HUNTING
Your hunting dog will work miracles for you, but it isn’t a tank, amphibious vehicle or cliff-scaling mountaineer. Take a moment to consider its safety in the area you’re pursuing birds. Be careful when hunting around cliffs and steep cut banks – one mishap can be irreversibly costly. (SCOTT HAUGEN)
SAFETY FIRST! By Scott Haugen
I
recently made two stupid mistakes on the same day, which both of my dogs suffered for. My duck blind – set in a rice field that flooded when two creeks overflowed – required several hours to repair. To resecure the blind, I had to drive steel fenceposts into the ground and bind the blind to them with turnbuckles. The ends of the posts stuck up about a foot, so I covered them with dead grass and brush so the ducks wouldn’t see them.
Mistake number one. Mistake number two came when I cut several thick thistle stocks to use as cover on the blind. The cover looked great when done, but my mistake was not cutting them close enough to the ground. I left a few inches sticking up, and the moment I shot a duck in that direction, Kona, my male pudelpointer, barreled right through where I’d just cut, scraping his leg on the sharp stubs. I immediately stomped them into the ground. Moments later, Echo, my female pudelpointer, cut the corner of the blind with all intentions of busting
through the brush I used to cover the end of the metal fence posts. She hit one post full speed, putting a ½-inchwide, 4-inch-long deep abrasion on her brisket. Fortunately, neither dog incurred a laceration requiring stitches, putting them out of commission for the season, but both were very close. We only lost four hunting days while they healed, and I learned a valuable lesson. Actually, two.
MANY MISHAPS OUR dogs encounter on a hunt can be prevented by us, their owners. When duck ponds are
calsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021 California Sportsman
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