I have been watching the weather for a while, wanting to go somewhere cooler with lots of birds. I picked Nebraska when the chicken season opened. I watched the long range weather forecasts for several areas and decided on Nebraska. The weather forecast was for good weather this week, for working dogs.
Boss on the place board.
Abby on the place board.
Josie on the place board.
My plan was to leave early, Monday morning of the 7th of September. It’s about a 9 hour drive to where I wanted to go. Leave at 4:00 am and get there in time for an afternoon hunt. Thursday morning of the third of September when I went out to clean pens Mann was carrying a foot. Not just lifting it off the ground but with the foot as high as it would go.
As soon as I saw it I knew he was hurting. I took him to the vet, immediately. With Covid 19 going on it’s hard to see a vet. When I got there after a short wait Mann was taken into the vets office. A few minutes later the vet called on my cell phone and said he didn’t see anything wrong. Just a sore muscle. He gave him a shot and some pills and said to keep him quiet for 5 days.
I could have gone on hunting but I knew I would worry too much about him so I stayed home. Sunday, the sixth of September, He wasn’t much better. I thought, “I’ll take him back to the vet Monday.” I thought that all day. Then it dawned on me that Monday was a holiday. The vet’s office wasn’t open. I’ll do Tuesday was my next thought.
Monday evening I could see quite a bit of progress in him. Tuesday morning he was back to his old self, I think. This morning he was definitely in good shape but I still won’t run him for a while. I have a few more pills to give then I’ll start running him. That is one big worry off my mind.
The cool weather hit not only Nebraska but Missouri as well. Tuesday the 8th of September I took Abby, Josie and Boss to a Missouri conservation area. Abby and Josie hunted some last year but they didn’t get into a lot of birds. Boss has never been run anywhere other than right here on my place.
Last year I found a covey on this Conservation area so that was the first place I turned out. I put e-collars on each of them and GPS collars. Abby and Josie went with me pretty well from the start but Boss wasn’t happy about the ride in the dog box. His idea was to stay away from me. I called him as I walked away and he finally got in front of me.
It’s early and the crops haven’t been harvested. There was corn on one side and soy beans on the other with a mowed path between. We started down the path and the dogs stayed on it most of the time. We’ve had a lot of rain this year and the cover was really thick. None of these dogs really understand what they are doing.
Sally pointing a covey of quail.
I went off into the thick cover and the dogs went in front for a ways. It didn’t take long until Boss was letting me break trail for him. I encouraged him to get in front. We made a circle then went through a milo patch and back to the truck. I loaded them up and we went to another area.
The next place was near one of the dove fields on this area. We went along the edge of a soy bean field and on toward the north. We took this a long way to another parking lot on the edge of the Conservation area. I thought I could make a huge circle and come back to the truck but the way was blocked by some deep ravines and deep woods so we returned down a low maintenance road.
A mile down the road we cut back through some really thick cover. All 3 dogs were staying really close to me. Finally, we got out into some shorter ragweed fields and made it back to the mowed trail that we had come down. We went through a milo field that had about as many black berry vines as milo stalks.
It had been a real fine mist on us most of time we had been out so when we got back to the truck I loaded the dogs and we went home.
The dogs had stayed in front of me pretty well. The few times I had to call them they responded quickly. For the first run of the year I thought it went well.
Mann honoring Sally’s point.
When we got home I parked the truck at the house and turned all 3 dogs loose. They ran to the kennel area before I even got around the house. The dogs have all ran to the pigeon house to eat pigeon poop. I’ve been trying to get them not to do this. Now I have an electric wire around the pigeon pen right off the ground. Abby ran to the pigeon coop first and ran her nose right into the wire. She yelped and ran toward the back of the yard. Almost a quarter of a mile. She thought I did it. She finally came to me and I put her in the kennel.
Vince Dye wanted to run dogs with me but he had other obligations so he called last night wanted to know how I did. He suggested that we go today. The forecast was for rain but he thought we could maybe run dogs between rain showers. I wasn’t sure.
Vince called this morning and I said it looked too rainy for me. I sat around for a while and thought if it rains I can’t do anything with the dogs. I may as well be up there and if it rains it’s no big deal. If it doesn’t rain we can run dogs. I called Vince back and said, “I’m on my way”.
Mann on point and Sally honoring.
We parked the truck on some private land owned by a friend of Vince’s. Just as we got out, before we let a dog out, it started raining real hard. We got back in the truck. A few minutes later it slowed down so we got out and turned dogs loose.
This place is a CRP field next to some row crops. As we went down a fence row I told Vince I thought I saw a quail fly behind us on the other side of the fence row. He checked his GPS and his shorthaired pointer, Allie, was on point about 45 yards from us. When we got close she was moving but she didn’t want to leave that spot.
Abby and Josie were out front hunting pretty well but Boss was just a few yards ahead of me. He would make a run but turn and come back. As we came around the end of the field he saw a barn swallow flying across in front of him. He chased it. Pretty soon he saw another and chased it.
When we got across the field from where we thought the covey had got up all 3 of my dogs got really excited. Allie, Vince’s dog was off in another direction. But right there Boss changed. Between chasing the barn swallows and smelling something, he started hunting.
Vince going to Indy’s point a couple of years ago.
We had gone around the edge of the CRP for about a mile when we saw Vince’s dog, Allie, go on point. Then she moved about 5 yards and pointed again. I’ve worked Abbie and Josie on the backing dog but it didn’t work for this. I saw Josie back for just a second but with Abbie still moving she moved up, too. Boss started toward Allie and just before he got to her he pointed. Abby ran by Allie and pointed.
I’m not sure where Josie was. She may have been pointing, also. About that time a deer stood up and snorted. When the doe started out of the edge of the woods she wasn’t moving very fast until Josie ran at her. The deer snorted and ran toward Josie. Josie thought she was in real trouble and screamed and came toward me. The deer took off across the field with all of the dogs right behind her.
Usually, I turn the e-collar all the way up and really light the dogs up when they chase deer. If they become confirmed deer chasers they can get run over crossing roads or they can just spend all of their time chasing. Because these dogs are younger I didn’t turn it all the way up. I hit Abby first and because of her getting the shock from the pigeon house yesterday she came right back.
Austin and Joker.
Josie and Boss went out of sight down the fence row. According to the GPS they were well over 200 yards. I only shocked them for about 5 seconds each and only one time. I called them a couple of times and they came back. With the e-collar I can break them later. Vince got on Allie pretty quick and she came right back.
We worked around and followed along the edge of the road through the CRP back to the truck. We loaded the dogs and drove around looking at other properties.
Today made a big difference in Boss. He learned to get out and search for birds even though he never actually found any. It also helped Abby and Josie. I was really pleased with the way the dogs acted. I’m glad I went.