2008 NV Youth Hunt

Ducks, Geese, Turkeys, Quail, Chickens, Grouse, Doves, etc.
Post Reply
User avatar
Mark
3 point
3 point
Posts: 432
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:12 am
Location: NV

2008 NV Youth Hunt

Post by Mark » Sun Sep 28, 2008 5:34 am

Yesterday was the NV youth waterfowl hunt in the northern part of the state.

My 14 yr old son, Derek, managed to to do pretty well. He shot 6 teal, 1 drake pintail and doubled on honkers to end the day.

Enjoy the pics...

Image

Image
Tucker, my 4 yr old black in his blind...


Image
Hoyt

User avatar
MuleyMadness
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9997
Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2002 9:34 pm
Location: St. George, UT
Contact:

Re: 2008 NV Youth Hunt

Post by MuleyMadness » Sun Sep 28, 2008 12:12 pm

Cool, I like that dog shot also. :thumb

User avatar
Mark
3 point
3 point
Posts: 432
Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:12 am
Location: NV

Re: 2008 NV Youth Hunt

Post by Mark » Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:33 pm

Those dog blinds are awesome! Keeps them hidden and keeps them a little warmer in the late season. As long as the blind is pointed in the right direction (looking out over the decoys) marking isn't an issue. I only had to handle Tucker to 1 bird yesterday and that was on a duck that sailed out after he was shot. Two quick whistles and 2 hand signals and he's on the bird.

The bird dove and came up 10 yards behind him. One more whistle, one more handle and he was back on him. When he dove again Tucker put his head underwater and came up with the duck! The pond is only about 12" deep so the bird couldn't dive deep.

Tucker has become a very nice dog to hunt over. He still needs a little more experience, but he's coming along nicely. And just in time too. Cooper had major surgery a few days ago and will miss part of this season. We almost lost him. He was given less than a 50% chance of surviving after the surgery. His recovery is nothing short of a miracle! He was expected to be hospitalized for 2 weeks, but he came home today after only 5 days. He's strong, he's stubborn and he never quits.

He had an abscess in his abdomen most likely caused by a foxtail that was either ingested or huffed up his nose. The abscess had grown to about the size of 2 softballs and had pinched his colon against his lower body and had put so much pressure on his spine that his back legs started to give out. The abscess burst and that's when he shut down.

The day before he came up lame, we had ran a triple with 2 of the marks over 125 yards. He ran hard in both directions as he always does. The next day he came up lame so we took him to the vet. We thought it was just a pulled muscle so we took him home. A week later the abscess burst and we knew it wasn't a pulled muscle.

Because of all the pus in his abdomen, he wasn't expected to survive. However, after several flushings of his insides, the drain tube was removed yesterday and no signs of infection are present. We're still (cautiously) optimistic and we don't expect a relapse, but we're still a little nervous.

Today he's acting like a puppy and is obviously happy to be home. Most of the swelling has gone down and he's resting comfortably. He's wearing one of those goofy Elizabethan collars and he really seems to hate that. The other 2 dogs are laughing at his funny hat!

So with all of that trauma taking place inside his body, he didn't slow down one bit until the abscess had grown so large that his insides were too crowded to function. I'm just grateful that we caught it in time to provide him with the chance to survive the nightmare! Any longer and he may not have survived. The strength of these dogs is amazing.
Hoyt

Post Reply