Boru's First Hunt!!

Well, fall is here and the time is right for hunting in the creeks.

I have not been the best hunting dog trainer/owner/blogger in recent months. I have excuses, but I won't bore you with them. Luckily I'm blessed with having a very smart 5-month-old puppy who has all the energy of a puppy with at least some of the restraint of a 5-year-old dog.

After a few gun breaking sessions, which he did wonderfully with, and some field retrieves with a pheasant wing duct-taped to a bumper, it was time to take Boru out on the water for some wood duck action this morning.

A nice windy morning with early clouds made for a perfect day on the water. We kicked some woodies out first thing, but it was too dark to shoot. Boru quickly settled into his favorite past-time: chewing and eating sticks, while we hoped for some more ducks to buzz by.

After the nearby shooting died, the clouds cleared, and the turkeys flew back and forth over Sugar Run, one of my hired guns (my dad) decided to take a walk and see if he could kick up some ducks and stir up the action, while my other hired gun (my grandfather) stayed in our duck blind.


It didn't take long before we heard the old Mossberg 500 12 gauge fire off, and we got ready. Unfortunately, no ducks came flying by, but my dad quickly returned with two woodies.

We decided to get a few faux retrieves in with Boru. My dad went and stood upstream behind a tree, my pap fired into a tree across the creek, and when my dad threw the duck out into the creek, Boru went a running. When he reached the duck the first time, he wasn't so sure, but after a quick "Fetch it up!" he snatched it, brought it right to my pap (who shot) and dropped the drake at his feet. After a lot of praise, we did it again. This time, no hesitation, just retrieve.

It wasn't live, but it was live to tape, and Boru performed without a hitch!

Hopefully we'll get some more action for Boru to prove his birddog prowess, but right now I'm one happy owner with one happy dog!