of Tiny’s nightlight through the window of his cabin greeted me as I passed in the early morning darkness. The sky was a mishmash of alternating weather conditions from overcast to a clear starlit to a light fog on my way to the pine plantation in Seale, Alabama to exercise the “Girls” this morning

Tiny was long gone, of course, to spend his usual Saturday morning fishing the lakes in Pittsview. Between his big truck, the modified bass boat he pulled back and forth and the recent rains, I had to put the pathfinder in four wheel drive a little earlier than normal, but there was no real difficulty. The pathfinder is one of the best vehicles I’ve drove in the mud with street tires. Even better than the old cj5. I could see in the dim glow, building supplies stacked up for deer stands to use in the rapidly approaching season. Here in Alabama, the bow season starts October 15. I have to say that I really don’t see anything sporting about using crossbows or compounds (no not yet djmed. That rant comes later though you can read last years) and I prefer a sightless recurve to flick my arrows from during the coming archery season.

I passed on through the area even though I had decided to run the pond this morning. You might remember the pond from a old bow hunting post called "arrows of misfortune" about a slightly younger rimfire. Funny, it looked bigger back then.
I was in search of a deer for Lucy but when I came to a dogleg where Tiny has a stand, a rabbit ran into the bush on the side of the old firebreak. I ground the old pathfinder to a stop. Even though I wanted a deer to break Lucy, a rabbit in this area that I won’t be running for a while so I can give Tiny and the others some uninterrupted hunting time was to good to pass up. Helps build a little good will with the deer hunters to.

On that dogleg we had three good races before moving back to the pond. None of the dogs earned notes of distinction with all four of the big girls performing about equally, that being Good.

There he goes. There he goes. Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!
brought the five dogs at a run. Ten week old Abbie might not have had a clue what was going on, but she was hanging out with the pack when I jumped the rabbit

Abbie would listen to her new Aunties running and take several tentative steps toward them and then look back to see if I was coming. If I still stood there she would run back to me before starting the process again. Give her a few weeks to bond, figure out what they are chasing and she’ll leave the poor slow two legged Boss who can’t smell for squat alone in the woods while she runs with her pack.

All that will be left is to make sure she isn’t gun shy. I'll start firing the pocket rocket near her soon. Just not to close. The first few shots will be with her in the summer box sharing a compartment with one of the old hands, who won't react to the noise. Then, later on, when she is a good distance down a trail. She will have to understand that the noise is all part of the game.

The last race started right after Lucy started barking at a trail that brought Julie and Kate running back to me. The remote control was naturally back in the pathfinder, but I called “Lucy” a couple of times and she broke off and came back.
It was then that both Dixie and Julie’s head snatched around as they peered into the woods next to where we stood. They had heard something bound away. Running over toward the sound they were soon calling for help from Lucy and Kate. This ended up being the longest race of the day, about an hour and a half. By this time, Abbie like a five year old child, had went from “this sure is fun” to a whining “can’t we go home now” and “will you carry me?”

I made her walk. It was a good morning and only a few more of the pre-season exercises are left. I have to tell you, I’m not in a hunting mode. Still to hot and my mind is on going fishing in Apalachicola with 2 and the cabin with GF in Port St Joe, both scheduled for September.