A Curveball
That's Millie, with her first grouse of the season, taken in Vermont earlier this week. She patterned well, listened to my commands, hunting with plenty of energy, and maybe this is the tip of the iceberg for her. Unfortunately we were thrown a "curveball" this week, and we will have to temporarily suspend our guiding operations until there's a resolution.
I haven't felt right in a couple of months and I could tell something was wrong during our training sessions. In short, I have been experiencing some chest pain and shortness of breath during my scouting excursions with the dogs in August and early September, enough so that I needed to find out what was going on. I took a stress test and EKG recently, and the test revealed that there's a narrowing of one of my arteries causing the problem. A procedure will be scheduled hopefully soon, but in the meantime my doctors are recommending that I not do any trips (and do not hunt) until the procedure is done. While this is truly the last resort for me, I feel that it would be irresponsible to take clients out in the woods with the possibility of a situation arising out there.
As you can imagine, this is the worst timing for an upland bird hunter, but it was something that came up all of a sudden. I also probably didn't want to confront the fact that there was a problem, but at least now we know what's happening and how it can be fixed. I hope to be hunting and guiding again very soon, and once that happens, the stories and updates will be flowing again. Until then, enjoy the best time of the year with your dogs out in the grouse woods.
More updates to come ...
I haven't felt right in a couple of months and I could tell something was wrong during our training sessions. In short, I have been experiencing some chest pain and shortness of breath during my scouting excursions with the dogs in August and early September, enough so that I needed to find out what was going on. I took a stress test and EKG recently, and the test revealed that there's a narrowing of one of my arteries causing the problem. A procedure will be scheduled hopefully soon, but in the meantime my doctors are recommending that I not do any trips (and do not hunt) until the procedure is done. While this is truly the last resort for me, I feel that it would be irresponsible to take clients out in the woods with the possibility of a situation arising out there.
As you can imagine, this is the worst timing for an upland bird hunter, but it was something that came up all of a sudden. I also probably didn't want to confront the fact that there was a problem, but at least now we know what's happening and how it can be fixed. I hope to be hunting and guiding again very soon, and once that happens, the stories and updates will be flowing again. Until then, enjoy the best time of the year with your dogs out in the grouse woods.
More updates to come ...
