et1
Member
Posts: 120
Location: Ontario Canada
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Post by et1 on Jul 11, 2014 20:02:13 GMT -5
Yep another Shadow Adventure tale but this time pheasants are the quarry. I would have to say this was both our favorite quarry to hunt together. Not to mention Shadow loved a helping of pheasant giblets in his diet as this was his reward.
It was getting later in the fall where leaves had turned colors and some were already down. Being a nice cool and sunny day I took my hunting buddy and went out for a stab at pheasants. I arrived at a meadow surrounded by trees and lot of brush that was good hiding for pheasants as well as a food source for berries.
As soon as we started into the meadow Shadow showed excitement and took off on a scent. Hot dig-gidee we were going to get rewarded with a bird. He began following the perimeter of the meadow as if in hot pursuit and there were multiple times he was totally visible and I saw no bird movement in front of him. I started to believe a bird was here but vamoosed just before we arrived. Once Shadow was around the meadow perimeter ¾’s of way I put my shotgun in a one hand hold getting ready to move.
Eventually he changed course and was coming right at me. When he got to say within 10ft of me there was an explosion of wings not more than 3ft from me. All this time a bird was so close to me and I didn’t realize it. Being caught off guard I missed a first hurried shot but managed to settle done and tag the bird with a second shot just before it got out of range. Shadow went immediately and retrieved the bird. When he released the bird he gave me a funny look that I read “Now do you believe me and that I am not fooling with you?”
I just naturally responded “Yep, I’m now a believer, so let’s get another one”.
Ed
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bob
Member
I'm too old to be nice but never too old to learn!
Posts: 1,457 
Location: Northern California
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Post by bob on Jul 11, 2014 22:58:01 GMT -5
Ed: Never doubt the dog! I was standing on a rice check ( a ridge about 2' high about 1-1/2' wide at the top and maybe 6' wide at the base,a small levee,) Maverick was "pointing" at my feet,I could not see anything but after a minute a gawdy rooster jumped and took off from my feet, Maverick made a nice retreive and I was happy. To this day replaying it over and over in my mind and in talking to my hunting partner we do not know where that bird was but he was there.
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et1
Member
Posts: 120
Location: Ontario Canada
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Post by et1 on Jul 12, 2014 5:33:24 GMT -5
Bob
I have to admit that developing complete faith in my dog’s abilities was a major adjustment I had to make because of the years I hunted without one. What finally convinced me to begin letting go was another hunt shortly thereafter.
While working another section of land that usually held a few birds a huge cock bird flushed and I smoked him. There were so many feathers in the air that if you collected them you could have made a small pillow case or so it appeared. To me that was one dead bird. Shadow went after him happily with a full head of steam. The bird dropped out of sight and I thought this should be an easy retrieve.
As I listened to his progress I could hear his tags banging together but the sound then softened as he was gaining distance. My first thought was that he got on another live scent and over ran the downed bird. So I visually marked where the bird fell and was going to show my buddy where it was when he returned.
My wait was a good 10-minutes before I recognized the sound of tags banging together and by this time I had become a little irritated for waiting so long. When Shadow came into sight I was totally amazed to see this big cock bird in his mouth. I thought no way this was the same bird I shot at. After bagging the bird in my vest we went to the location I had visually marked expecting to find another bird but no bird was found. Even I wasted 10-minutes looking for a bird that was not there. To be honest I felt a little sheepish about doubting my partner.
Another hunt that totally cemented my faith in Shadow’s abilities occurred locating a pheasant in a location totally unexpected but that’s another story to share later.
Ed
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bob
Member
I'm too old to be nice but never too old to learn!
Posts: 1,457
Location: Northern California
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Post by bob on Jul 12, 2014 9:25:23 GMT -5
Ed: I have been pheasant hunting over dogs since '51 so I learned early on to trust a dog, once it proved it self. Your tale of irritation turned pride reminds me of another Maverick tail! I shot a rooster Maverick went to retrieve the bird but couldn't locate it. We searched for about 20 mins. so I figured enough time spent, got the dog and started down the field got about 50 yds. and dog turns back to look for the downed bird. Another 20 mins. no luck, I leash the dog to restart the hunt and get about 50-75 yd.s down field release dog,he hunts for a few minutes then goes back to the downed bird area (I'm unable to call him off) so I give in. Another period of time goes by I hear him cross a slough still out of control, now I'm irritated, then I hear him back in the slough and then back to me with the crippled bird in his mouth, this was a determined dog. By the way the dog in my avatar is Max,also a good hunter.
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et1
Member
Posts: 120
Location: Ontario Canada
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Post by et1 on Jul 12, 2014 10:16:51 GMT -5
Bob
Max looks like a hunting dog that oozes confidence in his poise.
I enjoy reading your experiences also as I can visualize from your description of events.
I can’t claim having as many years of pheasant hunting experience as you do but feel the gap is narrowed a bit with a good hunting dog. And yes I know about stubbornness.
This story is in no way to compete with your story but to reveal Shadow’s stubbornness also.
On another pheasant hunt I successfully tagged a nice cock bird out of the sky and Shadow saw it fall into some large brush. He immediately went to the location for retrieval. After about 5-minutes I went to investigate why the retrieval wasn’t completed.
Underneath this large brush growth it was open to eye sight and all I saw was Shadow intensely working back and forth looking for the bird. I joined in searching but there was nothing to see or find on the ground. I widened the search a little but Shadow kept remaining in one location not giving up finding the bird.
His body language kept saying there was a bird here and he wasn’t giving up. Okay I was going to let him have a little more time before insisting on moving on widening the search pattern. For some reason as I was still scanning the brush I happened to look up, lo and behold there was the pheasant lodged in some branches just barely supporting the dead bird. Talk about a weird find. The bird was out of normal reach so I found a broken branch long enough to lightly nudge the bird and it easily came down. Had I inserted my stubbornness of moving on that would have been a needless lost bird.
Shadow was on that bird like a dart and presented it to me. I swear the expression on his face read “now do you believe me?” Yep buddy I believe you and after that basically had all doubt removed of Shadow’s capabilities for finding birds.
Afterwards on future hunts I swear he looks upward as well after seeing me knock down that bird when there is a difficult retrieve. He was adamant he wasn’t going to be fooled again.
Ed
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bob
Member
I'm too old to be nice but never too old to learn!
Posts: 1,457
Location: Northern California
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Post by bob on Jul 12, 2014 17:42:47 GMT -5
Ed: Likewise I enjoy your stories you inspired me to contribute and this is not a game of one upsmanship, just reminding an individual of similar occurances which are bound to happen when dogs and birds are involved!
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My daughter came from Missouri, my son and grand son, my wife and I had a nice dinner of grilled "porter house" pork chops, corn on the cobb, my son, G'son and I share 10/5. G'son is 4 minutes early though @ 10/4.
Pooh I hope you find to right house . 
