A great, terrible season � An ode to an old bird dog!
My brittany will be 13 years old in January. By the newest calculations she�s the equivalent of 70 years old in human terms. I�m in my early 60�s.
My hearing has been poor since my 20�s. I was not long hunting with my brit before I found a beeper was very handy for keeping tabs on her in the bush. I�ve used an ecollar since she was old enough to be stubborn. They can quit calling them spaniels all they want�.they�re still spaniels. I�ve owned 3 breeds.
5 years go, I got hearing aids for normal use. I also got hearing aids for hunting. They let me hear the beeper but shut out the shotgun blast. The sound quality isn�t great but they�re better than the alternative. Two years ago, at 10 years of age, the brittany started to be very had of hearing. My daughter called us �team hard of hearing� Between the ecollar, hand signals and learning to pay more attention to the dog, we still managed to be an effective hunting team.
Which brings us to this season. I�ve had cataracts for two years, not bad enough to fix yet according to the experts, but bad enough that even new glasses can�t sharpen the vision in my dominant right eye. The brittany has now started to lose her sense of smell. Over two days, I watched her bump 5 woodcock. One, I watched her almost step on. Every now and then, the wind is right and the bird is patient and I get a solid point out of the old girl. So far, all these birds have managed to either disappear instantly in the early season cover, or have flushed low and away, over the dog.
In 24 hours of hunting, I have got two birds. A dove that flushed into a tree and sat long enough for me to switch to steel shot and select the tighter barrel, and a woodcock pointed by my daughters 2 years old brittany.
From a harvest point of very it�s been a terrible season. But from my point of view it�s been a great season. I�m retired. The old girl and I head to the bush every day. We�re lucky enough to live just 10 minutes from huntable forest. Every day, as soon as I�m gone breakfast, the britt is sitting looking at me with ears up, eyes bright asking when we�re going hunting? Every day that the weather is acceptable, we head to the bush and the brittany charges off like a puppy. It makes me smile. Every one of these outings is so precious. I don�t care that we almost certainly are not going to get a bird. The old girl is happy and I�m happy. I keep hoping that the fates will align and we�ll manage to get a woodcock or grouse. I don�t care about it for me. I want to get a bird for my dog!!!
I�m on a waiting list for a pup in the spring. Life will get busier then. But for as long as the old girl wants to go, we�ll go. It will be too hard to manage a pup and a deaf dog together so I�ll run them and hunt them separately but the old girl will get her turn.
