Field Work Can Also Be An Endurance Sport

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330 – May, 2023

By Chris Robinson

Bet you never viewed working with your dog in the field as an endurance sport. Well, it is or at least there are times when it seems to be. Most of my personal marathons have occurred during hunts for game birds but others have recounted tales of similar protracted exertion and fatigue while foxhunting, hunting jackrabbits with sighthounds and even chasing rodents with Cairn Terriers.

Several of my personal endurance tests occurred when I was hunting upland birds with my late, long-time Nebraska hunting partner. Bill was the assistant chief of wildlife for the state for a number of years and, as such, spent most of each day in his office. As nearly as I could determine, the only real exercise he got five days a week was walking to his kennels to feed and play with his Brittanys and then walking over to the barn to feed the horses. On top of that, he was a very heavy smoker. By rights he should have been totally gassed within a half hour of upland bird hunting. Instead, put a shotgun in his hand, a couple of Brits on the ground ahead of him and he turned into an world-class walker possessing unlimited stamina.

I particularly recall one time near the end of a four hour “forced march” when the only breaks had been very brief indeed and lasted just long enough to take one of the half dozen quail or three pheasants we had harvested that morning from my dog. All nine of the birds now occupied space in my game vest and through some unknown process had gradually gotten heavier to the point where even the tiny quail weighed at least 100 pounds.

Summoning the very last wisp of energy remaining somewhere within me, as that tank had hit the “E” mark at least a half hour earlier, I dragged Bill to a halt. Since my memory was suffering from serious oxygen starvation at the time, I can’t be completely sure of what I said but, as nearly as I can recall, the conversation went something like this minus what I’m sure was also a liberal sprinkling of profanity:

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330 – May, 2023

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