin would get some great shots.

Well, it turned out that it was not just a nice day in the field, it was a GREAT day in the field. In less than two hours, Souris pointed 11 ruffed grouse! The birds were in tight cover, shots were tough, but we did managed to bag a couple ruffies. And sure enough, Dustin got some fantastic images in his unique style.

And that, in essence, was the sum total of the hunting we managed to do in December; one very memorable hunt, captured by a very sharp eye.

I've posted a gallery of recent images from the ongoing project "Point and Shoot". The first half are shots of Jean Francois Behro and his braque de l'Ariege and of Christophe Oriou and his Weimaraner. The photos in the second half of the gallery, images 25 and on, are from the hunt at Liliwoods described above.

Enjoy!

Hibernation...and Progress

The older I get, the harder it is to find good things to say about winter in Winnipeg. But I must admit that there is nothing like a nippy -30 and three feet of snow to motivate me to sit in front of the computer and write. So in an effort to stave off the winter blues, I’ve put my nose to the grindstone and completed another two chapters of the gigantic book project.

I think I can now see light at the end of the tunnel. I’m looking forward to yet another visit to Europe this spring. Armed with cameras and laptops Lisa and I will be traveling to Spain where I recently found out about two more breeds I need to research, the Perdiguero Galego and the Ca Mè Mallorquí. Then it is off to Portugal, France, Italy, France again, Germany and the Netherlands. I just hope I don’t uncover any more breeds to check out while I am there!

Past the Half Way Point

It snowed today. It wasn’t the first snow of the year, but I think this is the stuff that will stay till March. And with the snow comes a realization that the hunting season is well past the half-way point. There are still a few days left in the deer season and we can chase grouse until just before Xmas. But after that, the only quarry on the menu will be jack rabbits in January and then the long, long off-season.

Looking back, I can say that it has truly been an outstanding season. We will have many great memories to keep us warm over the winter. In fact so many of those memories where caught on film, that I had to divide the “Hunting 07” gallery into several smaller galleries. I’ve decided to present them month by month and update them as the season progresses. To have a look click on the photo. Then click on the photo(s) for the gallery of the month(s) you’d like to view.

Enjoy!