I regret to inform everyone that my pointer, Dusty, ran off two days after Christmas in a blizzard and never returned. Bustin’ Dusty was a knuckle head, but I loved him nonetheless. You never want to see your dog go out like that. He’ll be greatly missed!

In memory of D. Dusty Devlins.

This January, because of the deep snows, the Idaho Fish & Game closed the chukar and hun season early. Typically, the hunt for these partridges lasts through the end of January, which serves as a good activity for those of us who loath Winter and can’t wait for the return of the kinder seasons for sportsmen. Although I approve of the F&G’s efforts to protect the resource, it still feels like the season was cut short.

And to top it off, as one final hunt of the season (or the first hunt of the year depending how you look at it), my cousin Eric and I headed towards Colorado Thursday to meet up with Shawn for a greatly anticipated quail hunt in Kansas. Long story short, we never made it because my Subaru, Green Drake, kicked the bucket thirty miles east of Evanston, Wyoming. You can read all about this fiasco at http://www.ericoutside.blogspot.com/. I am happy to inform everyone that we survived the ordeal with a smile on our faces.

Despite these setbacks, I don’t want to end this season on a negative note. I really can’t complain as overall this has been a good season. To commemorate, I thought I’d share some pictures of some of my favorite memories this hunting season. I hope you all enjoy!

Early season grouse hunt with the family. We saw no birds, but we had a good time.

My girls hammin’ it up on our grouse hunt.
Emma and Nessy on an early morning blue grouse hunt at Grouse Ridge. Treats for all, but no birds.

On the hunt with Emma and Nessy, Emma took this awesome picture of Sunny Girl. Gotta love that smile!

Matt-eh-who with a grey and a red phased ruffed grouse.

Outshot by the Mattster again, but believe it or not, one of those sharptails is mine.

This is my younger brother Robbie on our quest for spruce grouse in the Sawtooths. No birds, but a fun day together. I’ll never forget Robbie’s quote of the day (heck, quote of the year!) as he came out of the Carey Sinclair station from a much needed bathroom break: “I came out of that store feeling much lighter, and it was not because of the buck fifty that I dropped for hot chocolate.”

Loving life on the Royal MacNabb. We all got our limits that glorious day. The picture below is of my brother Shawn with a chukar he made a nice shot on just before I pulled the trigger on same bird. We named this desert chukar hunting spot, “Dos Royal,” for reasons that if I told you, you might figure out where it is. It certainly is a kingly place.

This is my law partner and good friend Aaron and his son, David, on David’s very first hunt. Again, we didn’t get any birds, but we had a good time.

Looking back, I did not harvest a lot of birds this season. However, I now realize that it is the people and the bird dogs that make a hunting season special. Those are the memories that stay with us. As my friend Matt Lucia always says, “Birds are just the bonus.”

I am looking forward to this upcoming season, spending time with family, making new friendships or renewing old ones, and hunting with Sunnygirl in her golden years. Oh, and if I’m lucky, maybe we will get another bird dog for the family. I’ll keep you posted. Yes, life is good!