D
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Or, a partridge in a wheat field.
Henry got his first hunt of 2014 today. It was a day of ups and downs, but also a day that I had been looking for all year for him.
We hunted two public hunt areas today. The first area entailed a lot of walking and two coveys of Huns. Henry pointed both coveys beautifully, but the stubble was short and being Huns the were pretty wild. I managed to shoot one, and Henry got a good lesson in tracking a running Hun. I did manage one photo of a point. I'd like to get more, but right now I'm doing my best to shoot all of the birds he points and I hate to screw around with a camera while he's on point.
The second area was off the charts in terms of training value. Every young dog ends up in a field full of birds and goes ape shit. Today was Henry's day. He pointed a nice covey of pheasants, all hens. He took after them when the flushed, and on the way discovered more birds. Lots of birds. He was pointing birds 300 yards away, and then getting antsy as the birds were trying to run. I lost track of how many birds he pointed, bumped, and then chased.
Finally, once he was pretty well exhausted, he started hunting as part of the team again. He promptly pointed a rooster that I had walked by in the CRP. I thought for sure it was an empty point, no way a rooster let me walk by that close. Wrong-O! It was Henry's best point of the year, and I promptly whiffed three times and watched a big rooster sail away.
I shot a rooster down by the creek that I flushed, and watched it fall into the bottom. We searched for quite a while, to no avail. I hate losing birds. That said, this would have been a hard retrieve for a veteran dog. I really think the bird found a hole and augered in to it, as we walked through the area about five times. Henry got really birdy in one spot that was an absolute jungle below a steep cut bank.
A short while later, he had a great series of points on a running rooster. We finally pinned him in, and I shot him. Henry kind of retrieved the bird. He isn't real hip on giving it to me yet, but he's past the point of playing keep away.
My pooch is worn out. His looks like he did 10 rounds with Marvin Hagler after working the brush. This dog will flat get after it in the cattails and all sorts of thick and nasty.
A beautiful sunset over the Palouse topped off a great day. Happy New Year Hunt Talkers!
Henry got his first hunt of 2014 today. It was a day of ups and downs, but also a day that I had been looking for all year for him.
We hunted two public hunt areas today. The first area entailed a lot of walking and two coveys of Huns. Henry pointed both coveys beautifully, but the stubble was short and being Huns the were pretty wild. I managed to shoot one, and Henry got a good lesson in tracking a running Hun. I did manage one photo of a point. I'd like to get more, but right now I'm doing my best to shoot all of the birds he points and I hate to screw around with a camera while he's on point.
The second area was off the charts in terms of training value. Every young dog ends up in a field full of birds and goes ape shit. Today was Henry's day. He pointed a nice covey of pheasants, all hens. He took after them when the flushed, and on the way discovered more birds. Lots of birds. He was pointing birds 300 yards away, and then getting antsy as the birds were trying to run. I lost track of how many birds he pointed, bumped, and then chased.
Finally, once he was pretty well exhausted, he started hunting as part of the team again. He promptly pointed a rooster that I had walked by in the CRP. I thought for sure it was an empty point, no way a rooster let me walk by that close. Wrong-O! It was Henry's best point of the year, and I promptly whiffed three times and watched a big rooster sail away.
I shot a rooster down by the creek that I flushed, and watched it fall into the bottom. We searched for quite a while, to no avail. I hate losing birds. That said, this would have been a hard retrieve for a veteran dog. I really think the bird found a hole and augered in to it, as we walked through the area about five times. Henry got really birdy in one spot that was an absolute jungle below a steep cut bank.
A short while later, he had a great series of points on a running rooster. We finally pinned him in, and I shot him. Henry kind of retrieved the bird. He isn't real hip on giving it to me yet, but he's past the point of playing keep away.
My pooch is worn out. His looks like he did 10 rounds with Marvin Hagler after working the brush. This dog will flat get after it in the cattails and all sorts of thick and nasty.
A beautiful sunset over the Palouse topped off a great day. Happy New Year Hunt Talkers!
