Hayde and Hunting

Well, Hayde's big lump in her neck is much better. There's just a small lump now and I think I can still feel the quill. We set up an appointment for her to go back to the vet Monday since the quill didn't come out. They decided it was doing much better and didn't want to sedate her and open her up to take a look so they sent her back home with another two weeks of antibiotics. I'm just concerned the quill is still in her and I don't want it to migrate and damage anything else inside her. So, I'm keeping an eye on it and we're still hoping it'll work it's way out. In the meantime, Jeremy went off hunting to the same spot as the other week on Thursday. He went out with someone else from work. They came home with 4 ducks and split them. Unfortunately, later that evening, we noticed Hayde wasn't putting all her weight on her one front paw and we noticed a HUGE sliver sticking out. We tried and tried to gab it with a tweezers to remove it but didn't have any success. It obviously hurt her since each time we tried to remove it she screamed. Poor pup! Finally, Jeremy got her in his arms and held her down while I took a nice thick pliers and grabbed what I could and yanked. I managed to get it out! However, with closer examination, we thought it looked like yet another quill and it looked as if it broke off so we aren't sure if anythings still stuck in her paw pad. But, it doesn't seem to bother her anymore so I don't think there's much we can do.

We had a busy weekend hunting. We went out for most of the day Saturday. We headed down Barron Canyon road and started driving down one of the smaller road paths. Before too long, I noticed something on the edge of the road and sure enough, there was a grouse! We all watched it and Jeremy then decided he should try to get his gun from the back seat and get out and load it. He did all this really slowly and thankfully we didn't have the green jeep as it's doors creak really loudly. He did manage to grab his gun, open the door, slip out, unlock his gun and get it loaded and shot. As soon as the gun went off, Hayde jumped into the front and out the door to retrieve it. That was a fairly easy one! We proceeded to drive on. Eventually, we turned around.

We then stopped at a spot we've hunted before and where Hayde's flushed several grouse. This time, we got out and walked thru the woods. Sure enough, in a similar spot to some of the other trips out, Hayde flushed a grouse. Jeremy shot and sure enough, hit it somehow between the trees. Hayde ran after it and retrieved it. We continued to walk thru the woods for a bit, but didn't have any other luck.

We then drove on just a little and stopped at a lake/pond that was along the main road since just as we were driving by, we happened to catch a group of ducks landing! WOW! We've never seen ducks in the area before! So, Jeremy crept up the road just a little bit to park, we grabbed the camo gear and headed quietly into the woods to try to sneak up on the ducks. We were getting closer and closer, but Hayde was getting tooo excited and she couldn't sit still or stay next to Jeremy and flushed them. They were just in a tough spot for Jeremy to get, but he did get a few shots off. But, at least we know now that they'll go to this pond so we'll have to keep an eye open here again. We then turned back around and headed further down Barron Canyon Road.

We took another turn onto another dirt road/path and drove and drove. We ended up pretty close to one of the corners of Algonquin Park. At one point, we crossed a stream and Jeremy saw the water moving so he slowed and stopped, then backed up. It was a beaver! We watched it for a few minutes as it was gathering sticks and stuff to cover the culvert. We continued and took a few other paths off this road and tried walking a few which eventually fizzled out. I should mention that these roads are more like rough dirty or grassy paths where there are two tire tracks and since it's been raining, there are lots of puddles and rocks and places to get stuck. However, down one of these roads as we were creeping and bumping along, we spotted another grouse. Again, Jeremy grabbed his gun, was able to get out, unlock and load his gun and got a shot off. It flew into the bushes and Jeremy had to shoot again. Of course, Hayde wanted to take off to retrieve it. Wow, another pretty easy bird. We turned around at the end of the path and worked our way down the other road again.



By this time, we were thinking maybe it's time to head back home. However, looking at our backroad's mapbook, it looked like the road we were on was supposed to loop back around to where we could hook back up with it. But, we kept driving north and west and more north and west when we should have been starting to go east. We weren't sure what to do - do we keep going and hope it loops back like it should or do we turn around and go back the way we came. We should have been really close to where it hooks back up though. In the end, we kept going for a bit and then decided maybe we should turn around. We kept passing more smaller paths but none of them were listed on our map so we had no idea if they went anywhere or where they went. We took a few, but they all got smaller and small or stopped.

We did try to take one that turned east, but again that one went north before long. However, I spotted another grouse. This must not have been a very smart bird as I saw it just as we crept right on top of it. I yelled out to Jeremy and he managed to stop about a food short of actually hitting it before it flew into a nearby tree. Again, he managed to grab his gun from the back seat, open the door and get out, unlock his gun and load it and walk over to the tree where it flew. He shot and scared it again and took one more shot before it did fall. Of course, Hayde bolted out of the jeep and off to retrieve it. Eventually this road too ended so we turned around and headed back down the road we came. We did try one more, but it lead to a camp and we almost got stuck as Jeremy was backing out and down a muddy hill, the jeep started to slip. We were able to test out the 4-wheel drive too and it seems to work, but it's a bit confusing.

We did make it home just before it started raining and it got dark. Whew! I didn't really want to be "lost" out there in the back back woods in the pitch black not knowing where we were going.
Sunday, we got up early and got out to the spot Jeremy's gone before, just southeast of Pembroke. But, as we got towards the edge of the lake, we spotted anther vehicle that was already there, so we turned around and decided to go to the stream that feeds into the lake and put the canoe in. About 10 minute in or less, we flushed some ducks and Jeremy got a few shots off. Two came down and as soon as the gun fired, Hayde jumped out of the canoe (thankfully all went smooth and we stayed right side up) to retrieve. Turned out one was a mallard hen and the other (we later looked up) was a black drake. Also, once returning, we figured out he can only get one black duck. So, while we were out and unsure what the limits were on hens and other ducks, Jeremy was much more hesitant to shoot.

Before long, we came to a beaver dam. We all got out and hoisted the canoe over the dam and paddled on. I should also mention that I was in the back doing (most of) the paddling while Jeremy sat up front and ready with his gun. Hayde was in the middle. I paddled on and sure enough, there was another beaver dam so once again, we got out, pushed the canoe over and continued. We continued to flushed ducks around each corner. We were amazed how many ducks there were....and how many beaver dams! Turns out by the 8th one, we decided we'd had it and at the next one, we'd turn around. In the meantime, we saw some smaller birds and Jeremy got two of them. Turns out they're snipes. Finally, before coming to the next beaver dam, we made out out to the lake - Mudd Lake. Here, we saw 100's of birds! I now know why it's called Mudd Lake. There's not much open water, it's mostly grass and mudd, but a perfect spot for ducks. We managed to paddle out almost to where there was open water and we stopped and watched the birds. The wind picked up and then we decided to turn around and head back. Again, we flushed a few birds on our way and we managed to haul the canoe back over the 8 beaver dams. Back towards the start, we found a boggy area and pulled the canoe back into a spot and waiting hoping some ducks would come land, but none did so we finally made our way back to the car. Poor Hayde was shivering the entire time, but she's such a good sport and put up with the cold for the excitement.

So, all in all, we had a very good weekend of hunting. Hayde's worn out and minus the quill in her neck is good. We now know of a few spots where we know there are ducks and we learned a new way to hunt for grouse!

I have to quick mention my job as I've put in 2-1/2 days at my desk, however, the first 1/2 day I spent waiting for my computer to be connected to the servers. I've met some people, but as it goes, my manager's been out of the office and the person I'm to work very closely with was out on Friday sick and actually has her office in Chalk River and I'm in Deep River so we don't really get to work with each other. She did come up Monday morning for a few hours to show me a few things and has left me on my own since. I'm hoping I can start spending more time with her to learn what I'm supposed to be doing, but with all new jobs, I'm sure it'll just take time and I should enjoy not having tons of work! I'm hoping I can find someone to carpool with as we've both been driving everyday. I think someone I've already met is looking for a 3rd person to carpool with from Petawawa to Deep River so I'm going to talk to him tomorrow. I also don't think I can even take the bus as it probably only goes to the Chalk River location. Otherwise, maybe Jeremy and I can drive in together, I'd have to take the shuttle bus from the plant out to Deep River and at the end of the day take it back into the plant to drive back with Jeremy (but that's alot of extra time on the road for me and Jeremy would have an extra 30-45 min at work than I would.

I must mention he's just had a nice dinner of grouse!