It was time to take our year and a half old red lab pup Trax out for his first pheasant hunt. It was also a first for Owen to carry his 12 gauge shotgun. We didn’t pick the best day to go out. The temperature was 22 degrees with about a 15 to 25 mph wind out of the north. It was cold and the pheasants were not out and about and easy to find. We drove around looking for birds without much success and Owen was getting impatient to go on a walk.
We drove down a prairie road to a slough bottom and we stopped on the hill. By some miracle a rooster pheasant flew and landed in the cattail slough right below us. Owen sprang to life in the passenger seat, “Can we go after him dad”? I replied, “Let’s do it”. We loaded our guns, got the dog, and hopped out. Owen in his youthly excitement forgot his gloves in the truck. We tromped down to the slough.
We walked for about what seemed like a half an hour with no results. We paused…and then…out of nowhere a rooster burst from the cattails between us. I pulled up my gun and told myself to take my time. I kind of knew that Owen might not be ready on this first bird. I pulled the trigger and my shot was true, “Good Shot Dad”. Those three words might be the best words you can hear from your son. We searched for awhile and Trax found the bird under a pile of grass. A great experience for a young boy and a young dog.
We hunted some more sloughs and jumped some hens. Owen didn’t get a shot, but it was still a successful hunt in my mind. We decided to sit in a deer blind and look for a fall turkey in the afternoon. The only thing we accomplished was freezing our butts off. On the way home I asked Owen if he wanted to go again. Owen replied, “yeah, but can we go when it’s a little nicer out”?
Eastern Dakota Hunter 