Today was one of those days you’ll remember for seasons to come. We got a skiff of snow overnight, so I had to get out chukar hunting. I took Allie my yellow lab, a client’s one year old German shorthair (Abby) and another client’s 5-month old black lab puppy (Sophie). The weather was sunny, calm and mild; you couldn’t ask for nicer. I have been roading all of these dogs for a month now and it really showed. The older dogs got out and covered ground and found birds. The puppy stayed at my feet all day, but she climbed over and through some of the roughest terrain without complaint. All of their feet held up well.
My hunting partner and I had to work hard and cover miles of nasty, rocky, steep terrain but we each were able to shoot a limit. Abby (GSP) was my star today. She had four beautiful points, one that she held for a long time; my buddy had just shot his fifth bird and we were standing there telling stories and I didn’t realize she had moved off and found birds. When I found her, only 20 yards away she was locked up, standing on a rock looking down into a small sagebrush-grass patch. As I waded in two birds came up. I connected with the first one and saw a double coming together. In my excitement, I snap shot the second and of course, missed.
A funny thing happened when we were crossing a talus boulder slide following a covey. All three dogs got birdy and started digging down a crevice in the rocks. I thought for sure it was a rabbit. Just as I got over the hole, out came a chukar right in all of our faces. Luckily I was able to connect and all of us had a good laugh. Sophie, the pup, really got keyed up. You could see the wheels turning on that one. It was great to see her visibly getting excited at the sound of the shotgun. She is starting to catch on.
The day ended with a beautiful sunset as we were cleaning birds enjoying a great day.
