Hunting Season is Over…

    Duck season came to a close over the past weekend, and a great sadness has fallen over the Delmarva Peninsula. At this point in the year, there are a great many waterfowlers who ask the same question: What in the hell am I going to do with myself now?

     I can't answer for any other duck hunters out there, but this year has brought me the opportunity to re-focus some attention to retriever games. I've mentioned them before on this blog, so there's no need for me to go into any details about them. My main reason for not doing them as much as I would have liked to in the past was mainly because I didn't have anybody to do it with. I've never had anybody that shared the same passion for the games that I do, which simply means that I've had trouble finding people in my area that were willing to train as often and as hard as I do. This presents a big problem in being competitive in the games, and anybody who knows me can attest to the fact that I don't take defeat very well.

     Nothing will ever replace an actual hunt. This is true for both the hunter and the dog. I can tell you with absolute certainty that Strider knows when the season has come to a close. My decoys sit in three bags on my back porch, and are regularly rotated as needed by whatever species of duck we happen to be hunting. Well, the end of hunting season means that I must make some much needed room on the porch. At that point, the decoys are moved to the storage room. In order to get them to the room, I must walk them past Strider's bed.

     There is no point in the year where I see my dog at a lower point as when I'm taking those decoys upstairs to be put away for the remainder of the spring and summer. He lies on his bed with his head laid flat between his paws and whines as I walk each bag up the stairs. For the remainder of the day I can't get him to move, even for a treat…and that's saying something. It's not until I tell him that we are going to, as I call it, "do some work," that he finally bucks up and is ready to go again. It's what I say before we go out and train.

     I have, at one point or another, had somebody try to tell me that by having a dog that I train for hunting, I am abusing my rights as a dog owner and that I shouldn't own him for work. I tend to laugh at these people and just say that while I don't agree with their opinion, I certainly do respect it. Anybody who has ever seen Strider or any other dog on a hunt or in a training situation cannot argue that they absolutely love what they do, so I just chalk comments like the one that I mentioned up to ignorance. My dog is, first and foremost, a member of my family. He is my son, and my best friend. Following that, he is my hunting dog. He is a pet first and a hunting buddy second.

     Just because Strider can't hold a gun doesn't make him any less of a hunter than I am, and like any other hunter, his morale hits a low when the season ends. Hunting isn't the joy of going out and killing things. Some say that it's getting back to our primitive nature…but that's a load of bull. I won't sit here and tell you that I can speak for every hunter out there, but I can honestly tell you that getting my limit of birds or bagging the trophy buck isn't what keeps me going. As I've mentioned before, I'm not a good hunter…which is why I need Strider. I just love being able to get away from civilization when I need to. Hunting is my outlet; my relief.

     If Strider could speak, I like to think that he would say that he doesn't know why he needs to hunt, but that he absolutely has to. For him, it actually does go back to a primal need to retrieve game. It's what he was bred for, and it's all he knows.

     Thankfully for the both of us, we now have somebody who is willing to train with us and travel to hunt tests, which I'm hoping is going to make the off season that much more bearable until it's time to get back out into the marsh again.

     Stay tuned for updates on training and tests that we enter as we try to get Strider his Senior Hunter Title this spring and summer.

     Maybe our ladies can come too…if they're lucky.

     Until next time, give extra scratches behind the ears and happy training!!