Proudest Moments

[70 sprig]

great thread BTW , we all need to brag on these incredible animals every now & then .

[T-Bone]

nice britches spriggley!

[70 sprig]

nice britches spriggley!

Thanks , since that pic I've removed all the denim in the back except the waist band . Be lookin for'em to make an appearance at our spring test .

[B3]

My proudest moment came of course with Raider. His short hunt test career consisted of a finished test at age 1 where he broke and I picked him up. Swore not to run him for 6 months so second test was a master the next spring where he broke and I had to rope him again. So at age 2 he had never picked up a bird in a test so I decided to enter him in the Montgomery Qualifying.

So I entered a dog that had never even retrieved a bird in a test and I had never even seen a Q. My goal was to get through the first series and I showed up and the only folks I knew were Troy and Ronnie Lee.

Well he smacked the first and did a nice blind on the second. Third series was a difficult water blind and the last cast I gave carried him about 70 yds to the bird. I knew we were going to the final series and couldn't believe it. He wasn't trained enough to handle the final retired bird so we had to handle but pulled out a JAM. Troy and Ronnie both placed which was great.

He died 4 months later and thats the only ribbon we ever got together. Its only a green one but I'll always keep it in a place of honor to remind me of how far we went that weekend.

Bill

[Warren]

Well none of you have meet my little fireball but yall should remember some of the posts I made about trying to train her....Well the opening weekend of dove season this year made all the work worth while. We were hunting in old fish ponds that are now wma. Well the surrounding grain fields offered plenty of birds. She was so exited by all the shooting and birds flying....but she did not break. Well I was facing the levee but could not see over it. I heard the group in the pond in front of me start shooting....just then about 5 birds fly over and right at me and suzzie. I throw up and shoot one out of the bunch. Well the bird drops about 20 yds in front of us at the bottom of the levee in some nasty grass. I send her and I have never seen my little fire ball run so fast....She got the bird and returned...heeled...and sat. I took the bird and she was still wanting to go to where the bird had been. So I sent her so she would see that there was no bird....but I will be danged if she didn't come back with a smaller crippled dove...hell I had shot 2 out of the bunch. I love that dog and can't wait for many more memories in the field

[Copiah Creek]

Sprig ,B3 and warren and T- bone
Ya'lls were short but sweet , they either had me smiling or watery eye's . Just to imagine T-bone and Nash was priceless , and mine is short but sticks out in my mind above all the titles . Jan. 07 working on re-camoing the blind at mid day , and took my 4 month old chessie just to let him play . He was playing in the water in and out of the blind jumping around , he walked out on the dog platform and growled , i peeped over the blind to see what was up . 7 0r 8 pintails were in the decoys , so i did what anyone would have done (NO) i didn;t shoot them swimming i waited for them to stop . I crippled a full sprig and yes he broke but just to watch him chase that duck for what seemed like 30 minutes and bring it back and hop back in the blind was priceless .

[Double R 2]

The picture with all the dead snows occurred over a 3 day period. Delta recovered over 300 geese that day - many long sailers and cripples, she's gotten to where on flat shoots she runs right through the big dead white spot and hunts down the distant ones. One of the most publicized, plagarized and circulated internet kill photos, it even made Outdoor Life. It was her second hunting season.

To the center left, where she's on the tail gate: that blue goose represents number 946 of the 2004/2005 season. It was the last afternoon of the last hunt and we were just one good hunt from 1000.

Top left, collared Ross. Numerous dead birds - ducks, light and dark geese - had fallen beyond the spread into the snow. A lull in the action she came back with the bling. She's averaging about 1/2 dozen bands/collars per season and I've come to realize they aren't mine, they're hers. It's like she's got a nose for it.

Top middle, a real long retrieve across water and into the rice stubble. She lacks the "snap and polish" of a sho-nuff campaigner, which is all my fault, but she's got the heart, the hunt and the self-employment powers to do what she was born to do - get the bird.

Top right surf scoter. Thankfully the temps were unseasonably mild and the waters of Pamlico Sound calm. I sent her for the cripple which had a lot more energy left than it seemed. Must have been 30 minutes she was gone, and I admittedly got that bad sick panicky feeling that I had f'd up big, when a little black dot on the horizon started getting closer and she was on her way back with the prize. The Captain said it best: ya gotch helluva dog dere pahdnah.

Bottom left, sandhill crane. The third of what would becomes 8 year-old Forrest's first limit of anything actually shot from the air. With 20 gauge steel 4s nonetheless. It landed down about 400 yards from the spread, standing with its head down, in a grassy lake. I sent her and she ran to it, circled behind it and stuck it hard like a line backer as I watched through binocs. She recovered 17 limits of sandhill cranes that season, and nearly 800 total birds.

Bottom right, a sprig from teh last day of Arkansas' season last year. Nothing spectacular, just a 75 or so yard retrieve breaking ice every step of the way to bring a bird back. Because it's what she was born to do, what she wants to do most.

[stumpjumper]

My proudest moment was this past spring Grand listen to Travis say the first dog that picks up the middle brid on the Purnia water test im going stand up clap and shout.He went back to the truck to get Rowdy when my little girl ran and did'nt get to see her run. Let me tell you she sat there for the marks and watched them fall like she was a big dog not moving a muscle. Steve sent her and she was like she was on a mission picked up the go bird then the left bird and lined up for the middle bird that kicked everybodys booty. She tooked off liked she was fired out of a cannon swimming straight toward it as she got out on the island she was looking straight toward where it was and bailed off it right toward the bird she picked it up no problem and swam back to Steve like she was saying that was'nt so hard. Right there all the time Steve had put into my girl to get her there was proof she was a big dog and could run with any of them. She went out in the third series due to some scent issues but she was trusting her nose but to me she is a Grand dog i just dont have the title to prove it. We will be back in the spring after these pups are born for another shot at it though

[Copiah Creek]

Dang Ramsey

You could have just told us , you didn't have to show all them birds . I guess if i had all them pics i would have had a show and tell too.

[jsherwin]

Dang Ramsey

You could have just told us , you didn't have to show all them birds . I guess if i had all them pics i would have had a show and tell too.

Thats making memories/moments right there. I told my self that i'm going to start doing that. If i had some of those i'd post em too CC
Nice post Ramsey.

[Meeka]

In a recent post of mine I mentioned how kicking butt at a very hard test would be one of your proudest moments. What I had in mind was a fall finished test at West Miss and I was marshalling and there was Barry Lyons and Brett Lyons and one other pro that had most of the dogs in the very full flight. Land test first and as marshall I got to watch all the dogs run while I worked. At this point in time I had never trained anything past the meatdog title and HRCH was my goal and it was my second finished test, having scraped by the previous day. Well on those pro trucks were 5 grand dogs and many more that were on the way. I was in awe and what a privilege it was for me at that point to even see, much less watch those dogs run.

Middle, right, left short go bird in a sage field slopping up. Blind uphill between and past 1st and 2nd marks,; on the blind you had to pick from several slots near the end and then not get out of control and lost as the area was tight there. Typical setup it looked like to me but the marks and blind were max distance and any dog deep was lost. The previous day only about 5 dogs passed and everyone was complaining. To this day I still do not understand why the test was so hard. Barry grumbled that it was a grand setup and tried to explain it to me but I didn't get it. I just heard grand and got more intimidated.

Well, not only were dogs not passing, most were getting PICKED UP! I do not remember any other dog getting all the marks w/o a handle, but I am sure several of the GRHRCH's did . . . along with Sharkey.

When we walked to the line I was shaking and figured how emabarrased I was going to be. Sharkey proceeded to front foot each mark. As he went for each bird, I got progressively more anxious. Then he two whistled the blind and I screamed leaving the line and the few watching clapped. Here I was a nobody and we SMOKED the test. Now that felt some kinda good!!!!!!!!!!!!! They gave 5 or so ribbons that afternoon and it was a ribbon where I did not have to worry about whether the judges had to talk about the run.

Only other time remarkable was when Barry Smith and his dog Andy hunted and I was slow to pull the trigger (as always) and anyway I had 2 more ducks left so we were trying to get mallards in to the dead slough with green timber behind us. The dogs were on logs and the ducks started really wanting in, especially gadwalls. Well we let about four different nice sized groups come in and set down and we were all about to bust. I was giiggling with a big grin on my face and trying not to laugh it was so much fun. We had ducks swimming all around us. Each dog was on a remote sit and ducks were swimming around them as well during the whole time waiting on me to shoot at a mallard. Andy was a very accomplished Master National dog at that time but he had never been exposed to anything like that! Anyway some green comes in and I get a double only it turns out one wasa gadwall. We made a picture and Barry said "Now that is whatcha call "CONTROL"" and he ended it with that silly hugh, hugh, hugh laugh of his.

[pntailhntr]

When Champ, not even a full 4 months old, little bitty booger!!! At South MS, passed both his hunt tests with flying colors. LONG swim retrieve, my wife was nervous as hell about him swimming that far but did it like a champ!! No pun intended. I was SOOOO Proud. Than the land came along. Marks were REAL close to the bird boys AND their buckets of birds. He got both without even LOOKING at the bird boy that was less than 10 yards from him! I bet you couldn't seen me glowing from outer space!!!!! !

[gator]

jonathan, i needed this thread today and as such, took all day to think about it. if i would have made it it's own thread, i would have titled it "The Ride" or "My Friend", but since I want to keep the integrity of the post, I'll just say it's been a danged fun time. Honestly, there's been alot of folks that have asked a similar question, that being, "your proudest moment" or "your favorite retrieve" and I've actually written about it. Thing is, and I am baring my soul here, but really, it's the people I've come to know and learn from over the years that have really "made it" for me. In all honesty, if you depend on the dog to make your day, you WILL go home more disappointed than not each day.

I remember the last day of the '02 season, I shot down 2 mallards that would have finished a limit, one dead in the decoys, one cripple. I could NOT pull Gauge off the dead bird for the cripple. End result, a dead bird that was lost due to ME....not the dog, he simply didn't know better. You know what I did? I emailed someone that had been talking about hunt test and the like...............I emailed Travis Bruce. To this day, the best thing "dog wise" I've ever done. I can assure you, there was no "click" or "group", Travis basically kicked me in my butt, told me what I needed to do in order to get moving, and spent all weekend w/ me at a STARTED test to ensure MY duma$$ didn't do something stupid. Over the years, simple arrogance (on my part) and logistics has kept me from returning any favor I truly owe my friend, but Travis, I want to use this thread to 1) apologize, as you really were right, and 2) tell my friend that he needs to have his name on the HRC presidential ballet, as he's the most qualified, and his heart demands it...

skippyj ,troy williams, and b3, 4 or 5 yrs ago, we started talking "dawgs" over the net. I was eat up w/ it, bill was in brit mode and chip was in "hunt mode". each of us has made some sort of "crossing". but, in the end, when my tail's twixt my legs, i call on ya'll...........words can't describe my appreciation for ya'll...

i can honestly say, b/t pat and cindy gandy and meeka, the filth that has come out of my mouth and gone "understood" is innumerable and i can't thank you enough for merely being my friend.

there are very few folks in this world i enjoy hunting w/, and even less that i would take to a hole.....ramsey russel is that kind of person. he's shortyly becoming my favorite person to hunt w/, but really, ramsey, you're becoming a close friend...................................deal w/ it cheeseburger.

and, lastly, my main most bud mr. sam. i lost my grandad in '93 and to this day i can't talk about it...he took me everywhere. fishing, hunting, you name it, i was there............in all my years (and i'm crying now cause i miss him so much) but in all my years, mr. sam is the closest thing i've had to 'him'. it was my turn to go gets ducks today, and on the drive, I called mr. sam and said "tell me a story". he did. told me the one about farmer, the chessie, and the need for a chair, bwahahhahaha

Anyhow, he says, "Justin, you ok?" And my answer, "No sir, been thinking about my dog all day." Trapper had an awful day ya see.....Sam says, "son, i need to talk to ya, i'll see ya when i get here"..........now, what he said is personal, but the thing is, he took the time to say it. Same as Travis, Chip, Troy, Bill and Pat and Cindy, Marty Newport, hell everyone on here has something to offer, and has offered me something over the years....

I suppose that's a long way to nothing, as i really don't know "the time".....i just know i have 2 dogs that ran a BIG marking setup and came out the other side alive and a LOT of good friends who I call on to keep the fires burning..........i have to be doing something right.

-Justin Harrison

[B3]

Yep Gator,

Some great times. Like watching Ford run the "Ford Blind" at Pat and Cindy's and all of us trying to duplicate it for the next 3 years with our dogs.

Like talking dogs and life in general for a week at the Lardy seminar.

Like watching Chip's 200 yd seasoned blind at South Ms.....then later watching him smoke a couple of derbies.

Just remember.....plenty more great times and proud moments in the future.....anybody up for the Lardy seminar this spring?

Bill

[goosebruce]

gator wrote...' Thing is, and I am baring my soul here, but really, it's the people I've come to know and learn from over the years that have really "made it" for me.' I said the EXACT thing to troy this afternoon. He was calling to check on me, worried about my condtion. A lifelong friend, that we grew apart, and just happened to get back together over a dog or two. Ive done everything in the outdoors you can do, and never found anything like this. Might be something better, but if there is, I'll probably never find it cause every moment is spent on this.

Justin, appricate the kind words. Been bout on meltdown the last few weeks, and grasping for anything to make me feel better at this point. Doc emailed a few hours ago, gotta keep this plumbing in till oct 17th.... beats another surgery, but sure aint gonna be fun walking round for 2 weeks feeling like you got to take a morning poop, but cant. travis