With hunting season starting to open up I wanted to get Lira out for a pre-season tune-up hunt over at Cooke Canyon in August so we headed over to Ellensburg on the 30th for a morning in the fields.    Lira was  beside herself when she saw the orange come out and as soon as we arrived in the field she began doing high speed laps in the parking lot.  She was obviously ready to get out there and find some birds.

I picked Area 1 since it is the closest thing to Western Washington with some fields, some trees and brush on the borders.  Lira did great, no problems finding any of the birds and had to do a bit more work than usual.  One bird had basically dug itself into a hole underneath  some roots and just would not flush.  I finally reached down and felt what was going on and told Lira to “Get it, get it” and she did, bird in mouth and handed off to me.  Another spot she found a bird deep in the willows and had to push it out to the edge of the field.  The bird took  flight at my feet but flew low.  I missed the first shot but never had another shot as the bird headed across the open field, Lira in chase.  The bird hit the ground at about 100 yards and was immediately tackled, it managed to get loose and run towards grass but Lira caught up in the high grass and came out with bird in mouth.  Otherwise she retrieved shot birds well and even found two coveys of quail which were new for her.

All in all I think she is ready to roll for October though I’ll get her out at least once more between now and then plus we’ve already been out looking for grouse one morning and will get in more of that this month.