Tuesday, October 2, 2006     Well here we go with another hunting season. Today I hunted alone and took the old dog Timmy to a place locally that usually holds a rabbit or two. It was 45 degrees out under clear skies when I arrived at the place we'd hunt and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day. It was nice to get out even though I figured it might be hard to find a bunny to run, given the heavy foliage and the fact that bunnies are pretty spread out around here this time of year. But it was nice to get out anyway. Last season I was getting really tired during a hunt and seriously out of breath just walking through the woods. After the season I changed doctors and medical community discovered that I had cancer and was critically anemic from a loss of blood caused by the cancer. In early July I had surgery that successfully took care of the bleeding problem and later I went through two one week long treatments for the cancer at Mass General in Boston. And my war with the cancer isn't finished yet so we'll see how it goes.
So just getting out with the old dog was indeed a pleasure. We didn't find a rabbit to run and after a couple hours of walking around I got a bit fatigued so we went home. Nevertheless it was a good day just me and the dog under heavenly blue skies.

Friday, October 6, 2006     The alarm was set for 2:45 A.M. but I beat it's ring by ten minutes. I held reveille on the 3 kids who were making this hunt with us and they rolled out of the sack at bit slow after a short nights sleep. The three were Christopher and Daniel two of my grandsons and Joshua my friend from the Church. We were to drive to Reggie's place, and then trek north from there to meet up along the way with Neal Smith and Wayne Mathews who we hunted with last year. We arrived at the hunting area a bit after 8 A.M. under clear skies and cool weather. It was frosty out in the early morning as we drove north but the air was warming up quickly as the sun got higher. We decided to hunt the 3 males we had with us first; Timmy, Chase, and Reggie's new dog Spike. Spike is Mr Bill bred both sides and we figure that he'll make us a pretty good hunting dog. We hadn't hunted this place for a couple years and hoped for the best as far as finding game was concerned. We worked the hounds over some familiar territory but it took quite a while to get a start. Finally we got one going and the hounds packed up close together and ran real well. We were in some fairly tight cover but the grasses and ferns made seeing the hare difficult. Each dog took his turn in the front as they ran to overtake but not with the over competetiveness style displayed by the modern day trial dogs in this area. There were a couple shots fired at this bunny about forty minutes into this run by Daniel and then by Reggie but the fur ball kept running. The run did swing my way a couple of times but all I saw were dog tails. The hare ran some small circles in tight cover and after a fashion I got a quick look at him but not long enough to offer a shot. Two circles later I nailed the hare in the same spot I saw him a bit earlier. All the hounds came in as a group to the dead hare with "Chase" a half a length ahead of the other dogs. All the dogs got to sink their teeth into the dead bunny and "Spike" got in on his first kill ever.
We worked the dogs some more, but the starts came slow after a whole lot of walking around. We got a couple other rabbits, and picked the hounds up running on another when we found ourselves in a really tough old cutoff with a number of blow downs, thick grass and ferns. One of our chases ended up with a lost rabbit for one reason or another and that can happen but we really expect to have ZERO lost rabbits on any kind of bare ground hunting. We quite a bit early in the late afternoon after we hunted the two females "Nynah" and her sister "Hannah" a couple hours with "Chase", but never got another start.
We got to the home of Cliff Belland a good fried of Neal's at just about dark, and this is where we would bunk for the night. Cliff is a"registered Maine guide" and an avid hunter/fisherman. His home is beautiful and sits in a wooded area overlooking a small pond and surrounding fields. The walls of his place adorn some pretty good looking trophy bucks as some can be seen in the photo on the right. Cliff has hunted many of the great hunting areas in western Canada and some of these bucks are huge. After the hounds were cared for by the kids, we sat down for a spaghetti supper thanks to the efforts of Neals wife who made the sauce for it. Neal did the prep work cooking the spaghetti and he provided the bread and brownies and soft drinks etc. etc. etc. Every body pitched in cleaning up after and before long it was time to hit the hay. We had sleeping bags to roll out on the floor and it wasn't long before the kids were zonked out.
Though the rabbits came slow we all had a great day in the woods under sunny skies, warm temperatures and colorful foliage.

Saturday, October 7, 2006      The boys roll out of bed veeery sloowly this morning after all the hiking we did yesterday. We had a full moon last night under crystal clear skies and radiational cooling set in pretty hard. There was a heavy frost this morning as the temperature fell into the high 20's. The three kids were given the chore to take the dogs out of their boxes to relieve themselves and sure enough none of them dressed for it. After that chore was over they redressed a bit more toward the comfortable side. Cliff had gotten up ahead of all the others and he made a pot of coffee for us more senior citizens. It took a bit longer than normal to get going, but as soon as we said BREAKFAST AT DYSART'S, everyone got moving with a bit more authority. Dysart's is the best known truck stop in Maine and is open 24/7 and features a menu you can't beat with a stick. You won't walk away hungry from a Dysart's made breakfast. Order pancakes and you'd best pick the short stack, eh' Danny!
By the time we got done eating the sun had come up high enough to effect the air temperature some and the frost was melting pretty fast. That is good for us as the wet dew would help the scenting on the heavy cover of dropped leaves. We were going to hunt a new spot today; an area we hunted last winter. It was decided to run the two girls NYNAH and her sister HANNAH along with Chase since the girls never got a run yesterday. We cast the hounds and the walking once again began. It took about 20 minutes before CHASE started doing a bit of cold trailing. All these dogs are great hunters but when rabbits are few and far between you do the best you can. After a fashion he got it going into a run and the 2 girls harked in. The dogs drove real well with no let up and wouldn't you know it headed back toward the road we drove in on and on out of hearing. On the radio people asked can you hear 'em; where'd they go? Mel Stewart would say "Over Yonder" ya right! All we could do is head out toward where they went and listen. The "Tracker" monitoring the collars the dogs had on told me they weren't all that far away but still out of hearing. After we adjusted our positions we located them in a thicket running steady. Oh what SWEET MUSIC there was to behold on this beautifully colored autumn morning in crisp cool air. Most reading this thing know what I'm talking about.
Well this bunny was pretty good at hide and seek as the critter only offered us guys a glimps or two of his hide and shots were fired several times with no effect. Minutes rolled off the clock and it took about a hundred and fifty of them minutes to pass by before his life ended in a blaze of glory with the hounds running well right down to his brown carcass. This would be the chase of the trip as the bitches along with CHASE did super, running this hare relentlessly to the kill. As it turned out we would do a whole lot more walking for another rabbit before getting another run. After a long period of time we got another hunt going and the girls did big once again and the rabbit died. We hunted our way back to the truck without a start, and called it a day. WHEW; what a tough hunt this one was! It'll be better next time!

Thursday, October 19, 2006     Tony Famiano pulled into the driveway around 11:30 A.M. and shortly after that Steve Mayo pulled in behind him and thus began another hunting trip north. Tony had driven up with a rental car so we headed out in a two vehicle caravan to the airport in Portland to turn in the rental. After that little detail was done we settled back in my truck following the compass needle fixed on north. We were to meet up with Johnny Waldron at his dwelling tucked away in the fir trees several hundred miles from where we began. John was still out fishing lobsters when we left and it would not be until 8:45 P.M. before he joined us at the camp. John had some left over lobster traps he wanted to tend before the trip so business came a bit before pleasure or otherwise we could've all traveled together.
A coffee pot was quickly set up over the blue flame of the gas stove and the stories began. We chewed the fat for an hour or so then turned in for the night. The weather forecast was not good for the morrow???

Friday, October 20, 2006      We got up early as is fashionable the morning of the first hunt and that eagerness can dissipate fast after a full day in the bush, or is it the ageing process that dulls the senses? Anyway the cook was at it bright and early and pretty soon the aroma of coffee coupled with the scent of bacon, eggs and home fries filled the air. The wood stove was roaring and the weather outside was indeed frightful. RAIN RAIN and more RAIN!!! YUK, YUK and more YUK. I just hate hunting in the rain. We loaded 4 dogs for the first hunt. John had a young male by the name of Jack and a female "ALLIE". I had two females "Ruth and Hannah".

The dogs were cast into some heavy confers and there was loads of moose sign all over the place. We were pretty confident that none of these dogs would run a Bullwinkle but you never know about the young dogs like Jack and Hannah. It took nearly 20 minutes to get a hare going and the dogs were soon packed together and running steady. I stayed on the road and the other three hunters John, Tony and Steve hit the water soaked spruce trees. I followed the run that was going parrallel to the road and away from the parked cars, then I cut in toward the dogs. But pretty soon the hunt made a big turn and headed back toward the place we started from and crossed the road not far from the trucks. I called everybody on the radio to let them know where the dogs were and before long the guys came to the road and got in the woods where the dogs went. About thirty minutes later John gets a shot at the hare and drills it dead center. The rabbits came pretty good where this chase had taken us and more run-n-gunning took place. It was a nasty place to get around in so I told the guys if the hare ever decided to cross the road to let him go so we could continue hunting where there was better visibility. A bit later, a rabbit; one who could easilly have been shot, did decide to cross the road, we let him go as planned, and he then took us for a merry chase. The minutes ticked off into hours and though shots were fired many times at the hare, he kept a going until finally he ended up in the game bag after a very long and thrilling run. We were soaked; so it was decided to head back to camp and change clothes and get some other dogs to share in the hunting.

At camp we got dried out and got a bite to eat, all the while discussing our next plan of attack. What we decided to do was take three dogs to a cover and just let them run for fun. We took my old dog Timmy and ran him with John's two males Red and Clint. Right off the leash, Red opens up near the truck and another chase got underway. We watched the trio whiz that bunny back and fourth across the road a number of times then decided to just leave them running and take a drive to the "MATT CURRY" camp set up some miles away. Mr Curry sets up a large tent every October and a number of his friends bunk up there for varying periods of time enjoying the great outdoors. As it turned out nobody was in camp, so we just looked around then headed back to the hounds. When we returned the dogs were still running well and after some 3 hours of running they were caught as they came sailing across the road once again.
Back in camp everybody pitched in doing something. The dogs were all fed and watered and then the rabbits cleaned; as John took care of supper. Supper would be a lobster bisque thanks to John's kindness in bringing for us 10 over grown "CRAWDADS" to boil up into a savory tasting specialty. John invited his friend Fred who lives just down the road from the camp, to join us for supper. Fred spent many of his working life as a Maine Guide in theses parts and ran many of the Sporting Camps in the area years ago. It was interesting listening to him tell of some of his lifes experiences here in the North Woods.

Saturday, October 21, 2006      It rained very hard most of the night then the winds came in at a relentlees pace of 30 MPH with gusts to 45MPH or higher. We certainly didn't do well with the weather on this trip. But hunting in the Maine northwoods is unpredictable and not at all easy for the most part. Whenever you go afield with your best hounds you always run the risk of not returning home with them. But so be it, as the BEAGLE is first and foremost a hunting dog and he/she proves their worth in the unfenced environment chasing rabbits in a manner that causes the hunters to fire their guns at the quarry, often and all the day day long until the day is done! Anything short of this is make believe!
We roust out of bed this morning a wee later than yesterday and at a slower pace. The coffee pot is a percolating and the sausage, home fries, and eggs are in the cast iron. The hunting camp is awake! A great breakfast is once again gobbled down and in a while we're in the trucks heading out with the intent of shooting some "Bun's" over the three males. The wind is horrible but we give it a go anyway and in a while there's a rabbit up and running. It doesn't take long for the hounds to be out of hearing and we maneuver ourselves in places where we figure he'll come back. And sure enough the dogs got back to us running steady in some pretty tight cover. It took nearly two hours to get this critter dead and about eight shots out of our thunder sticks. After this bunny died we moved them to a more user friendly cover, in that even though it was tough seeing in, it was better than where we had been before. We got another start real quick and the dogs pounded as did on the other hare. Because of where we were, we could hear the hounds better even though the winds were horrible. We ran run-n-gun style for another four hours then picked up when the last bunny died not far from the trucks. And still the wind HOWLED! Everybody pulled the trigger a number of times and Tony managed to fill his creel once again, as usual. It was a tough day in the woods and the drive back to camp was a pleasure after getting some heat in the truck. All day in 39 degree temperatures with steady 30 MPH winds gets chilly after a day in the woods.

Sunday, October 22, 2006      We didn't have to scurry around this morning since we didn't have to hit the road until 9:30 A.M. But we managed to get up reasonably early so we could help John split some wood before hitting the road. Once again "CHIEF COOK JOHN" was heating the skillet for another great breakfast. It was a super nice day out with little wind and sunny skies. Wouldn't you know it, a two day hunt in miserable weather sandwiched between some very nice days. No guarantees about the weather when you came up here and this is nothing compared to what it will be in January and February. After breakfast we took a few pictures of John's family of hounds all "BUCKSHOT" bred then we got the wood split before packing the truck for the trip back to Portland so Tony could make his flight back to Pittsburgh Ok. Overall it was alot of fun in spite of the weather and I can't wait until we hit the woods again; "LORD WILLING".