Rick Earnhardt bought my pup, Annie, but he lives in North Carolina and we have not figured out how to get her to him yet, so I figured that I would try to get her into as many birds as I could before he picks her up. Sounded like a good idea, so on January 7 I took her, along with 5 other dogs, to northern Missouri on a quail hunt.
Shortly after getting out of the truck, we were working our way down a fence row when Lucky started acting birdy and Annie moved past him and 3 quail flushed, then 2 more and then I heard some more flush. We worked our way on down the fence row in the direction that the quail had flown. We got to an area that widened out with grass and brush that ran out into the soy bean field. At this point Luke had rejoined us and all 3 dogs were working in this area when I heard a single quail flush, then shortly after another bird flew. At least one of these were birds that Annie moved because when I checked the Garmin GPS she was a long way ahead.
We had not gone very far when the dogs got into some turkeys. Annie is only 7 months old so any bird contact is good for her. At this age pups have so much to learn and the quicker they figure out that they can’t catch birds the better off you are. We were hunting on snow that had a crust on it so I only left these 3 dogs down for about an hour.
On next day, January 8, Gailen Cooper asked if I wanted to run pups on his training grounds. He had bought Jack from me and that would let Annie and Tur Bo run with him.
We turned them loose and when we got to the first area that he usually found birds we got into the heavy cover with the pups and they worked it real well. Gailen said the last 2 or 3 times through here he had not found the birds. We let the pups work until they had covered it, then started on to the next place. We called the pups but they didn’t come. Finally we saw Jack on point. Tur Bo backed him then Annie came around and honored also. Tur Bo didn’t back very long. When he ran past Jack, Annie also ran in and the quail started to fly. Then all three pups were flushing birds. We didn’t chase the birds because it was real cold and there was still a lot of snow on the ground. Gailen doesn’t shoot birds on this training ground, its for training puppies.
We didn’t find any quail at the second place where we usually do. We walked into the cover with the puppies and got them to hunt it real well without finding anything so we started to the next covey.
All 3 pups have run here before and they showed it. We got within about 300 yards of the next covey and they made a bee line to it. Gailen ran to keep up with the pups but I don’t run. Gailen said they had flushed the birds before he got there. They were wound up and really hunting. We let them work all of the available cover then moved on to the next area.
It was nearly 3/4 mile to the next bunch of birds and the pups worked the edges real well for their age. As they went around the edge I saw Annie whirl around and go into some tall weeds and brush, then go on point. Before I got to her she moved up and went on point again. When I got closer I could see that she was in a blackberry thicket. She started running through the blackberry canes like she was chasing a rabbit although I didn’t see one. When she came out the other side she was bleeding from the blackberry vines. This is not unusual for bird dogs and anything around the head bleeds a lot. Usually it bleeds for a little while then stops.
We went on toward the next covey but Annie was bleeding more and more. Her neck and chest were covered with blood. We headed for the truck about a mile a way. When we got there the bleeding had not slowed. I put her on the tailgate of the truck to examine her. All I could find was a cut on her ear about 1/4 inch long. Gailen had some stuff that was supposed to stop bleeding so we put some of it on the cut. It worked, the ear stopped bleeding so I put her in the dog box.
When I got home I put Tur Bo in the kennel but I left Annie in the dog box. After taking care of the dogs in the kennel I got Annie out of the box to feed her and checked her over. She eat her food and was no longer bleeding but I decided to let her spend the night in the dog box rather than put her in the kennel. I checked on her a couple of times before going to bed and she was not bleeding.
The next morning when I got up I checked on her and she still wasn’t bleeding so I turned her loose and we started to the kennel. It’s only about 100 yards to the kennel but by the time we got there she was bleeding as bad as she had been the day before. Back to the truck we went. I put her on the tailgate and used the medicine on the cut and it stopped the bleeding again. This time we headed to Independence Animal Hospital.
When Dr. Wingert examined her he could only find a small cut on her ear but he wanted me to leave her and call him later in the day. They were going to have to clean her and clip the hair so they could sew her ear. When I called he said he wanted to keep her over night.
The next morning I called about 10:00 am and was told I could pick her up. When they brought her into the examining room Dr. Wingert showed me another cut on her chest that I didn’t know she had. He had put 3 or 4 stitches in it. He had a bandage on her ear. He said the cut on her ear was only about 1/4 inch long but it had cut an artery. If the cut had been just an eighth of an inch either way it would not have bled much at all.
The medicine that I put on the ear was Wound Powder by Cut Heal Animal Products, Inc. of Cedar Hill, Texas. http://cut-heal.com/ The bottle says “protective dressing for minor cuts, skin irritations and abrasions”. But the medicine stopped the bleeding from an artery in Annie’s ear. It is my opinion that this medicine saved her life. I was lucky that I kept her in the dog box instead of returning her to the kennel because when she was out of the box she would shake her head and get the ear to bleeding again.
I went on line to Cut-Heal web site and did not find Wound Powder in their listing. I called and left a message for them to call me back and but have not heard anything yet. My wife, June, says I’m too impatient but if they call I will put an update on my blog. I hope they are still making the Wound Powder because I never want to be without it.
I could have left Annie in the kennel without hunting her and Rick could have received her a week before he will get her now. I would not have had to pay a $185 vet bill. If I ever get a tattoo it may be “NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED”.