Sorry I haven't been around much guys, but I was busier than a one legged man in an @$$ kicking contest this past month guiding. We were up to our eyeballs with clients and it's good too, because I needed the money for vet bills.
I almost lost my bird dog Zeke, the best bird dog in NY!
We had had an awesome season and in concluded last week with our "Sudden Thunder" week/weekend that brings in all of our repeat, big dollar clients and a banquet. I was to take out a new client, a guy that called himself, "Mr. Grouse" because that's all he hunts for. This guy goes out in the off season and scouts for good covers and marks them with a gps. He'll drive for hours and be gone all day just looking for good grouse cover months before season starts.
So I took him, his brother and nephew (nephew is my age) out for a day of upstate NY grouse and woodcock hunting. On Monday we had 24 flushes with about 20 of them pointed. They were blown away with Zeke and our cover. All of them shot birds. They went back to the motel and demanded that they hunt with us again on day two and it was worked out. We usually rotate clients around amongst the 5 of us guides, but when they were this firm, we made an exception.
On Tuesday we only hunted a half day in the rain/snow, wind gusts, and 30 degree weather. Zeke showed his colors again and we had 19 flushes before lunch. Had we had a full day, I'm sure we would have passed 30 flushes. Of the 19, Zeke pointed 17 of them. And he retrieved each shot bird, many of which would never have been found without him.
They were so impressed they booked to come up and hunt the covers in December in the snow at my recommendation. Then they even asked me what I would charge to drive down to southern NY for a weekend and guide them on their cover with Zeke. They said they had never experienced grouse hunting like this and it was the stuff that articles in Outdoor Life are made of. So I was very proud of my dog and our work together.
We went home to rest and the next day, Wednesday was to be our day off anyway. Zeke never gave me ANY indication that he was sick. He had just given a stellar performance. He has been favoring a paw after days of work and at 6, I figures he's just starting to get arthritis, so I gave him a Bayer aspirin to help with the inflatmation and pain.
Then on Wednesday he was very slow around the house. He only went out once to go to the bathroom and immediately went back to the door to go in. Anyone that has seen my dog KNOWS that I immediately knew something was very wrong. I began to call vets but nobody could me in until at least the next morning. I took him out and put on his beeper collar and my hunting coat and told him to "kennel up" in the truck. This normally would put him into hyper drive to hunt. He couldn't even get up into the truck. So I called one last vet that said they were closing but were on call for emergencies but as the night went on it would get more expensive. I decided to wait until morning and see how he was....mistake #2, (aspirin was #1).
So I laid down in the den that night to keep an eye on him. His rear legs began to give out and he wouldn't lay down he would FALL down. At 9:00 PM I awoke to hear him heaving and convulsing next to me on the floor. I flicked on the lights to find him in a huge pool of vomit that was mostly blood with some huge clots in it and the stench was unreal. I immediately screamed to my wife to call the vet and tell them to meet me at the clinic no matter the cost.
I bundled Zeke up in the truck and did 95 mph all the way to the clinic on the other side of town. He couldn't even lift his head when I carried him out and his breathing was very shallow and labored. I honestly did not expect him to be alive when I got there. I kept talking to him the whole way. At one point I even zipped past a trooper at 90+ mph, with my hazards on of course. Must have been one smart tr
I almost lost my bird dog Zeke, the best bird dog in NY!
We had had an awesome season and in concluded last week with our "Sudden Thunder" week/weekend that brings in all of our repeat, big dollar clients and a banquet. I was to take out a new client, a guy that called himself, "Mr. Grouse" because that's all he hunts for. This guy goes out in the off season and scouts for good covers and marks them with a gps. He'll drive for hours and be gone all day just looking for good grouse cover months before season starts.
So I took him, his brother and nephew (nephew is my age) out for a day of upstate NY grouse and woodcock hunting. On Monday we had 24 flushes with about 20 of them pointed. They were blown away with Zeke and our cover. All of them shot birds. They went back to the motel and demanded that they hunt with us again on day two and it was worked out. We usually rotate clients around amongst the 5 of us guides, but when they were this firm, we made an exception.
On Tuesday we only hunted a half day in the rain/snow, wind gusts, and 30 degree weather. Zeke showed his colors again and we had 19 flushes before lunch. Had we had a full day, I'm sure we would have passed 30 flushes. Of the 19, Zeke pointed 17 of them. And he retrieved each shot bird, many of which would never have been found without him.
They were so impressed they booked to come up and hunt the covers in December in the snow at my recommendation. Then they even asked me what I would charge to drive down to southern NY for a weekend and guide them on their cover with Zeke. They said they had never experienced grouse hunting like this and it was the stuff that articles in Outdoor Life are made of. So I was very proud of my dog and our work together.
We went home to rest and the next day, Wednesday was to be our day off anyway. Zeke never gave me ANY indication that he was sick. He had just given a stellar performance. He has been favoring a paw after days of work and at 6, I figures he's just starting to get arthritis, so I gave him a Bayer aspirin to help with the inflatmation and pain.
Then on Wednesday he was very slow around the house. He only went out once to go to the bathroom and immediately went back to the door to go in. Anyone that has seen my dog KNOWS that I immediately knew something was very wrong. I began to call vets but nobody could me in until at least the next morning. I took him out and put on his beeper collar and my hunting coat and told him to "kennel up" in the truck. This normally would put him into hyper drive to hunt. He couldn't even get up into the truck. So I called one last vet that said they were closing but were on call for emergencies but as the night went on it would get more expensive. I decided to wait until morning and see how he was....mistake #2, (aspirin was #1).
So I laid down in the den that night to keep an eye on him. His rear legs began to give out and he wouldn't lay down he would FALL down. At 9:00 PM I awoke to hear him heaving and convulsing next to me on the floor. I flicked on the lights to find him in a huge pool of vomit that was mostly blood with some huge clots in it and the stench was unreal. I immediately screamed to my wife to call the vet and tell them to meet me at the clinic no matter the cost.
I bundled Zeke up in the truck and did 95 mph all the way to the clinic on the other side of town. He couldn't even lift his head when I carried him out and his breathing was very shallow and labored. I honestly did not expect him to be alive when I got there. I kept talking to him the whole way. At one point I even zipped past a trooper at 90+ mph, with my hazards on of course. Must have been one smart tr
