Joined
·
4,216 Posts
When you think of what's been described here as your heart dog is there any one thought or memory that comes to mind?
I know it's hard...there are so very many....but one of the thoughts that always comes to my minds eye is the day we were quail hunting along a beautiful little creek not far from where I live. I'd trained Sammie from the get go to be a hunting / fly-fishing dog. I'd been raised with setters and hunted over them for years and years. I was determined to teach Sammie everything I knew but Sammie was a retriever not a pointer...
The hunting I'd done with the setters was always at a club where the birds for the most part were always put out before you started the hunt. Having moved to the mountains and not being able to afford the club hunting of my past we were going to have to go after wild birds somewhat of a new area for me.
Old Sammie was a quick learner not that I didn't spend many, many hours training her but she did pick things up quickly. I can't begin to tell you how many days / years we spent looking for mountain quail and not finding any. But it didn't really matter as this just gave me a reason to get out with my dog and comb the country side in some very beautiful area's quote, unquote looking for quail. And of course when ever Sammie saw the gun or the fly rod her eyes lit up.
My focus has always been on fly-fishing and Sammie was much more
familiar with trout than birds...
One beautiful fall evening after walking the stretch of creek described above I'd pretty much given up when on the hike in all of a sudden a covey of quail flew across our path. I'd picked up an old relic of some kind along the way so I wasn't anywhere near ready to get a shot off. I dropped whatever it was I was carrying and brought the gun to my shoulder much too late to get a shot off when all of a sudden a second covey flew across our path...I couldn't believe it but this time I did get a shot off as they flew into the steep hillside on my left. I could have sworn I'd seen some feathers fly as the birds disappeared into the trees and brush. So I sent Sammie up the slope to search the area for this bird I though I might have hit.
Sammie had never seen a quail before let alone retrieve one, all the training I'd done was with dummies. But she knew from the training we'd done over and over that once the gun was shot there was something to retrieve...somewhere. She went up the side of that hill like there was no tomorrow and worked it back and forth. I was thinking maybe it was leaves I'd seen and not feathers and had pretty much given up when all of a sudden Sammie froze on the hillside and looked down at me. I'll never forget that look...I thought maybe she'd found a tennis ball or stick, god only knew, so I told her to fetch it up and I'll be ****** if she didn't come down that hillside with a quail in her mouth. I was so excited for her I almost fell over. I'll never forget that moment and to this day I still get chills thinking about it. She was quite a girl...
So how about you.... any memories you'd like to share?
Pete
I know it's hard...there are so very many....but one of the thoughts that always comes to my minds eye is the day we were quail hunting along a beautiful little creek not far from where I live. I'd trained Sammie from the get go to be a hunting / fly-fishing dog. I'd been raised with setters and hunted over them for years and years. I was determined to teach Sammie everything I knew but Sammie was a retriever not a pointer...
The hunting I'd done with the setters was always at a club where the birds for the most part were always put out before you started the hunt. Having moved to the mountains and not being able to afford the club hunting of my past we were going to have to go after wild birds somewhat of a new area for me.
Old Sammie was a quick learner not that I didn't spend many, many hours training her but she did pick things up quickly. I can't begin to tell you how many days / years we spent looking for mountain quail and not finding any. But it didn't really matter as this just gave me a reason to get out with my dog and comb the country side in some very beautiful area's quote, unquote looking for quail. And of course when ever Sammie saw the gun or the fly rod her eyes lit up.
My focus has always been on fly-fishing and Sammie was much more
familiar with trout than birds...
One beautiful fall evening after walking the stretch of creek described above I'd pretty much given up when on the hike in all of a sudden a covey of quail flew across our path. I'd picked up an old relic of some kind along the way so I wasn't anywhere near ready to get a shot off. I dropped whatever it was I was carrying and brought the gun to my shoulder much too late to get a shot off when all of a sudden a second covey flew across our path...I couldn't believe it but this time I did get a shot off as they flew into the steep hillside on my left. I could have sworn I'd seen some feathers fly as the birds disappeared into the trees and brush. So I sent Sammie up the slope to search the area for this bird I though I might have hit.
Sammie had never seen a quail before let alone retrieve one, all the training I'd done was with dummies. But she knew from the training we'd done over and over that once the gun was shot there was something to retrieve...somewhere. She went up the side of that hill like there was no tomorrow and worked it back and forth. I was thinking maybe it was leaves I'd seen and not feathers and had pretty much given up when all of a sudden Sammie froze on the hillside and looked down at me. I'll never forget that look...I thought maybe she'd found a tennis ball or stick, god only knew, so I told her to fetch it up and I'll be ****** if she didn't come down that hillside with a quail in her mouth. I was so excited for her I almost fell over. I'll never forget that moment and to this day I still get chills thinking about it. She was quite a girl...
So how about you.... any memories you'd like to share?
Pete