doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Aging bird dogs

The others made some unkindly remarks about old dogs and the need to put them down when they can't hunt anymore.

Jesus..........Around the crowd that I hunt with there would probably be a fight over that!and I do not mean verbal.

Gob Bless ya'll. Remember GOD is DOG backwards

Great postings Hairy and Brian--and KMc,Im with you on that! My old boy is 12 now and its up to me to limit him as he thinks hes still 2.

I lost my first English Springer last March after 14 great years. Her last couple of seasons were tough for her physically but her heart was always strong. It would always break my heart when I left her behind. But I knew I would not be able to stop her from hurting heself. I would only let her hunt for less than an hour, sometimes only 15 minutes, in the final days. You could see how proud she was if she found a bird for me. I am glad I got her out even if it was only for a short hunt. We had that special bond right until her last breath. The picture is the last bird she ever got. It only took her 10 minutes to find it. I'll never forget her.

Bill G.

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Think you spell it Airborne with the e- not airborn (like a baby in a vaccum chamber just uttering its first cry). What is a Preachers' Collar- anything like the Pope's nose??

Opened the pheasant season today with my 7 year old, Jack and his kennel mate, Bleu - age 13. Bleu's hardly lost a step, though I now have to lift him in and out of the truck. He's tired and creaky tonight, so I gave him a Rimadyl this evening, and in the morning, I'll give him another if he looks like he needs it. Other than that I only have one thing that I do - every hunt that he makes, I look to the skies at the end of the hunt and thank God for blessing me with one more hunt with my old friend and for blessing Bleu with one more time doing what he lives to do.

In the beginning, they hunt for you. In the end you hunt for them

This is the best statement yet, one that i will use, thank you.
Mack and I sat and watched the Alabama/Tennessee game, me scratching his head. Espn showed the Tennessee dog and he howled, Mack raised up and growled. I think he said Roll Tide!
He limps pretty bad now, It makes me sad.
Thanks for the great posts.
Chuck

Chux,
Thanks. It just popped into my head. I guess it can be attributed to my first Springer. She hunted like hell for 12 years and then went deaf. if she saw me in my hunting clothes or a gun in my hand she turned herself inside out trying to go. i couldnt not take her. No matter how slow we had to hun or how long I had to wait for her since she wouldnt recall anymore, it didnt matter. The last bird she killed, she was half blind and stone deaf but boy did that nose still work. Had a Pheasant in the field behind the house that cam eout. I saw it. an and got my gun and her. got her on him and her tail went from 0-60 in about .5 seconds. She flushed it, I shot it (luckily I actually hit him) and dropped it. She was on it and brought it back. That retrieve is etched in my brain, never to be forgotten. i can see the bird in her mouth, her steps slow and careful, that gleam in her eye and the wag of her tail. She of course did what she did the last few years and that was to stop about 6 feet away and make me come to her. How the hell do you not do that? I know, make them complete the retrieve, but the heck with it. she found it, fetched it up and okay, I ended up the one to move. she layed there, panting, stretched out, tail going, happy as can be. that was the last bird and last hunt. I had to put her down a couple of months after that due to cancer. but, that last bird..........

FOX-Most adult rooster pheasants here in Minnesota have a preachers collar i.e. ringneck pheasant. Although, I have seen photos on the Upland Journal website of birds without the white ring.

As far as the nose goes , I had never heard that related to pheasants until about four years ago. I am 56 and have been around pheasnt hunters since I was 11 years old.

Bill-Nice looking spaniel. I love watching that final push a flusher puts forth to get the bird in the air. By the way, is that a LeFever you are holding?

Hairy

I went to a coon dog funeral last week in Cherokee Alabama. Those folks know how to send a dog off. About a hundred people there, barbeque dinner afterwards. Writing a story about it soon. Neat day in the heart of Dixie.

Best, Dick

PS When my Ernie got too old to hunt, I took him to a game preserve ocasionally and shot some put a take birds, He probably knew we were cheating, but he pretended not to notice.