By: Ron Wilson

January 2, 2006.... So far this year duck hunting in the Central Valley of California has been dismal at best. So I have been doing a wide variety of outdoor sports other than duck hunting.

I spent a morning with Ken Moore of Ripon doing a little quail hunting. I used my Brittany Spaniel Sierra and took along a couple of her 5 month old pups Peggy and Sassy.

The pups had no idea what was going on but they minded good other than Peggy who ventured into a muddy ditch and then wined at me until I came to her rescue which she didn’t need. I am not sure who is training who.

We got to the end of a wooded section and I got in the middle with the dogs while the Moore clan walked the sides. All I could hear was Ken and his brother talk, talk talk as they walked up above.

The dogs started jumping single quail an they would fly away from ken and his brother over past a cousin who had no idea what these valley quail do! I would holler there goes one and he would look up in the trees as the quail zoomed like little bullets about waist high through the trees.

I hunt with my ears on quail especially in dense brush as you usually hear them when they flush, but all I could hear was Ken and his brother talking and then every now and then the fast beating of wings as the birds flushed.

I finally asked Ken if he was going to hunt or bullshit all morning! Ken said well I guess someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! I didn’t take the time to answer that I go to kill game or catch fish if I wanted to visit I would stay home or go out to a sit down dinner!

Ken got quiet and the birds started flushing out there side of the wooded area and Ken started downing birds.

In short order he had 5 in the bag and then it was time for me to head to Newman to meet Doctor Steve Baker, a good vet that rates high in my book.

I arrived at the Newman Sportsman’s Club and on my way to his door I noticed 3 fresh sets of horns finishing drying in the air, a 5 point bull elk and a pair of nice 4 point mule deer antlers. I could see that Steve had just returned from a recent hunting trip out of state. I knocked at Steve’s door and he hollered come in, I walked into his hunting cabin and sat down and was quickly greeted by Timber, Steve’s new female Brittany puppy. After a few licks I asked Timber if she remembered me and Steve quickly said no she does that to everyone. Steve said Timber go lay down and she quickly jumped up on the end of her couch and curled up in a ball and stared at him. I told Steve that she sure minds good for a young pup and Steve said I demand that of all my dogs.

I have seen pictures of Timber sleeping in a sink and Diana reported that at his office she has as many toys to keep her occupied as our dogs.

A friend of Steve’s showed up with a few chucker's and a new lab he wanted to buy but wanted Steve to check the dog out first.

We all headed out into the field and I quickly realized that Steve was much more than a vet and knew dogs inside and out period. I found out later that Steve used to run dogs in field trials, that along with his hunting and training skills has got to make him a go to vet for hunters with dogs.

Between the bumpers and blind retrieve's and then the chucker's and the scent cone that the dog would quickly hone in on and the retrieves Steve asked his friend what he was waiting for buying the dog as it was ready for any situation in the field right now! $2,700 for a well trained dog with great papers was a good buy as far as Steve was concerned!

The day ended with Timber doing a little blind retrieving on quail and chucker's. No pointing but she quickly was bringing the birds to hand!

Steve said there had been a few articles I had wrote that he did agree with. I didn’t say anything about them as I knew he was right. My editor at the time had worked for another local newspaper and a father had caught a big striped bass and then took a picture of his son with it and bragged in a bar that he could get the picture printed in the paper! He did and my editor had egg on his face so he didn’t care to much for sportsmen in general and love to get me to push the sportsmen’s button threw words of wit, or to the sportsmen, words of SHIT!

I recently had the pleasure of taking my grandson along with my hunting buddies for a day of waterfowl shooting in the foothills.

We got the decoys out and the blind set up just before shooting time! My buddies called in a pair of mallards within 20 yards and told Derick to shoot! Derick nailed the drake and then swung on the hen that fell in a 3 shot volley.

Hot chocolate and then a warm buttered cinnamon roll, Derick kicked back and said I could really get used to this old man’s style of hunting.