Not just for the birds

Tag: brittany bird dogs

  • Pad Problem

    Pad Problem

    Not all it’s cracked up to be

    Peat’s right rear pad has been bugging him for a while now, and I thought I’d see if I could get a boot on it so we could look for birds today since hell hasn’t frozen over yet. Leslie decided to video the experience (see below).

    Obviously, the boot was a no-go. I’m not sure what to do. My friend Rob wraps his dog’s feet in vet wrap and duct tape, so I tried that. It was much less bulky and problematic to Peat, but still he hated it. Ideally, we’d let the pad recover, but I’m not sure that, (a) it would recover before the season ended, and (b) if we or he could sustain that much down time. He needs exercise, and we need him to have that exercise.

    The cracks appear to be pretty deep, but there’s no oozing and he really doesn’t squirm much when we prod and palpate it. But he was limping pretty badly last night, although putting weight on it, which made me think his hip might be bugging him since we’ve seen him hopping around on three feet quite a bit since all this started, keeping his right rear foot off the ground. He’s not limping today, thankfully. I also need to remind myself that here, halfway through the season, he’s run 373.8 miles so far.

    Any suggestions on a quick, miracle cure of a pretty split up pad?

  • Leslie Bags Her First Chukar

    Leslie Bags Her First Chukar

    She did it

    They said it couldn’t be done. They said it was impossible. They said, well, they said lots of things I can’t repeat. But the one thing they didn’t say was, “She’ll never give up because she’s as stubborn as an Appalachian mule.” So today, Leslie proved them all right and wrong and bagged her first chukar. Two months into her first season, at age 55 and never having shot a gun until August, any chukar hunter will tell you this is an accomplishment-and-a-half.

    Both dogs were birdy, and Leslie was above me. Peat flushed four chukar just in front of Leslie, who – because she has learned to decipher the degrees of birdiness in our dogs – was expectant. I saw the birds go at the same time I heard the shot, but didn’t see it fall. It took Leslie a few moments to say to me, “I think I got one.” It was almost as if she couldn’t believe it. Then Angus made a beeline down the slope and lifted his head with a mouthful of feathers. Initially he headed to me, but Leslie called him and he changed course and brought it right to her hand. What made me feel even better than the pride I felt for Leslie was seeing her smile, like a curse had been lifted. She looked at the bird, which she’d killed instantly with her 20-gauge, 1 oz., 7-1/2 shot load, and thanked it for its life, something I’ve gotten away from doing, regrettably.

    Chukar Country Trifecta

    We continued on for another 2 hours or so, and she got off a couple more shots but didn’t connect. I managed a Hun and a Dusky grouse, so a three-species day in mid-November on a year that was supposed to be meager from last winter’s massive snowfall ain’t bad. Yesterday was a good day, too, in another spot where we saw lots and lots of chukar and bagged a couple. So there you have it!