The End of The Season

by Chris Robinson

It began in October when we would ordinarily be headed for Saskatchewan. What few stunted deciduous trees exist in the southwestern part of the province where we hunt would have lost most of their leaves by this time. This means that the predominant colors in the area would be the gold of wheat and barley stubble broken up occasionally by the brown of harvested pea vines. Instead, we opened the season 850 miles to the south and east where everything–leaves, grass, trees–was still a deep shade of green. And, in place of white-fronted geese, we were hunting mallard ducks.

The reasons for this dramatic change were twofold. First, the dog ran into some extremely difficult hunt tests last summer. A friend who, like me, was a long time judge of retriever field events including, in her case, field trials, when I described one test the dog had encountered had the same reaction as did I, “That’s absolutely crazy!” That crazy test and several subsequent crazy tests destroyed Bo’s confidence in his ability to find birds. The best possible way to repair the damage done by the hunt tests was to put him in situations where he couldn’t help but find birds.

The second reason was related to the first. There are no limits, other than what your bank balance can stand, on the number of birds that can be shot for the dog at a shooting preserve and he needed birds. Not only did he need birds but he also needed to learn to hunt, for in so doing, he’d learn where and how birds hide and he’d learn to persevere in his search for them. He’d also develop a much more productive search pattern for a downed bird than the random technique he was using. While I missed the annual trip north of the border, this was a case where the needs of the dog took priority over the desires of the dog’s owner.

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Posted by Alex on Apr 20 2018. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.