"The Retrieve"

I have to brag for a couple minutes here. On day 2 or 3 I can't remember, we were walking a ditch road the guys had named rooster road from the previous years of success there, we flushed 3 or 4 roosters at once, one of them gave me a perfect shot. Shot number one hit him perfectly in the head and chest region, the second in the body and Dad added one more for good measure. Now at our astounding disbelief this bird kept flying. Tex and Harley were hot on his tail but as he passed the 100 yard mark we began to call the dogs off. Harley turned quickly after Brian encouraged her return with the field collar. Tex on the other hand continued in stride like he didn't feel a thing. 2 days later we found out he didn't feel anything because his collar was broke, but anyway. I continued to blow his whistle and watch him get farther and farther away. The pit in my stomach was growing closer to my throat with every 50 yards he continued to run. At the top of the hill I noticed he was slowing, closing in on 400+ yards at this time. My stomach began to settle as I figured he would stop in exhaustion and I would just have to go get him, but at that moment the rooster who was still soaring fell dead in mid flight. Tex scooped him up and turned without missing a step. He carried the bird all the way back to my feet as I yelled, “that ‘a boy, that ‘a boy bring him hear buddy” over and over until the bird laid at my feet and so did Tex. He fell down as soon as he returned. At that moment I am not ashamed to say that with the swing in emotion from scared of losing him to the jubilation of his retrieve I almost broke out in tears. I couldn't scold him, because the last half of his adventure was perfect and I was so happy he had come back with the bird I didn't even care. So, I'd challenge anyone who has had a longer retrieve to speak up. Hard headed or not it was one of the proudest moments I've had with my dog.

So, after we all gathered around the truck and talked of how far that was, I was told that not only are pheasants smart and nearly impossible to kill they have another quality that links them to a chicken. They continue to live even after death. A pheasant is able to lock his wing muscles in place at death and basically turns himself into a hang glider. Even though they are dead on impact, with the wings locked in place they can coast for a long, long way, 400+ yards to be exact. The two blockers said they saw the pellets hit this bird in the head and chest and watched his reaction and head fall, but he kept right on sailing. Looking back I can still picture that bird not moving his wings one time, but simply coasting all the way to the ground. Tex knew we had killed him and didn't want good meat to go to waste.

-ASMS