Playing before the hunting starts
It had been a week since the Western Washington pheasant season closed and a friend came to town with his dog so we decided to head over the pass with a small group, brave the cold and do a hunt at Cooke Canyon with the dogs this week. I was a bit worried about Lira in the cold and snow so got her a neoprene vest to wear and decided to see what would happen. When we got the dogs out of the truck they both basically went crazy running around in the snow chasing each other. Lira had Reagan by the tail much of the time. Snow seemed to be no problem.
Hunt wise Lira did good finding birds in the snow and had some great points. The first time she got on point we kicked the heck out of the bush and never saw the rooster. We were about to give up when it suddenly popped out and surprised us to where we missed completely but saw where it took off to, we’d go find him later. The next bird was a hen that we got up and I hit but not too well. The bird flew a bit, landed in a tree and Lira was after it. When Lira would catch up the bird would fly a bit further and I was running after trying to get in another shot. The crested the hill, flushed another rooster and I began trying to get Lira back. I figured I was in for it trying to get her back, blowing the whistle and cranking up her collar when suddenly she came over the hill with the bird in her mouth. I’m pretty sure she wore it down on the chase and finally got it on the ground.
As we continued she rebound the flushed rooster which we got. After having a few birds from the other group fly our way we went in search of one that was out of range and never found it. We then headed up the hill to where we knew a few birds flew and started covering that ground. As we were about to give up Lira stalked over to a bush and went on point. I got over to the small bush and saw nothing at all. Brian showed up and noticed a rooster tail sticking out of the bush with the bird lying flat on the ground. We were both just watching the bird, amazed at how well it blended in when Lira could take it no longer and grabbed the rooster unfortunately by the tail. The bird took off with Lira in tow, she kept ahold and up with the bird for about 15 yards before it finally got away and we never had a shot. We should have kicked the bird up and would have gotten it for sure but it was quite the show seeing Lira hanging onto that bird, wish I’d had a camera going.
Lira definitely settled into a good hunting dog after the first few birds, working the cover well, staying close and pointing hard. I’ve decided that she needs to get her excess energy out before we start hunting so she can settle in more quickly next time. Mark and Nick in the meantime had managed four birds and had some fun times of their own with Reagan going after a decoy on the frozen pond. Mark also managed to lose a lens on his sunglasses part way through the hunt, on his shooting side of course. All in all we only got six birds by the end of the hunt but had all had fun and the dogs did well.