I have been working Sally and Mann on retrieving, when it’s cool enough to get dogs out. A friend and I were talking about needing retrievers. I really hate to lose a wounded bird. I will look for a long time and come back a second or even third time, if it’s not found. Years ago I had a male dog, named Rusty, that just loved to retrieve.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
Rusty, when we got through with a hunt and got close to the truck, would retrieve beer or soda cans, lying along the road. I had to carry these to the truck. If I dropped them he would get them again. I usually took them to the truck to dispose of them in a trash receptible.
A friend, Kermit Maxwell, and I were hunting in south Missouri. It had rained quite a bit the night before and there was a lot of water standing. We had found several coveys and were working on some singles. Kermit knocked a bird down that he couldn’t find. I got Rusty in to hunt dead. We weren’t coming up with the bird. There were some holes that were filled with water near where Kermit kept saying, “it fell right here”. I didn’t see it, but he got Rusty close to one of those holes and told him to hunt dead.
Pretty soon he was saying, “He got it. He ran his head completely under water and got that bird! He ran his head far enough his collar is wet.” Kermit never forgot that retrieve. Evidently, I haven’t forgotten either. That was over 30 years ago.
Another time Kermit and I were hunting in northern Missouri. I had an old dog that the kids had named Scamp. Scamp was a good bird dog but he didn’t retrieve. He would hunt dead but just roll the bird around and go back to hunting. But occasionally he would pick a bird up and I knew he was going to be buried.
Kermit had knocked down a bird that we never found. A little later I killed one and Scamp picked it up. I told Kermit to watch him. He carried the bird about 15 yards and dug a hole, dropped the bird into the hole and took his nose and covered the bird. We always said he gave it a pat with his foot before he left, but I’m not sure. Kermit said that was probably what happened to his bird, that we lost.
I was hunting a place in central Kansas with some young dogs. I had just bought a 16 gauge L. C. Smith double. I had carried it for the last few hunts and had a string going. I hadn’t missed for about 7 or 8 birds. This is better than I normally shoot but I wanted to keep the string going. One of the young dogs pointed and when I flushed the covey they flew from my left around to my right. The way the brush was I only got one shot and missed, so I thought. As I stood there reloading and thinking about my string ending one of these young dogs brought me a totally dead quail. It was just an unlucky quail, not the one I was shooting at but the string continued.
Now I will tell you about Lady. As a first year puppy she retrieved. Until the last day of the season. From the first day of the season she had retrieved and seemed to love to retrieve. But on the last day of the season she wouldn’t even look for the dead birds.
Abby.
I knew I had to do something. I liked having a retriever. I built a retrieving bench and started force breaking her to retrieve, something I had never done before. In about 2 weeks she was force broke. She would retrieve anything, anytime. I thought I was pretty good trainer. Nothing to this force breaking. I have learned since that, I probably made lots of mistakes, and all dogs don’t train this quickly.
The next season I was hunting shortly after spending 4 days in the hospital with pneumonia. I didn’t have a lot of energy but I needed to get out and get the dogs out. We had found a couple of coveys and as we came up a deep draw, with the dogs well out in front of me, a single quail flushed in front of me. When I shot it fell into the deep draw. The dogs were far enough ahead of me that they didn’t come in. It was 15 feet or more straight down and I knew I could get down in there but might not have the strength to get back out. I called Lady.
When she came in I waved my hand in that direction and said, “hunt dead, hunt dead”. She went into the draw and came right back with the bird. She hadn’t seen it fall but I was able to send her pretty close to where it fell.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
Don Bolen and I were hunting near Abilene Kansas. We had been out for a while when I knocked a rooster pheasant down. Lady was out hunting but we had another couple of dogs close. They looked and looked and didn’t find the bird. The cover wasn’t that bad. I called Lady. She came into the area and went right on through. Don said, “she’s not even going to look. She left.” With less confidence than I tried to convey, I told him she’ll come back with the bird. And in a couple of minutes she came back proudly carrying the rooster.
Vince Dye and I were hunting in south Kansas. We had just turned the dogs loose when he said, “bet a quarter on the first rooster.” I agreed. We hadn’t gone 50 yards when a rooster pheasant flushed in front of us and I knocked it down. I knew it wasn’t hit very hard but Lady saw it hit the ground. They went through the brush in a hurry. I had a GPS on her and was watching her chase the rooster.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
The GPS showed Lady at over a hundred yards away. About that time Vince said, “Roxie’s on point.” I checked the GPS and Lady was getting closer. We went to Roxie. She had a covey of quail. I don’t remember hitting a bird but Vince did. Roxie was coming in with Vince’s bird and I could see it was a rooster quail. About a second before Roxie got to Vince, Lady dropped the pheasant in my hand. She must have had quite a fight. That rooster had no tail feathers and very few of it’s other feathers. But I got Vince’s quarter.
Another time Vince and I were in the same area. One of our dogs pointed and when we flushed them they all came my way without giving Vince a shot. I only shot once and I saw a bird fall. Lady saw the bird fall and went to retrieve. On her way back I saw her head snap to the side but she brought me the bird. I told Vince I bet there was another dead bird. Lady dropped the bird in my hand and went back and brought another bird that we hadn’t even seen fall.
Mann pointing a pigeon.
I gave lady a head off all of the quail she retrieved. She would wait for them. As she got older and other dogs got to the quail first and made the retrieve she still came in for the head. It was just what she charged for her services. She’s been gone for a long time but I still miss her.