The Beauty of the Hunt

The farmer and I took a mini "Glick Trip" this past weekend to Arkansas.  

I have never been to Arkansas, but I now have an itch to go back.  

One for the hunting, two for the new friends and three for the best pork steak we devoured at Strawberry's in Holcomb, AR.

We rolled in to Rector, Arkansas after 11:00 p.m. on Thursday and met our new friend and hunting guide Stephen who owns and runs Liberty Hills Outfitters.  Rector is home to not quite 2,000 people and most recently the boys basketball champs of the homecoming game Saturday night.  On top of that, Stephen's kids were crowned King & Queen during homecoming.  Small town America, it's wonderful.  

Stephen complimented my gravel road truck driving, showed us around the cabin and told us to make ourselves at home.  It was good to crash in this private, friendly cabin and hideaway at the end of the gravel road.

The next morning, we were up and out the door for the first day of quail hunting on the land.

 I got the first bird of the day!

Then the boys stuffed it into the back of my vest.  

I think Brett purposely bought the vest for me so I could carry all the birds.  

He has no pockets in his vest......

Don't worry, one of them was still alive and was fluttering around back there for awhile.  Yep....

Lady (foreground) and George were our dogs for the weekend.  

Watching the dogs hunt is quite the experience and part of the beauty of the hunt.

Stephen loves to take photos, like myself.  He captured some great moments including this one with the yellow shell falling to the ground after I pumped my gun to take another shot at the bird.  

Stephen actually took all the photos on this blog today.  Many thanks to him for capturing the beauty of the outdoors and our upland bird hunting experience.

What I really love about upland bird hunting is that we get to enjoy the sport together.  

And stand next to each other while we each take our shot at the bird.

George obviously had confidence we would get this one because he was already headed to retrieve the quail.

And if you were wondering what a quail looks like, here you go.  They are tricky to find at times.

Now while Stephen was busy taking pictures most of the time, Gerald was guiding us and ducking every other time.  Both of them would say they have had a lot of practice hittin' the ground and takin' cover.  

Joking aside, we always use safety precautions when hunting, 

review rules before hunting and watch each others' backs.

The dogs also watch each others' backs and back each other on their points (when they find the bird).  

What's fascinating about the dogs is that they compete with each other and keep each other in line.

Even if you don't like to hunt, you could attend a hunt to watch the dogs and be thoroughly entertained.

Another bird that Brett will stuff in my vest.....

This one was dead though, all good!

Pretty sure Stephen was on the ground when he took this one but am so glad he caught these images.

And one of the quail landed in the tree, so I found him and then he fell out of the tree.....

Best part about this photo, the smoke coming from my gun.

I'll show you more photos of the birds, the peaceful cabin and a new quail recipe soon.  

But for now, we are thankful for our new friends and a mini trip away before our busy travel season and then planting season on the farm.  

I would say the beauty of it is the fact we found an outdoor hobby we both enjoy.

Brett would say the beauty of it is the fact I actually want a dog now.  

Either way, the beauty of hunting is the freedom we enjoy to hunt outdoors and enjoy our time together.