Yeah, I remember my Sam's last season. He was a black lab. His last hunting season was his 11th year too. I remember a late season pheasant hunt with one of my hunting buddies as we both knew it was Sam's last year hunting. We were hunting a private club's preserve which had a 2 bird limit. I had my 2 birds and my buddy had just shot his second bird and as Sam went out for his last retrieve, I just sat down and watched. My buddy wanted to know what I was doing. I said, "I just want to take this all in so I can remember it." It was a hen pheasant, and was just a 30 yard retrieve. He retrieved it to my buddies hand. A pat on the head, a treat from my buddy's pocket and off we headed to the Subaru. The following year was his last. His retrieving drive was extraordinary.
One of my favorite stories: That same hunting buddy had shot at a hen pheasant and looked like he hit it but she sailed down this overgrown field quite a ways. A fellow hunting with his GSP at that part of the field waved and yelled that his dog will get. His dog didn't come up with it and he yelled back that it must have run off. My buddy shrugged and said, let's go over to there as he pointed in another direction. I said, "No I'm going to send Sam." I lined him up to where I had seen the bird go down and gave him a "Back" command. Off he went. When he got to the area where I saw the hen land, he picked up a scent. We watched as he stuck his nose to the ground, followed a scent trail to an old farm stone fence. He jumped up on the rocks, stuck his face into the pile of rocks and pulled out the wounded hen that was hiding there and brought it to hand. My buddy stood there, mouth agape, as I said, "There's your bird."
Last edited by cooper57m; 01/22/16.
