Pass It On

The local Rod and Gun Club sponsors a youth pheasant and quail hunt and most of you know how much I love to bird hunt and can't wait to pass that on to Macen. So when the club asked for volunteers with bird dogs to help guide some of the kids, I jumped at the chance.

I actually ran two two-hour hunts and at her age that's just about all Maggie can handle. It was also apparent watching the first hunts that there were some guys out there with some really good bird dogs. Maggie's not bad, but as you know she's a house pet who hunts, not a field trial dog, who might be a pet. Maggie's never covered a lot of ground always preferring to hunt slow, close and very thoroughly, well that's gotten even slower and closer with age.

That worked out great for the kids though, I don't think she missed a point on any of the planted pheasants and she pointed most of the quail. That means the kids got lots of shot opportunities and had a great time. The first hunter ended up with 1 pheasant and 2 quail, not too shabby for a youngster on his first bird hunt. The second hunter had been hunting for a year or two so he was little bit more experienced, getting his limit of 2 pheasant and four quail, not something many of the kids accomplished. During the second hunt the quail, which had been planted singlely, started to covey up into groups and when the youngster shot his fourth quail Maggie actually added a fifth to the total as one quail didn't get up as fast as it should of and she caught it just off the ground. Although I wish she wouldn't do that, who needs a shotgun when the dog can catch the birds?

Here's a picture, of me, Maggie, Eli and his dad, Tim, the last group of hunters I took out.

Special thanks to the NRA and Pheasants Forever who provided funds for the birds and prizes for the kids. If you are a hunter pass on the tradition of hunting to your kids or any other kid that is interested in the sport.