The team Murphy and I had the pleasure of hunting with was Greatwest Kenworth 2. My brother, an old friend from the Stavely area and four business associates of my brothers made up the team. The hunt was just a blast!
Each team was given an area to hunt along with 40 cock pheasants and 10 hens (not allowed to shoot). A Marshall overlooked each team
CH. Windanna's Atta Boy
The Murph did really well. Thought he was going to have a heart attack when they released the first bunch of birds....just a bit excited!!
They flew every direction and I really think he knew where they all landed. We hunted for about five hours and the final count was 28 roosters. With the limited amount that Murph and I have had hunting I was a little unsure how he would do. Even when we do make it out for a hunt its not like he gets to retrieve … our standard hunt is he finds and flushes the birds, I shoot, the birds all fly away and we continue on. Don't think he was expecting to actually see a bird come down after the guns went off.
He only got a little too excited one time. Bird flew and no one got him. Murph was in hot pursuit, finally got him to come back with the whistle and a bit of a reminder with the collar. Rest of the time he was really good.
He really did a good job though. His nose is really something. Not much gets by him and you can just tell he was having a blast. He located a number of birds in the heavy swamp grass that never would have gotten up without him sticking his cold nose on them. Was only one time that he got a bit to eager. Bird flew and no one hit it. Murph was in hot pursuit, and while after this one managed to flush two more that were out of range. I finally got him back with a few loud whistles and a bit of a wake up call on the collar. Rest of the time he was great!
He had some great flushes and retrieves. A number of the birds were on the run after they were hit and I got the biggest charge out of watching Murph on the fly after them. Was one of those days that will just stick with a person. At the end of the hunt Murph got some really nice compliments which just topped off an already excellent day. I think they were pretty happy with him.
He looks pretty proud sitting by all those birds.
Funny thing, when we were cleaning the birds at the end, I was taking the wings and one of the fellows that hunts pheasant all season long asked what I was doing with them. I told him I tie them to a dummy for training with Murph and he told me not to worry, he figured Murph had this game pretty much figured out.
