First Blood

[C.O.B.]

As I stepped into the inky blackness of predawn Saturday morning to let Daisy have her pre breakfast constitutional the stars shown like a million diamonds and a hard frost was revealed in the beam of the flashlight. I didn't need to be clubbed over the head to know this was a morning for bird dogs, Parkers and Pheasants.

Time clicked ever so slowly as I awaited what I thought an appropriate hour to call Tim at the Haymarsh to see if he could fit me in on such late notice on a weekend. At 7am I couldn't take it any longer and made the call. He gave me four fields totaling 160 acers. I dug deep into my pocket and forked over my hard earned funds for the required three bird release. As I prepared gear, dogs and Parker I kicked myself for not having the forsight to have done this last night as I was burning daylight getting things in order and I could have already been there enjoying the morning.

I selected a gun I haven't used befor other than to shoot a round of Sporting Clays. It's a DHE 20 procured from one of our members (membership does have it's perks) but with a couple of oddities in that it was ordered with a 15 inch LOP and sling swivels! Now I ask you, who would put sling swivels on a 20 guage Parker?

Age has it's privledges and Gunner hit the ground first and he made the most of his opportunity nailing a Rooster in short order. My first shot a game with the Parker folded the bird but he landed is a cattail slew much to my dismay and he wasn't hit that well either. Gunner undaunted by the task at hand hunted dead and pointed the very much alive bird. I sloshed through the water and as the bird tried to run Gunner made the retrieve. Gunner and I hunted for an hour or so but didn't come up with another bird. Some good points but these birds are runners and all we had was one wild flush and that bird was never seen again.

Daisy was voiceing her imense displeasure at being left behind so we headed back to give her a turn. She had managed to enlarge one of the holes in the door as she tried to eat her way out of the dog box. We don't call her "Crazy Daisy" for nothing. We covered a lot of ground befor she found her first bird. It was point, crawl to relocate, point, crawl etc for a solid 50 yards untill she froze solid and didn't move. I walked in and flushed another rooster and the right barrel brought him down and Daisy found her prize. By now the sun was high in the sky and the morning frost was long gone. To complicate matters there wasn't a breath of breeze to help the dogs along in the quest for feathered prey. It was 12:30 when Daisy located her second bird and it was another runner. This was a hen the that I saw run out from a clump of brush Daisy was pointing. This bird was a track star as she hit a two track like she was trying to qualify the the Pheasant Olympics. Peseraverance and good dog work brought her to the game vest.

We had our three birds, all the dogs got a chance to get in the field and the Parker made its game debut successfully. A better morning couldn't have been had.

[C.O.B.]

A few more pictures.

[Brush Buster]

Rich ,Looks like a great day out !! Beautiful pictures and a nice looking Parker , years ago I ask the same question when some one showed a small bore with sling swivels ," Why a sling on a 20 Ga. gun ??? I had a lot of replies about that ,if I remember the post correctly one fella said he would sling the gun and pull a sled with him to the top of the hill ,hunt ,sling the gun and then ride it back down the hill ! Russ

[10ga Hammer]

Richard, Great lookin dogs, and a wonderful story to go with the morning coffee.

[ch]

Thoes dogs related look a lot alike.

[charlie cleveland]

i could see the frost and all those glittering diamonds...what a rush those are fine looking dogs and what a hunt only thing that could have been better was if each and every one us thad read this could have been along.... charlie

[C.O.B.]

Calvin the dogs are not related. The first picture is Gunner age 14 the other dog is Daisy age 6. They would have made great puppies but unfortunatly both are nuetered.

[Pheasant Slayer]

Gotta love a great hunting story A+. Thanks for the photos....