Bob Peters
Well-known member
I was on my first private land hunt of the season on Sunday. There had been people around, but only deer hunting, so I'm just setting the scene that the birds hadn't seen hunting pressure. I'm getting to one of the sweet spots of the property, and Skye get hot, really hot. I'm hustling to keep up with her and she flushes a hen. I cool down, but she does not. So I increase my pace again, knowing she's on something else. A minute later I saw a bird flush down the hill, pretty sure a rooster. At the end of the grass patch, I circle back around, convinced there were more in there. We take a slightly different route through the same grass. Plenty thick and tall, I can see the dogs ears and tail half the time. I'm not sure how tall Skye stands at the withers but she's a 64-70lb. retriever depending on how many treats she's gotten and what point of the hunting season it is. She gets very hot again and takes off, so I follow in pursuit. It's fairly quiet, I'm hunting just me and her, and somehow I lose her in the forbes. Pausing, listening and looking intently I hear a rustle coming behind me. That is one fast dog! Here, unbelievably quick, I see the grass moving behind me, beside me, and passing by me straight as an arrow. Oh that dog. But wait! Passing within 5 feet of me I never caught a flash of fur or wiggle of tail! Straight as an arrow she ran. But usually there's a little juking and jiving as she moves to stay on that scent? All this going through my head in 10 long seconds I hear the grass rustling yet again, and it's the dog!!! So here the rooster had button-hooked off to the side, Skye had followed, looping behind me, and being pursued hot and heavy that pheasant had run right past me at close range being hotly pursued by a golden retriever! I ran after the two again, but that bird never flew. I've seen em from the truck, I've seen em in the open field, but seeing the wake in the grass as that rooster burned by is something I'll never forget. Now I understand better why sometimes the dog runs by not waiting for me, because if she doesn't stay hot on that rooster and nip him in the tail feathers he is way too smart to ever fly! And my mind was really twisted into a pretzel realizing this was on private land that had never been hunted this season. Pheasant hunting is one of the most frustrating things I've ever done in my life. But man I love it.
