Roper
10-16-2007, 04:37 PM
As I may have mentioned I have always hunted forest grouse primarily, alone and dogless. We have a dog, but she is not a bird dog, just a loving family member. She's smart, sometimes too smart for her own good. She loves to retrieve and if I hunted tennis balls she'd be the best hunting dog one could hope for.
Last week my wife and I went to our "cabin" to spend some time alone, celebrate turning 55, and hunt some grouse. However the "orange bloom" has hit with deer season opening and the trailhead to my usual coverts looked like a KOA campground. Since the deer hunters were going uphill, I decided to head downhill. I headed for the lowland and some valley quail. But wait, I don't have a gundog. Hmmm...
So, just for grins I decided to bring Sasha along. She really doesn't have much of a nose for birds, but then she just might do some thing right, who knows. She knows "whoa" and if she's not in full chase mode on a furry creature she listens.
We geared up with plenty of water as the Okanogan is still fairly warm this year. Several hundred yards into the cover and I spot a section of heavy brush and a maple poking out of the middle. I suspect pheasant instead of quail and wait at the edges as Sasha heads into it. Cackle, cackle, cackle and three roosters emerge overhead, a clear shot at all, but the season doesn't open until the 20th. Sasha repeats a carbon copy move on the next brushy cover with the same results. Next saturday is going to be interesting when we return.
Finally we find some likely cover for quail and sure enough as she busts into it a covey of 10 or so erupt from the cover. The 28ga full of Bismuth 7 1/2's drop two like rocks. Here's where it seemed to unravel. Remember I said Sasha doesn't have a nose for birds...? She has no concept of finding dead or wounded birds either. Some 20 minutes later I had found one but the second seemed to have evaporated into thin air.
Some elements of the game were registering with Sasha, but there's an awful lot she doesn't get. When all was said and done though we had a great time hunting and did bring home at least one bird. It will go on the grill with it's bigger cousins that I managed to bring home the day before.
So with no further fanfare, meet Sasha...
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee195/Roper1952/quailsasha.jpg
Last week my wife and I went to our "cabin" to spend some time alone, celebrate turning 55, and hunt some grouse. However the "orange bloom" has hit with deer season opening and the trailhead to my usual coverts looked like a KOA campground. Since the deer hunters were going uphill, I decided to head downhill. I headed for the lowland and some valley quail. But wait, I don't have a gundog. Hmmm...
So, just for grins I decided to bring Sasha along. She really doesn't have much of a nose for birds, but then she just might do some thing right, who knows. She knows "whoa" and if she's not in full chase mode on a furry creature she listens.
We geared up with plenty of water as the Okanogan is still fairly warm this year. Several hundred yards into the cover and I spot a section of heavy brush and a maple poking out of the middle. I suspect pheasant instead of quail and wait at the edges as Sasha heads into it. Cackle, cackle, cackle and three roosters emerge overhead, a clear shot at all, but the season doesn't open until the 20th. Sasha repeats a carbon copy move on the next brushy cover with the same results. Next saturday is going to be interesting when we return.
Finally we find some likely cover for quail and sure enough as she busts into it a covey of 10 or so erupt from the cover. The 28ga full of Bismuth 7 1/2's drop two like rocks. Here's where it seemed to unravel. Remember I said Sasha doesn't have a nose for birds...? She has no concept of finding dead or wounded birds either. Some 20 minutes later I had found one but the second seemed to have evaporated into thin air.
Some elements of the game were registering with Sasha, but there's an awful lot she doesn't get. When all was said and done though we had a great time hunting and did bring home at least one bird. It will go on the grill with it's bigger cousins that I managed to bring home the day before.
So with no further fanfare, meet Sasha...
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee195/Roper1952/quailsasha.jpg