Spring Training
Worked hard in the yard! It was spring break and I decided to give the dogs, Tess and Skye, one last bird opportunity at a preserve called Little Canyon before it closes shop for the summer. We hung around the lodge, and even had a bowl of their excellent pheasant stew, while our training area was made ready. I let Skye have a run-a-round first; she is getting up there in age - and girth! Young son, Nate, referred to her as a, "Running Case of Diabetes"! Poor thing.
Her first opportunity to pin a hen pheasant went askew when the bird displayed terrible sportsmanship or misunderstanding of how the game is supposed to be played! Skye went on point and then, the harried-hen began to hustle in circles around a tall clump of canary grass - Skye in full chase! Well, as "full chase" as you can imagine a dog with the newly christened, and most certainly earned designate, Running Diabetes, can muster!
Nate could not shoot while they shared close-quarters and, when the hen finally did fly, it caught Nate completely off-guard! I should mention that the day was exceptionally hot, in the low 70's. It doesn't sound like much until you consider that the week prior it was in the high 40's and raining! Skye had several issues that worked against her; obstacles such as, her recent weight-gain, her age, the temperature and the fact that her winter coat resembled sheep’s wool! Anyway, she was already panting like a locomotive when she pinned bird number two!
Bird number two played the game with the kind of ethics one might expect a bird that, until very recently, had been running around a large netted enclosure playing "grab-tail" with hundreds of others in the same impasse. Next thing it knew, it was chased around said enclosure, netted, stuffed into a bag, received a rather rough dizzying maneuver and tossed from a moving ATV! To put it somewhat mildly, it seemed completely confused. A condition made worse by the slightly mistimed shot taken by Nate when the running bird did decide to take flight!
One wing broken, it bounced down the hill, rolled onto its feet, quickly looked around and began to run like a convict! Meanwhile, even with a good jump, Skye had considerable difficulty at a waddling pace to gain ground on the bird; barely able to grab brief mouth-fulls of feathers, realize she did not have the actual bird, and resumed the chase once again! Needless to say, Skye was played-out in two birds and roughly twenty minutes! She took a relaxing dip in the nearby pond and was back in her kennel in less than the total span of 45 minutes!
Skye desperately needed a reliever, Tess was called out of the "bull-pen" (dog pound?) and was put into the game. Not quite a year old, the tri-color setter was sleek and enthusiastic. In the field, Tess worked out away from us and then back into the wind - side to side. It was a thing of beauty! Her first point was equally flawless! I had the check cord on Tess and a length of it under my boots. Camera ready, Nate moved in to complete the process. He did so within a two-shot volley and Tess even made the retrieve - of sorts.
The next bird was pointed equally well, but made a run for the canyon edge with Tess in close pursuit! Though I stood on the check cord, Tess was strong, and determined, enough to pull the cord from under the lugs of my boots! Slowed enough to not actually catch the runner, but fast enough to be in line with Nate’s aim! Thankfully, he declined to take the very questionable shot and the hen made the canyon and was lost! By now, Tess was hunting in the hottest time of the day, about 3:00, and was beginning to show signs of slowing. We decided to give her a chance to cool off in the nearby water trough before resuming our training session.
On the way she spun to a halt and froze on point! I decided I wanted to take a crack at this bird with my new 12 ga. Browning Centori Upland Special Nate had been using. I tromped around like a soldier on a parade ground until I gave Tess the “okay” to move on. Only a few cautious steps and she was locked back on point! I finally moved the tight-holding hen right from under Tess’s nose and Nate timed a photo of the event in spectacular fashion!
Tess got a good dousing in the plastic trough of very cold – and very green - water. After a little rest we headed back into the field to continue searching for what birds remained. We hadn’t gone far and Tess located another bird for Nate’s vest! There was a bend of field off in the far corner that we hadn’t reached and that’s where I was taking us when we lost Tess in the tall grass cover above us. We didn’t have far to climb before I spotted Tess, on point, and waiting! Nate was above me and got to her first. I had him wait until I could secure the check cord and break out the camera. All was ready as Nate moved forward into the cover; Tess holding well by now after earlier tendencies to creep forward.
This bird flushed excitedly with the tell-tale cackle of an alarmed rooster! Nothing seems to race the pulse quite like a flushing rooster pheasant. Made a bit more distracting when you hold in firm belief that the only birds in the field were hens! The colorful and oft-times clattering trophy has made more than a few better-than-average shooters miss their mark as they fail to follow the same process they might with any other target.
Nate, as Hutson men are wont to do, took his first shot way too soon with the skeet-choked bottom barrel. His first attempt was good enough to drop the rooster, but it was back on its feet and striding to escape when another coo degras slammed the bird to the ground! Tess, which had been held back by the cord, was soon on top of the flapping bird and retrieved it in her usual fits and starts fashion.
There was soon another point and Nate had what we thought was our last bird of the day. It was on our return trip to the lodge that Tess spun to another stylish setter point! Tess had been pointing the feathered remains of birds long gone during the hunt and we assumed this was just another case in point…as it were. Nate turned to say something to me, since forgotten, when the darkly-clad hen jumped from under his feet! Wings tipped against Nate’s jeans as the bird gathered air beneath them!
The surprise was sufficient to gather momentum and gain enough distance for the choke to do its job effectively. Nate only needed one shot to drop the bird with a solid strike and Tess was on the scene! By now Tess was tired and hot; so much so that upon finding the bird she nosed it a few times until she was convinced as to its state of finality and laid down to keep watch until we could arrive! Batting a thousand, the dogs accounted for all the birds planted for the exercise. All were pointed, however briefly, as fortune or misfortunes played out. An excellent day in the field.
