First hunt and first point

[Jacob Duke]

Saturday my dad and I took my 3 year old son on his first hunt. His first question when he saw the hunting gear ready to be loaded was “where’s my gun?” Needless to say he was disappointed when we told him he was a bit young for that. When I was a kid dad would let me carry a pocket knife which made me feel like Daniel Boone. So in keeping with family tradition John got his first knife for this hunt. It’s the smaller old timer stockman similar to what my grandfather from whom John got his middle name always carried. The first picture below is he and his big sister proudly showing off their respective arms.

This was also the first successful hunt for my 8 month old GSP. I had taken her on multiple walks with a Parker in search of scaled quail and dusky grouse on public land, but unfortunately no birds were found. So Saturday we decided to stack the odds in her favor with released quail. She pointed the first one at about 2 feet. After that it was like a switch flipped and she suddenly understood that her purpose in life was to point birds which she did at a more respectful distance. All in all it was a great day with three generations of my family.