Best Fishing Buddy

About 9 years ago at a friends party, I started petting their gordon setter. Turned out that they couldn't keep the dog and I ended up taking him home. Luther (aka Springset Heartbreaker) could best be described as a "love sponge." He couldn't get enough petting. If your hand wasn't doing anything, you got a brown dog head under it to keep it occupied.

Luther loved to "go." Open a car door and say "load" and he was in the car in an instant. Didn't matter if you weren't going anywhere for doggie fun, a car ride was just fine. On a whim, I said "load-up" for a fishing trip, and ended up with my best fishing buddy. He would lay in the boat and watch the rod and line. If he thought a fish was on, he would get up and supervise me catching it. Anything other than northern pike would get a close inspection. He didn't like any member of the pike family and, as soon as he figured out that a pike or pickeral was on the line, he would go to the other end of the boat. When the boat was moving, I had a gordon setter figurine on the bow. I stopped taking him much a couple of years ago because age made a low tolerance for heat not suitable in Virginia. Still, when I went toward the boat, he figured that WE were going fishing and was ready to go.

Luther loved hunting and preferred that I go along with him. Since gordons are "close" hunters, my job was to walk a zig-zag while he swept the field about 10-40' in front. He kept an eye on me and would turn when I turned. On those days that he just had to do, we wouldn't come when I called, but would get 10' in front and take off when I moved in the right direction.

In Michigan, I ended up fishing on one lake so my buddy could huntup the DNR wildlife preserve when we finished. He was usually very patient with the fish spotting, but would remind me when I had fished enough and needed to walk the field. We had a field in back of the house in Michigan, and after work meant I had to hunt the field. Nothing better than watching him bounce through grass higher than his head so the head would come up above the grass. A brown head with floppy ears floating above the grass until he found something to point at.

Gordon's do not retrieve. You could throw the "bird" once. Luther would run like mad to get it, drop it 5-10' in front of you and take off for the next bird. You couldn't throw the same one, because, I guess he figured that he had brought it to you and if you wanted to throw it away he wasn't going to bring it back. Did some reading from Springset kennels and they said that this was a characteristic of their Gordons.

My mother wouldn't allow varmints in the house. Luther was granted very special privileges because he knew where he could go and was always ready for some head patting. He was allowed in the den, but not any where else. When we weren't in the den, he would lie at the den-kitchen door with his nose in the kitchen and wait for us to return. Even after she died, he had to be forced to go past the den door.

Gordon's average about 12 years age. About six months ago, at 13, Luther started slowing down. He developed heart problems, started gaining fluids and became much less active. After 5 months of heart and fluid meds, he needed pain killers to move around much. We took him to the vet's on Friday and had fluid removed from his abdomen and for 36 hours we had an active love sponge. After that, he became listless, had great difficulty getting up and by Monday, didn't want to move. I had to carry him outside and back in. This morning, I gave him his last head pat, chin rub without much response. We had the vet put him down at 11:05.

The house is very quiet and I have a very empty hand.

Reported Shooting Accuracy

It's been fun reading the various fora on firearms. There are always the folks who say that pistol X shoots "dime sized" groups at 25-50 yards with their .22 pistols. With the typical $200-400 semiautomatic, shooting good, but not the best ammunition, I seriously doubt that most of these guns will be that consistent. Freehand, I doubt there are very many people who can manage that. Being old, shakey and with failing eyes, I tend to measure my groups in fractions of barns, truck tires or 55-gallon barrels. Actually, on a good day, 1-2" is achievable. However, some of my targets look like I'm trying to emulate buckshot.

Oh, well, maybe they can really shoot that well. But if they are, why aren't they shooting the $1000 target pistols?

Another Toy-Ruger GP100

Over the holidays in Michigan, we had a short family outing at a local firing range (Mom, Dad, Son, two daughters and son-in-law). My son brought a Ruger GP-100 .357 magnum revolver. After a few rounds I decided I really liked the revolver. I liked it well enough to go shopping after New Year's Day and ended up with a 4" stainless model. Great shooting revolver. Reasonably accurate, considering the guy firing it. Not much recoil considering the round. Ruger has done a fine job with this handgun. It is solid, shoots well, and looks like it can be run over by a tractor trailer without much damage. Besides, it's easy on my old bones.

S&W Service

The previous post on S&W's repair was about how quickly they turned it around. Saturday, I tried the quality of their repairs. Most of the rounds, except those I jerked, squeezed, milked, flinched and just plain didn't see the sights, went in the 8-9 ring. It was fun watching confetti fly out of the back of the cardboard backing. Looks like S&W fixed the problem quickly. Too bad I spent a great deal of time trying to fix the shooter. All I need to do now is find a way to send the inaccurate part to them for an upgrade.

Stress relief and loud noises

Part of my midlife crisis has been the "new" interest in shooting. Beginning to cost a bundle because I always want a new toy. However, the fun of going to a range and trying to hit little black or red dots on paper is worth it. You tend to meet lots of nice (and strangely, polite) folks at the ranges. Most are eager to play with your toys and let you play with theirs. The $200 .22 semiauto I bought 9 months ago has been translated into 3 .22 pistols, one .22 single action revolver, a 9mm semiautomatic and a .357 revolver. Heaven only knows what new toy I will "need" next week.

Almost all of my shooting is at targets from 7 yards to 25 yards. On a good day, most rounds are within a 4" circle. On the other days, I think most of them stayed in the county. With no expectations, it is fun. Now only to find a fishing hole that will let me shoot from the boat.

M&P9, Redux

After making lots of loud noises with the Smith & Wesson Semiautomatic, I decided that maybe it wasn't me shooting low and left, but the pistol was helping. It took S&W a week to replace the front sight, counting overnight shipping time a weekend and a holiday. Not bad.