Montana Duck Hunters Rejoice....

...season opens tomorrow. But with temperatures expected to soar well into the 80s it might not be too ducky a day, eh? No dedicated ducker by any stretch, I decided to fore-go getting baked and instead open the season early...And while we won't be dining duck anytime soon I did manage to nab a couple keepers...as always click pix for a larger view...

These blue-winged teal don't know how lucky they are...cuz presented a set-up like this well hell even I could hardly miss...right? Right!!!

Ain't never et a goldeneye...anyways no regrets this time around; actually damn glad to have the camera in hand instead...pretty nifty shot if I don't say so myownself...

Took some doing to finally get this guy to hold still long nuff to press the shutter and...well as you can see the pose could have been a lot better but as someone once mentioned an eye is an eye or...perhaps more to the point you can't win 'em all...

Then too someone once mentioned "even a blind hog finds a acorn once in awhile" To whit...sort of standin' on my head trying to focus on the wild licorice failed to note the two spiders...as I say...well hell...

 Like the bugs, not much a do 'bout duckin', just another nifty shot...'specially when you add in holdin' back Kate one hand workin' camera tother...I say way ta go Gale!

Big Hole Cast 'N Blast....

was, well, a blast. First cast in No Name Creek a real lunker brookie ate the Orange Stimulator I had tied on in deference to Gale--like the Orange beauty has been a favorite, actually her go-to fly for decades--who was herself tied up at the moment tending to Kate who was at the moment engaged in ferreting out yet another interesting scent...Anyway no boots, no camera handy, standing on a high bank, no way to get down to land the beast (in one piece anyhow) I did the next best thing and tried to lead it downstream--no dice, no witnesses except for Annie of course so there you have it. How big? Well pretty big especially considering the crick's rather tight living quarters but in actuality...like the man often points out this one we will just never know. I know, I know the beeg ones always somehow get away...what can I say.

Here are a few keepers of another sort...hope you enjoy 'em even half as much as we enjoyed living 'em...

24 chilly degrees this mornin'...

Nothin' I know gets the blood runnin' quicker than crawlin' into frozen wading socks and boots...

Not a bad way to end a long day of adventurin, eh?

Mule Ranch/Pintlar  Range is perhaps our favorite Montana vista...

Big wind set the Stewart Mountain Fire (a few days ago officially declared DIW) to smokin' big time...so much for 100% contained, eh?

Fly Fishing: Guide Wars Officially...

...kaput. I know, I know said that awhile ago but...A couple of days ago I did the last trips on the books and since it is already way beyond my usual Labor Day shut down...as someone once noted NO MAS!!! Or put another way I have netted my last trout for the season unless of course tis one of Gale's or mine...Nuff said on that, eh?

Summer also officially comes to a close on Friday and while I know won't last the past few days have really felt like fall. Fact is the past two mornings we had hard frosts, hard enough to effectively kill off most of Gale's vegetables and even most of her flowers. I hadn't planned on mowing the yard anymore this fall but thanks anyway. Tomorrow we are planning a short R&D camping trip into the Pioneers and if all goes well with Kate (she had trouble adjusting to camper life down on the Madison over Labor Day) we will head east to kick start the real bird hunting in a week or so. 

First stop will be somewhere in the Sweet Grass Hills where word on the streets indicate the prairie birds might have weathered last winter a bit better than further east..hopefully we shall soon see.

Wilson's phalarope, one of many shorebird species found in Montana

We also need to ramp up production efforts for our upcoming book "Birding Trails Montana" of which the first installment is due end of November...Yikes! Seeing as I've hardly made a dent so far now there is a really scary thought...But we should be able to knock out a bunch of included sites in between bird hunts so maybe just maybe will be able to get enough done to at least satisfy contractual obligations...sort of anyway.

Baneberry is just one of many, many fruits and wildflowers flourished from all that moisture this spring...should make for some fat, tasty bird dishes this fall, eh?

Fly Fishing: Ennis Fly Fishing Festival

I don't usually attend fly fishing events but when Gale told me our friend Tom Harman was going to be there tying George Grant style woven hair flies changed my mind. Tom, by the way, did not learn the art of weaving hair hackle from Grant but rather sat down one day and taught himself...As you will see in the attached photos he done hisself real proud...

Briefly he begins by preparing the body, (some patterns call for a "color back" others are "feather back") then stretches a doubled length of thread taught between two pins to hold the hair, then after selecting the appropriate hair, typically elk mane, badger, etc., which he stacks in a hair stacker he selects 5-7 hairs (depending on type) slips them between the thread strands, knots the hairs in place and repeats the process (some patterns require as many as 40 bunches) until he has sufficient length to wind as a hackle on the previously prepared body.

This is a feather back, sage hen feather in case you are interested, with a badger hair hackle complete except for building the thread head and whip finishing...it takes about an hour on average to complete the task.

The dry flies are even more tedious to tie or as Tom says..."If I charged 50 bucks for a nymph I'd need 100 for the dry." These two nymphs are color backs, the pattern derived from original Grant print outs which I believe Tom said were given to him by one of Grant's daughters after learning he was carrying on her father's traditions.

A Castin' and A Blastin'...Not necessarily in that order...

Off track sort of is this update of an earlier post dealing with the whacky fisher folk better known as "noodlers"...shouldn't surprise to find the activity alive and well in Okie country, eh?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/04/magazine/LOOKcatfish.html?ref=magazine

Gale reminded me today how remiss of late my rantings and ravings so...My excuse being free at last (sort of) from the trials and tribulations of the guide wars we taken advantage to instead kick start the bird season and of course get a little castin' in too. Admittedly the castin' has taken a backseat to the blastin' but hey, been quite a lull in the action for both us and the dogs so like what do you expect. Anyways here are a few shots should serve as proof we ain't exactly been settin' around twiddlin' our you know whats...

Kate might be blind as a proverbial bat but don't think for a moment her nose don't still work...Notice the lead Gale used to get her in the ballpark of this Hun covey...pretty damn nifty I say...

Annie I think approves of sharin' the bird findin' with sister but just to make sure no one gets the wrong idea she is quick to take credit if given the slightest opening...sort of a dog thing, eh?

Annie and your reporter cooling their heels on a really too hot afternoon for chasing Huns...actually we decided enough already upon running into a rattler whilst chasing Huns...nuff said on that nasty subject...

On yet another track there seems to be more "nice" (no this is not a trophy size muley, not by a long shot) bucks (whitetails especially) around than usual so in the interest of honest photojournalism been trying to capture a few as proof...alas most mornings while no problem to see bucks the majority are far beyond range but I'll keep trying and you never know might even get lucky...

Bird Hunting: Opening Day...

...As mentioned yesterday our opening day tradition is to hunt our "secret spot" for blue grouse and Huns up high in the No Name Mountains. Instead, for reasons still not entirely clear, we headed to another Nameless Range and...Uncovered a veritable spruce grouse bonanza. Annie hunted good, pointed a bunch and...Well given we ARE talking the most foolish of fool hens, a point does not necessarily result in a flush, at least not the sort I care to shoot at...So we flushed a bunch and finally got a couple to fly off in somewhat true grouse fashion, i.e. NOT flutter to the nearest limb and...Well while I would not care to make a habit of gunning down the most foolish of fool hens...It twas fun, especially watching Annie in action. Best thing though even ol' blind-as-a-bat Kate managed to get in on the action despite being on lead the entire time...For us the high point of the operation, by the way...Our hope all along has been as long as she is able to get around to get her nose full a bird scent as often as possible...Come to think on it can't hardly beat "most foolish fool hens" in that regard...Go get 'em Katie girl...

Grouse goodies, such as these currant berries, were everywhere...

...and so were the spruce grouse, aka Franklin's grouse, aka fool hen...Albeit many were youngsters we did manage to flight a couple mature birds...

...such as this pair...The main ingredient to what should be a fine game dinner some evening soon...A little red wine, perhaps candlelight...OK maybe we'll skip the candles this time around but you do get my drift...Of course you do...