01/11 Dog trialing and pretending to deer hunt

  • by Rick Hill
  • January 12, 2011
  • 336
                        
I knew before we left that we weren't going to spend many hours hunting deer last weekend. By Thursday night we were down to four participants. Cowboy Jon didn't think he should leave the farm with all the snow on the ground, and my brother Howard had the flu. That left four of us to head down to the farm in Jackson. My old fishing buddy Captain Mcnish showed up at my house on Friday at one O;clock, and we got the vehicle loaded and the trailer hooked up. It was then that he informed me that he had no intentions of hunting, and was just going along for the trip. We picked up Randy the French Hater at his house, then drove to Ashland and picked up Birdman Bill. The conversation on the way down convinced me that there probably wouldn't be any deer harvested on this trip. French Hater had already processed several deer that he, and his boys had harvested in gun season, and had already stored his smoker for the season. Seems like we were all going down because it was muzzle loader season, and we always go to the cabin for muzzle loader season. We got down there about 5pm and started the heater in the cabin, then made our customary trip to Walmart for provisions. After eating way too much supper, we proceeded to play cards till 2 am. This made for a fairly late start of the hunt on Saturday. That really didn't matter because it had snowed all night, and the deer never left their beds. We spent a couple of hours looking for tracks, then called it a day when we didn't find any. Supper was followed by more card playing until after midnight. Birdman Bill, and French Hater went out around 8 am Sunday morning and saw a lot of deer. Birdman missed a buck, and French Hater passed on a bunch of does. Around 10 am the Captain, and I took a walk, and saw a buck, and a doe. We had already decided that shooting a deer, and having to process it would screw up a perfectly good weekend, so we didn't take a gun. The trip home was uneventful, and the weekend will officially end the 2010 deer season for all of us. The mailman brought exciting news today. I received the registration for the UFTA World Finals, to be held in February at Town Creek Alabama. Addi and I had a great season in 20010, and finished number 9 out of 476 contestants in the high point dog of the year. We are qualified to run in the Open Pointing class, and will also be running in Doubles Pointing with my partner Lucky Eddie, and his dog Stitch. I am hoping for a better outcome this year than I had last year. This is a big money trial with lots of pressure on the contestants. Last year I drove 15 hours to get there, watched a couple of braces before it was my turn to run. The clock started and I released Addi, she promptly pointed a bird, and the anticipation, and excitement had my heart pounding. We were doing fantastic, the dogs I had been watching took several minutes to point their first bird, and here I was going in for the flush in mere seconds. I walked in on the bird, and located it, nudged it slightly to get it airborne. As it was rising I clicked off the safety on my gun, and swung toward the bird. Using the bum, body, beak, bang method of wing shooting I had learned as a youngster, I shot at the bird! Twice. That was that, in 35 seconds it was all over, and all that was left was the long drive home. I sure hope this year goes better. Catch you later Rick Rick Hill lives in Wayne County with his wife, daughters, and a kennel full of well bred, poorly trained bird dogs. E-mail Rick at rhil8147@embarqmail.com


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