All dogs go to heaven, but paradise is right here: 2012-2013 Post-Bird Hunting Season Wrap Up

Now that all the little rascals have gone to ~~bed~~ be with their new parents we have a little time to breathe and take a quick re-cap on this past hunting season for us Brits. Mama was pregnant but nobody knew until most of the way through the season when she started to swell up like a fuzzy little balloon and began to waddle around. It didn't stop her from going though! Mama's gotta hunt!

If anyone asked we'd tell you we live for the hunting season. When that special time of year rolls around Fiera takes to sleeping inside the crate while Hermes, her hubby, guards her from on top... ready to go at moment's notice.

Bending that roof all of out sorts with his muscle-toned manly man's body of manliness...

WHO SAID BIRD?!

Sorry, false alarm.

We love to range throughout the fields where the pheasant hide and right up to the cliff faces where the wild erkel roam, taking a breather at the points where windshears tear their way up between the rocks. Kaena Point is sort of a rough place to travel; dry and rocky and sometimes filled with angry cows.

Fiera tells me this is one of her favorite spots to stop and scent for erkels.
She'll usually flush one out of there just below her feet.

Or just trot along with one of her humans.

The rest of the ground is more hilly and precipitous with grass and stone crumbling away in steep grades on the sides of brief flats and rocky bowls. Only the manly men tread here.

Hermes, manly man extraordinaire, prefers the cliff faces and will bushwhack and hunt up any runners with his boundless enthusiasm. If there's a pheasant cackling or turkey gobbling or erkel... doing that horrible squawking, you can be sure it's probably him nipping after their tail fathers... One of his favorite activities is flushing birds but he has to be kept in check because his favorite hobby is literally flushing all the birds no matter what or where.

Another favorite activity is cornering mongoose.
Please to not be touching the mongoose, sir!

Or trying to figure out where this human is going next.

Sometimes that human doesn't know either...

Wifey sometimes chases mongoose too but tends to prefer watching seabirds (especially the Laysan Albatross)

who spent much of the latter season flirting and wheeling in the sky. This is girl's only club time.

This year was especially dry so the cows in the pastureland were getting somewhat aggressive because they all had babies and were so very thirsty. You don't want to meet an angry cow in a narrow brush alley.

You will lose.

The Moofia cometh and they brought friends. It's not the cows you see that you should fear
but the big ones with horns hiding in the bushes behind you that you should worry about.

When the cows get too burly for our fuzzy little hides we take off to new ground; this time where the little greys like to hide! And the occasional erkel and pheasant, but this time mostly greys.

The rocks are bigger here but the ground is more praire like.
However the grass does disguise a lot of rocking and rolling ankle biters sure to make you faceplant.
At least the grass is short enough due to the drought that we can actually be seen this time.

Fiera has highlights in her ears during hunting season! It's one reason I can never bring myself to cut her hair.
Look at that cute face~♥

Ears are hot!

We run pretty hard so we also crash pretty hard during hunting season and like to cuddle when it gets cold.

Baby it's coooold outside!

Towards the end of the season the sky becomes even more interesting.

I tend to look to the sky when I should be looking around for birds... Unfortunately.

Heavily pregnant Fiera on one of her last trips right after flushing a pheasant cock which we picked up.

SQUIRREL!

And when she was forced to stay home it became mostly a boy's only club.

Plus me.

Who is not a boy.

I'm pretty sure.

Hermes drinkin' all the water in the trough!

This is his thoroughly watered face. X3

One of our last sunsets at Kaena for the season.
It's a little bittersweet.

Our last green day at the other place. The grays were running that day and flushing far.

And Hermes worked hard but had a good last run.

We don't normally keep all our birds or take photos so our normal count only goes by our collection of pheasant bands which isn't the most accurate since the other birds are unbanded but here are a couple of Hermes's birds. Make Mama proud!

Our first time going on opening day (afternoon) and we picked up a Chukar. It's in the flower pot and Hermes and Fiera were willing it to come to them.