Bird Dog


Sometimes during the morning workouts I attend, we do an exercise called the bird dog.  The others attending probably think I am losing my mind as this exercise brings a smile to my face.  Always think of my old friend Joe, his bird dogs and one particular story he used to tell. I often recall other stories from Joe such as https://pulltight.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-cat.html. But this one of the favorites.

Joe was a college football player in mid-1960s.  Not sure of the circumstances but he ended up playing at Notre Dame for Ara Parseghian and then transferring to Univ of Texas where he played for Darrell Royal.  I suspect he may be the only player in history to have played for both of these legendary coaches.

Back to bird dogs. When I met Joe he was an avid bird hunter with a couple talented dogs.  He came out to the farm with me a couple of times with his dogs. Watching a good hunter work with a good bird dog is really something to see.



But Joe's story is not about his dog. Joe tells of being invited to hunt with an old rancher in Central Texas.  The rancher had gone on at some length about how good his dog was.  And, as the day progressed that certainly seemed to be the case.

The first time the dog pointed at some brush. The dog nodded his head slightly.  The rancher said to Joe, "Just stand back, there is just one bird, I'll shoot it." And, yes there was just one bird.

As the day progressed, each time the dog pointed, he would seem to nod, and always the same number of nods as the number of birds. Joe was quite impressed and they were having a very good day hunting birds.

About mid-afternoon they came upon to a pile of brush and the dog pointed.  The dog did not move for a full minute or so and then backed up about 3 steps squatted and crapped.  The dog then stepped forward again resuming his pose, but without nodding. Joe started to lower his shotgun glancing over at the old rancher. The rancher whispered to Joe "Joe get your gun up and get ready, there is a whole shitload of birds in there."

Comments

jls said…
Good one, Terry!
4:46 PM
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