by Perry McCormick
The crew of The Flush television series visited Alberta earlier this fall to hunt Hungarian, or grey, partridge. Host Travis Frank brought guests Ben and George along with a cameraman and nine dogs with him from Minnesota to film a partridge hunt. The Flush is a Ron Schara production, and is sponsored by Pheasants Forever and Federal Ammunition. It can be viewed on Wild TV, The Outdoor Channel, The Sportsman’s Channel, and others.
Partridge hunting has been challenging this year where we typically hunt as it is in the midst of a severe four-year drought that’s taken it’s toll on the cover and, in turn, the birds. Heavy hail and an ice-covered long winter added to the challenge. On the upside, there were considerably fewer owls in the neighbourhood, no doubt for the same reasons. The end result was fewer but larger coveys on average—most coveys had more than 18 birds.
In the end we found enough coveys to make what should be a great show. Through the filming we were able to relate information about Pheasants Forever Canada’s activities, including promotion of our Save the Edges campaign.
We did have one mishap that we captured on film that will provide a lesson to all hunters. My French Brittany, Louie, got caught in an abandoned coyote snare while we were hunting. Host Travis Frank was following Louie and me when Louie got himself ensnared. Luckily, Louie runs with his mouth open most of the time, so the snare caught him around the upper jaw. Even more fortuitous was the fact that Travis had cable cutters in his vest. It was all I could do to hold Louie still while Travis cut the cable in his mouth. Everyone was instantly relieved, particularly, Louie.
As I mentioned, it was an abandoned snare that Louie ran into. Apparently, the fellow that was given permission to set snares on that property passed away shortly thereafter, reminding me that you just never know what you night encounter while afield. Upon my return home from the hunt I immediately bought myself and my son the best cable cutters I could find, and from now on will always carry them when working our dogs.
It was a genuine pleasure to work and hunt with true professionals when it comes to all things upland. They were quite impressive, as were all nine dogs. Quite frankly, the birds never stood a chance.
Another outcome of the trip was my participation on a podcast, my first. In true Joe Rogan style, we had beverages and cigars in hand. The kicker was that we recorded it outside, on the cabin porch, from midnight until 2 am. I’m not certain that I want to hear that production! However if you are interested, click the link below to listen to the podcast. As they say, nothing good happens after midnight.
