I must be getting soft

[BRDHNTR]

So, today, after a good rainstorm came thru plymouth, the sun came out and i decided to take Sophie, my english setter to the the quail fields at myles standish state park here in plymouth. I figured that with a strong sun out after a hard rain would have any quail out in the fields to dry off. In the first quail field, i put sophie down and a hundred yards down field she makes a solid point. I walk over to her, make my approach to her at an angle to her side so she sees me. I get in and the quail flushes. I shoot it. One bird down. Sophie breaks, runs over to where the bird is, picks it up and brings it in to me. Good dog, good dog sophie i say. I swear she is smiling at me now! We go to the next field and about halfway down field she goes in point again. I make my approach. The quail flush, all 8 or 10 of them at once! I bring the parker 20 ga to my shoulder and just stand there in wonderment watching all these birds take to wing. I couldn't pull the trigger. It was just to stirring a moment for me. We worked the cover over looking for additional birds but none were located. On the way out I stopped in at the ranger headquarters to get a map of the pheasant fields. Ended up giving my lone quail to the headquarters secretary who apparently loves game cooking. I kept thinking about that covey that sophie located and that i just didn't have the heart to shoot even though i had already taken one bird. I must be getting soft in my advancing age...