Somebody Shot a Greenie!

Small dog, smaller gun.

 Hunting season has started and already my dog and I are behind in the standings.

Our opener was October 1st, two weeks earlier than normal and just in time to coincide with the most beautiful batch of fall weather that I have ever seen in North Idaho.  Temps in the 70's and 80's every day for weeks. Blue sky and not a stitch of rain.  Perfectly clear nights with a big bright moon.  All the things you don't want for duck hunting.  Of course we were out there every chance we got. I pared down the bag to just the essentials, 3 decoys, an extra pair of gloves, water and of course dog food.  All of this made it easy to carry to whatever spot we ended up with and I added a new gun to the ranks, the lowly Marlin .410 I had loaned Clider when he broke his shoulder(?). We were ready for anything.

The pictures tell the story, no ducks flying, no ducks dying.  What we did get was a beautiful first day out complete with a close encounter with big bull moose and his posse.  A second day learning how far  I could put decoys out on the Other Side without getting my boots pulled off by the mud. And today I got an unfortunate lesson in how piss poor a .410 is at shooting a Widgeon. On the plus side the weather has changed literally overnight.  Last Thursday was 78 degrees and beautiful and Friday was cold with clouds moving in.  It snowed on the mountains the next day and the cold rain has yet to stop.  Hooray, duck weather is here.

I'm sure we will be out again next day off I have but until then just know there's a new 'Expert' in town, and it ain't me.

GBCH

It's Aboot Time!

Spooky.... right?

 That I put up a post about what has been happening in the world of puppy ownership and the joys that go along with it.  So here we go......

Vaccinations are done!  Now I can bring the Little River Duck Dog out on hikes and walks that don't involve the backyard.  We have been to the golf course, the airport, the golf course, the other side of the golf course and of course, the golf course.  There are many different parts of the golf course to go for walks in and after 11 years of being 'The Golf Course Guy' I feel that going to the golf course is entirely my prerogative. On top of that the woods surrounding the course are chalk full of smells and wild animals.  Bones have already been found.  The airport is the other destination that is now open to us.  Turns out there is quite a nice local dog park out there.  Not too many dogs and lots of open space and water to explore.  I'm sure we will go there more as the weather turns bad up higher in the mountains.

"I'm here to ruin your great tee shot"  Ladi.

On to the good stuff.  Recently the puppy files include playing golf and shooting guns.  Starting with the playing golf thing, after we closed down the course for the season the riff/raff that works there had a day to go and have the course to ourselves.  No meddlesome golfers, no angry grounds crew, just the average Joe's that work everyday to give the people the best experience possible.  And now made even better with a puppy!  Every putt was ruined.  Every drive was distracted by barking and jumping. Every fairway shot had to be timed to correspond with the dog out of the way.  My coworkers were thrilled!

The gun shooting went much better.  Clider, June and I went to the quarry to see if gunfire would be a problem that made me trade my new lovely puppy in for a kitten.  Turns out I'll be keeping her.  Good news all around.  She didn't even flinch when Clider brought out the Retreiver 'R' Trainer (harken back to the 50's for a glimpse into 'Water Dog') and we fired off a few dummies progressively getting closer to the loudness.  Next was the .410 and once again Ladi preformed admirably.  I believe that the fact that June Bug was along for the fun was a major factor in the overall performance that she displayed.  we kept the training short and kinda easy but the end result is that I feel good about bringing her to the hunting areas this Monday.  Stay tuned...

GBCH