Toughest hunt of my life

[Rat Fink]

I was lucky enough to spend the weekend with some good friends at my buddy’s pheasant camp in Montana this weekend. The birds were there but very spooky and not holding well. Certainly a side effect of being hunted hard for a couple of months straight. But we soldiered on. I have been working my 6 month old yellow lab pup Chase. He is a natural. Pure pheasant nightmare all wrapped up in a cute little dark yellow fuzzball. It was his 2nd big weekend at camp and his bird count on roosters is already in the 30's. A mix of flushes and retrieves and some dead bird finds. He tracks, flushes, and retrieves just as his championship bloodlines would suggest. He will be a master of his art by the end of this pheasant season.


Continued on next post...

 

[Rat Fink]

Toughest hunt of my life cont..

But that's not what this weekend was all about. I had a goal in mind. My 6 year old black lab female Suzie, had some unfinished business. She needed to get her last birds. She has an auto-immune disease that has crippled her. The only reason she is alive is because of a high dose of prednisone every day. She has lost 40% of her hair and both of her cruciate ligaments are torn and she can barely walk. It’s kinda like a bow legged waddle. Her legs shake 24/7 because she is so weak and she is barely 45 lbs. Two years ago she was in her prime. Upland, or waterfowl, it didn't matter she was a great dog. She had retrieved more birds in her 6 seasons than most dogs would in two lifetimes. But she loved her Roosters. It was her favorite adversary in the uplands. She deserved her chance to “Get a Roosty”.

The rest of the crew was walking some long ditches, and my pregnant wife was posted up at the end as a blocker for them. That left me alone with the chance to walk the short ditch with Suzie. I wasn’t sure she could do it, but with no snow and mild temperatures it was my only chance to put her on the ground for a hunt. I parked the truck and let her out. It wasn’t her first time on the ground this weekend but the other hunts for her hadn’t produced much action and she didn’t get any retrieves. She had flushed a covey of Huns and we collected two, but she was beat to the birds by other dogs. This hunt it was just me and her. Anything we got was her trophy, her legacy. She was my trusty sidekick since 2006 when I took on a rescue lab pup that needed a home. Then I took her on my great adventure that same year when I moved to Montana to pursue my outdoor pursuits. She was my first hunting dog and we both learned a lot together through many days in the field.

As we started working forward to intersect the short ditch we were to work, I immediately recognized this was going be a good hunt. She was already birdy, and rapidly flagging her little almost hairless rat looking tail. I just held back and let her do her thing. She worked the CRP strip slowly and methodically, just like she had done so many times before. I see her stick her nose in a clump of grass and out comes a hen. Her eyes are glowing with excitement. She is so happy to be flushing birds. We move up the ditch a couple hundred yards and she gets red hot, scrambling in and out of the ditch, working the grassy edges like a champion. I know there’s a bird here by reading her familiar signals. I raise my O/U 12 gauge to port arms, ready for the flush. She moves ahead in the ditch, snorting as she goes. The flush is imminent at this point. Then it happens, a beautiful wild Montana rooster blasts off her nose, I swing to my right, and fire my modified choked barrel. The rooster explodes in a cloud of feathers as the 1 ½ oz of 6 shot knocks him from the air. Suzie marks him in the barley stubble and proceeds to waddle out to him. I couldn’t believe it. We got her last bird. The bird is flopping a little but as soon as she gets to him and opens her mouth to pounce, he runs. She is too slow and can’t keep up. He runs into the ditch and escapes. She tries desperately for 20 minutes to find him. She is a pro at this and I just hang back and let her work. The bird had a lot of leg under him but had a broken wing. He was too much for an old crippled dog. We had to let him go. I was sick. I had let her down on a bird she had worked up so well and made a marginal shot on what should have been an easy bird.

I called her back from the dead bird search, and I could tell she wanted more. She immediately moved up the ditch into the wind hunting again. She was still into it, and I was happy to oblige. I wasn’t expecting much more, as the spot is usually good for one rooster. We made it another 100 yards and she was hot for rooster. I was ready and when that cackling long tail blew out of the grass off her nose he didn’t stand a chance. I let him get out a little and sent some sixes his way and with a puff of feathers in the air and a dull thud as he hit the ground, she marked him and went for the retrieve. She picked up her rooster , and I immediately started to cry. She had given me so much over the years and she was just doing what she was put here to do. She brought him right to hand and I put him in my game bag. She was so happy. “Good Girl Suzie” I barely got out of my mouth.

We kept working up the ditch with Suzie slowing down. I worked at her pace. This was her last hunt, no need to rush her. She worked out into the barley stubble and I called her back over. She went out there again, and I remembered to trust her. She knows what she is doing. I was still choked up and thinking of how she taught me to trust her nose made me well up again with heavy tears. When it comes to finding birds she was always right. Somehow in my blurry visioned state I recognized it was a rooster that she flushed in the stubble just 15 yards away, I swung to my left and dumped him. He was dead in the air, no worries on him. As Suzie went out for the retrieve I broke my gun and slid in another load of sixes. She was working her way back with the rooster and I closed my breech. At the sound another rooster blew out. I was crying too hard to react cleanly and I missed him twice. Well Suzie didn’t mind. She had a rooster in her mouth and was proud. I bagged that bird and we finished out the ditch. We didn’t get any more flushes and when we got to the end Suzie laid in a snow bank she found. She always loved playing in the snow, and she loved her roosters. On her last hunt, she got them both.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Great story. My two Wirehaired Pointings Griffons are 12 years old and really slowing down. One is deaf and the other has bad hips and cann't last more then 20 minutes of hunting. I stopped at a local hunting preserve and ask he would put out 4 birds for us this coming Thursday. I will make it easy on them & let them have some fun.

good luck to all
the dog

 

[fishing4sanity]

Thanks for sharing that story, I'm glad you have so many great memories with your dog. I have to admit your story puts a lump even in the throat of a stranger. Sounds like that new pup will help you with tomorrow's memories.

 

[putm2sleep]

Double lump. Circle of life!

 

[Ben Lamb]

Nicely done Dustin.

 

[stillkickin]

Triple lump! Thanks for sharing your hunt with all of us.

 

[choc dogs]

"So what did you do on your day off" Read hunttalk, shared a cry with the black dog. Thanks for sharing, and I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[Rat Fink]

Thanks guys. She isn't gone yet but the clock on her is ticking pretty fast. This hunt was just yesterday. Writing it up took me right back to the ditch. Been a tough 24 hours thinking about all of the great things this little left behind lab did in her life. I know she is thankful she came from Michigan and got to live her entire hunting career in Montana. With exception to her short hunting career and life, she has been one very lucky dog.

 

[Mikeflies]

What great story. I had a dog like that a couple of yrs ago & had to put him down when I moved to Wyo. I still get choked up when I read stories like this & think of all the good times my Stetson brought me. Take care of her in the last days & be there for her when the time comes. Take care & God Bless,

 

[Marshian]

Suz' was an awesome dog and a great companion. I still remember wrestling on the floor with her and watching her come of age in Wyoming.

 

[Frenchy]

Thanks for sharing! My first dog is 12 and still hunting. Not sure what I'll do when that time comes, but it won't be easy. Kudos to you on making one last hunt with her.

 

[HUNTMAN]

I cried reading this story. I lost my 9 year old lab in August and she was my partner and best friend. God bless you and your 4 legged friend.

 

[jones39]

Man, a story that will make a grown man cry. Thanks for sharing!

 

[BirdDogWebb]

Man.....you brought tears to my eyes. I feel for you. When you can read your dog's next move and she/he can read your next move......well, that makes for some awsome hunts and memories. To have that kind of connection with your hunting dog is a great feeling.
You're a good man to have given her a wonderful hunting life..and a happy "last hunt".
Sorry to hear of her shortened time with you..

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

So cool for you both to have some quality hunting time together in her condition. And the little guy sounds like a champ!
My oldest Brit is 14 now. He still has the heart but his legs don't last long. Last year I took him on a few short hunts and he got me 5 or 6 chukar. This year I take him for real short quail hunts in easy terrain. My wifes yellow Lab is going on 11, still doing pretty good but gets pretty stiff after a hunt. I hate to see them get old.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Good for you to know what it is like, real life, real death.

You could be some d-rod in a Metro apartment without the experience of the last 6 years. You will never forget the entire experience and neither will she.

No better story/experience than that.

 

[Big luke1981]

Great Story, nothing better than some super quality time in the field with a great friend. That hunt will be one you will both remember forever. Thanks for sharing..

 

[nvhunter2]

geez i'll be crying for a week now!

Congrats to you and Suzie!

Damn fine story!!!!!!

 

[bnkwnto]

Thanks for the write up. It def brought a tear to my eye.