Worst day in the field!!!

[deke]

Okay so I am gonna start this out saying it is a really sad story, so if you want to exit out do so now.



We hunt birds at a release site in Washington. The group of guys I hunt with is fairly small, maybe 10 guys. Guys come and go, like any group, but the core few guys always stay the same; most of us have been together since high school. So this day started out like any other day, I met up with my brother in-law and we put our two pups out early morning. We flushed a few birds, but with the amount of people and the willingness of them to walk into shot range, we only shot two birds of our four bird limit. We went home and started our Sunday tradition of watching football games and being lazy. 2 pm hit and we both decided that it was a good day to go back out after the crowds and try to get the pups on some birds. We went out and all was well, pups were hunting the fields hard and my buddy called me up saying he was headed out to the fields and saw my truck. I told him where we were and he came out and met us. We were hunting fields, his dog was doing most of the hunting; he was a five year old pointing lab, I have a six month old out and my brother in law had a 9 month old. My pup got hot at the end of a field and I thought something was going to happen. Nothing did and I called my buddy over to put his dog on the bird. He hunted around for a couple a minutes and then shot into the blackberry bushes at the edge of the field. The dog started getting birdy about Galway through the blackberries and we all expected a bird to come out at any moment. Nothing happened and the dog made it over the hill; not a big deal, is what I thought. After a minute we quit hearing the dog moving around and he started calling him back, a few minutes later we started trying to get back into the tangle of blackberries. My brother in law was holding his pup and mine as me and my buddy tried to crawl through the blackberries; and the he yelled out that his dog had fallen off the other side. I didn’t know what he was talking about, so I kept crawling until I made it to the other side of the blackberries. On the other side I found a cliff, deep enough to make my stomach sick. I leaned out over the edge looking for a dog, and then looking for a way down. I didn’t see either. I kept looking for a few minutes and saw what I thought he was talking about; and convinced myself that it was a white rock. Then I heard his diesel truck leave the parking lot. And I knew what it was, and I took off out of the blackberries and ran towards my truck. By the time we got back to the trucks we got the phone call from him saying that the dog was dead. We drove over to the pit and hiked in. Not a word was said between me and my brother in-law, we both knew what we were walking towards. We rounded the corner and for the first time in my life I was completely speechless. I saw a man that I have known for half of my life sitting in the sand petting the lifeless body of his best friend. We ran over to him and slid down next to his side. In complete honesty I don’t do emotions very well; so I did what I knew how to do, assess the scene, check vitals in multiple places, and then put a hand on his shoulder. My brother in-law was much better with helping my friend, he talked to him and took him away from the dog while I checked him out. After 30 minutes or so of us standing around he said that we should get him up to the truck. I picked him up and we walked out; it was the worse 2 miles of my life. All I could think about was his kids and wife, and why it had to be his dog in his prime; 5 years old. I would of traded any of my dogs at that point, as sick as it may seem. But a 10 year old vet or a 6 month old pup didn’t seem like a bad draw at that point. I thought a lot on that walk for how fast it was; more than I had done in years prior. I laid the dog down and then gave him a rub on the neck before closing the tailgate. I made the offer of following him home to help him to bury the dog; he declined and said his wife and kids would want to be part of it. I said ok and then gave him a hug. He got in his truck and drove away. My brother in-law and I were left standing there on the side of the road; I couldn’t even talk and he did not know what to say ( which is a first). I got in my truck; finally realizing I was covered in blood and other bodily fluids and started driving home. I made it about halfway when my phone started ringing; my wife first, then his wife, then his dad, it just kept ringing. I pulled into our driveway and put our pup into the yard; and as I came around the corner of the house I saw my wife; she was standing in our kitchen window looking at me and then down to our pup and the back at me. The look in her eyes was pure relief, she had heard something bad had happened but she didn’t know what dog it was. The relief in her face was quick and fleeting when she saw the mess that I was. Now I don’t cry a lot; my wife has never seen it in 12 years, but on this day I opened the backdoor of our house and cried like a baby. Soon after that my phone blew up, everyone wanted to know what happened; the guy who this happened to was a very well known and liked individual, and when he didn’t answer they called me. So needless to say I was on the phone all night. The next day was even worse; I couldn’t even work, everyone knew I was there so they all kept calling. One of the calls was from a member of the close group asking how I was doing; nice change for me, and then we talked about what we could do to help their family with this tragedy. He was the one who brought up buying him a new pup. I kicked the idea around, and talked to my wife about it. She said to get everyone together to get him a pup, and if no one wanted In she would pay for it herself. I started talking to the guys in our group and everyone of them wanted to pitch in. I called the breeder of original dog, same as my last two, and another in our group; he said he could make something happen and to let him know what I wanted. I called his wife and told her what the plan was. I will leave out a lot of the details here but she said they would want a black male. So I contacted the breeder ( John Greer tiger mountain ) and he came through for us in such crunch time; I can’t even describe to any of you what he did for us. I will just say this, if you want a solid lab from a solid individual go to tiger mountain. He helped us out; he helped me out in a time were I was in so deep that I didn’t see an out. ( props to john). He set up a pup, and I called my buddies wife, and we got it done.



I learned a lot in the last few weeks. Trust those closest to you, real pain shouldn’t be hidden, good people are always good people, and kiss your mutts goodnight every night.


Sorry for the long one but I needed to get it down

[shags]

That's just plain horrifying. But I'm glad you and your friends are so tight and are able to provide such incredible support for each other.

Good on you all.

[Garrison]

Tragic, it sounds like you belong to a great community. It’s nice to hear about good folks taking care of each other in a time of need. We put our dogs at risk every time we take them out and put them on the ground, but not letting them take that risk would be so cruel to animals that love what they are doing with every fiber of their being. Sorry for your buddy and his family, I and many others here know all too well what they are experiencing. Not fun at all.

Garrison

[Timewise65]

What a terrible story, I feel sorry as that is a real hard way to lose a good dog, in its prime! Friends and neighbors were really special in how they handled this tragedy. Good people they are!

This was especially difficult for me to read as I put down my 14 year old Golden on Saturday. He was a Master Hunter and has been a special dog for me and my family. We lost our other hunting dog, in January, so 2019 has not been a good year for us. Both died from cancer....

My best wishes to all

[shags]

^^^ Sorry for your loss, TW. It's hard, even with the old ones.

[NEhomer]

Not one board member will read that without tears deke. So sorry for the loss for all of you. I hope sharing the story here will help you get it out~

[Irishwhistler]

Deke,
I cannot fathom the pain at this loss. My condolences to all of you. A stand up effort to comfort the owner.

Sincere regrets,
Mike

[Featherfinder]

Heartfelt condolences Deke.

[deke]

Thank you all, everyone who replied or looked. This was a horrible experience for everyone involved. However his new pup is a absolute stud. Fetching dead birds at 9 weeks and pointing chickens. They had a big bbq for us all, for getting them a new pup. It was very somber but we talked for the first time since the accident, and for the first time he wanted to hunt this year. Which is a good start

[JONOV]

Heartfelt condolences. I recently had to put down a 6 month old puppy after a complication post-spay. Horrific.